WE are travelling for the first time to Italy in the second half of March. Aside from Rome, is it advised to book accomodation in advance or will there be enough availablity to have the freedom to find acomodation as we travel.

You'll get numerous opinions on this, and it might depend on how many people (i.e., how many rooms), traveled in Italy before, will you travel by car, do you have a pretty good idea what other cities/towns, do you speak some passable Italian, have you done this in other European countries and enjoyed it?

Since I know none of your answers to these questions, I will offer my standard, if somewhat cheeky answer on this:

It sounds like a plan to get the left-overs of hotels that were not chosen by others who planned ahead - - and to spend your time THERE doing something that you could be doing HERE, i.e., making inquiries as to what hotels have rooms left that fit your budget and desired locations, then moving on when you can not get what you want.

Best wishes,

Rex

Hi RD

I go along with Rex.

It's unanimous.

It's certainly not unanimous. You will have no problem whatsoever finding hotel rooms in March. I can think of no reason why hotels should be busy in March. Hotels are plentiful in Italy and I'd confidently catch a train anywhere in Italy, walk out of the station and expect to find a hotel room straight away. I was last there in October and stopped a night in Livorno, arriving after 2100 in the evening, and two nights in Napoli, arriving in the afternoon.

You don't have to book ahead, sometimes it takes the fun out of a trip to have every stop planned. You show an inkling to wing it on this trip, go with your feelings, the freedom is worth it.

I have easily found accomodations like Geoff has, just don't arrive too late in a busy town or a town celebrating something where rooms might be all booked, call ahead the morning of or the day before your arrival.

I think it also depends whether the original poster is on a budget or not. If you want the best value for the least amount of money, I think you are less likely to get that at the last minute, unless you are a superlative bargainer in person. Of course there will be some rooms available at some price.

I have never traveled anywhere without a reservation. I would not risk it - no matter what time of year. The worst thing that could happen is that you would have to cancel a reservation; and, if that is done in time (usually within 24 hours of arrival), there is no penalty or charge. IMO, I would much rather have the back-up of a room, than nothing at all. Perhaps only in the small, small towns (like the CT) would you be able to get accommodations last minute, but again it is a personal call.

If the current exchange rate remains, March will be a slow month in Italy with no risk. American tourism has dropped significantly since last September and there's no telling when the numbers will rise. (Hint: Listen for airlines increasing flights.)

If you don't care about getting into a specific boutique hotel, you'll have no problem finding a place to stay.

While I am opinionated - - my opinion is just that: my opinion. I agree with Geoff that it certaily is not unanimous. There are way too many different answers to all my "it might depend on"'s.