Diane

Us two girls are going to visit Italy for the first time in October for two weeks. We can fly into Milan or Rome and are thinking of going without hotel reservations, renting a car and just exploring through the small villages. We did this when we went to Germany last year and it was a great experience. Every village we came across had a B and B of sorts. It was reasonable, always available and easily accessible. Any suggestions?

robyn

Anyone there...any info on italy would be appreciated.

Red

I wish I could help, but I am a fastidious planner and wouldn't leave the house without a reservation for everywhere. I envy your adventurous nature.

SpellingBee

I wish I could help, but I am a fastidious grammar maven, and I can't answer a post that begins with "Us two girls..."

Hey Grammar maven

Hey Diane pay no mind to the idiot above-
By the way grammar maven:
1-You need to put a period after your quotation marks.
2-It is snits like you that make this forum miserable.

traveler

Sounds like a great adventure. Just check if you're going during any holidays because that may make it hard to find a hotel. As for driving, I don't know, especially in the cities...the Italians drive like MANIACS! If you're doing the countryside thing, a car is OK

Nancy

It sounds like a great idea to me, we did it one year in France, never booked ahead and stayed in small chateaus. You will have fun, go ahead and have a ball, if you are young girls you can always plan when you are older, grab spontineity now while you still can, you may be afraid of it later in life.
Cheers!

Lexma90

If you want to spend any time in Milan, Rome, Florence or Venice, then you should book hotel rooms ahead of time in those cities. You could do that for the beginning (or end) of your trip, then rent a car as you leave the city.

Long ago, my husband and I traveled without reservations in Italy and had few problems. We went in late Sept., however, and in the wine regions, had problems finding a room (it was probably a weekend when we were in that area). Tourist Information offices often have lists of B&Bs or rooms for rent (camera/e libre). We rented one such room from a delightful (non-English-speaking) woman in San Gimignano. Overall, however, I would say there are fewer camere libre than there are zimmer frei, so your experience in Italy may be different than that in Germany.

Another idea, if you start out and find that hotels/B&Bs seem to often be booked, have your current hotel call ahead for you to hotels at your next destination.

Take a list of small hotels (I doubt you'd find lists of B&Bs) with you for towns that you think you might visit, just in case.

Have fun!

Krista

Sounds great. You might end up in a hostel occasionally for might have to pay for a high end hotel once or twice but in general this time of year you should be fine.

If you head south of Rome, try basing yourself in Sorrento. Great access to public transportation and very convienent to Pompeii, Herculeum, Naples, Capri, Amalfi Coast.

Get a copy of a couple good guide books, sounds like Lonely Planet might be good for you. Take these with you and you have a reference to look for accomadations and food.

Have a great trip. We are going in November, we have reservations though because so many places close in November till March.

Amrita.

Hello Diane,
WE are also planing to do the same in the middle of September.We are from Holland driving to Zurich and from there to Italy.Today I came across a book called Italia-hotels & Restaurents by Michelin ISBN 2-06-100181-5.
I bought it from the VVV shop (Tourist shop ).It's also on line.
WWW.ViaMicheline.it I haven't looked at the site yet but I find the book gives lots of information from expensive hotels to B&Bs and restaurents from all over Italy.
We are planing to drive to the Northen Italy through little towns and villages and find some places to stay.
If any one has more information and tips it's most welcome.
Good luck Diane and enjoy the adventure.

Howard

You should be okay in the small villages if you leave yourself flexible enough timewise, i.e., time to move onto the next village if you can't find a place to say.
However, finding a place to stay in the larger cities might be a double nuisance--first finding a place to park and then scouring around for a room.
PS to Hey grammar maven: You don't need a period after "us two girls..." The quotation mark goes outside the period. Of course, the purists might say that another period is needed inside the quote marks!

carol

Although I can not comment on October, we always travel in May and do it exactly that way. Sometimes we book a hotel for the city we are going to, from the city we are in the day before, but most of hte time we just blow into town. Sometimes you might not stay in an ideal place, but we have not been forced to a hostel yet.

Grammar maven, eat your heart out on my second sentence!

j

Diane, you are going to have a ball in Italy; nobody will correct your grammar there.
Going with no reservations is great as long as
1. you know that you might not get to stay where you want at a price you like in Rome, (which is why I'd make reservations for Rome)
2. you realize that driving around Italian cities looking for a hotel gets old really fast. Hard to drive, hard to park, hard to navigate. Don't rent the car until you're ready to leave Rome.

Alice Twain

Since you sy that you aim at moving from Milano to Roma, i think that your bet bet is not Bed and Breakfsts but agritourisms. They are quite similar to B&Bs, but they are usually placed in the middle of the countryside and, also usually, signaled with yellow and black signs pointing you in the right direction. Prices vary: some are very cheap and some rather costly, but in some palces you will find that the agritourism also offers dinner (often a very good one). Also, while not being in the center of a city or village, you will usually be able to reach one or more villages or cities driving for 15-30 minutes. One good idea might be staying in one place for a few days and explore the surrounding area, than move somewhere else.

Roger

Hi Diane,

My fiancée and I are planning on doing the same thing at the end of October/early November. We're flying into Florence and out of Venice and will reserve rooms in each of those cities. For the 9 days in between, we're renting a car and just finding things as we go along.

I have to admit that my fiancée is a bit more at ease about this than I, so I'm planning on bringing lists of monasteries, B&Bs, and agritourist places (much of this info can be found on the web). I figure that, if we're finding it tough to locate housing, we'll just start calling a couple of days ahead.

Have a great trip; maybe we'll see ya on the road!
Roger

Lou

As you reach a town or city go to the tourist office and park and go in and have them call around for hotels for you. One stop shopping. Then just drive to the hotel you choose and voila! We did that in Sorrento and had a great hotel at a reasonible price because it was reaching off season at the end of Sept.

Diane

red....grammar, shmammer. I think you need to chill a bit. throw caution to the wind ... it feels good.

And to everyone else...thanks for the encouragement, kind words and travelling wisdom. I think the idea of getting a room ahead of time for when we land and the night we leave is a great idea. We are looking into that now.

AMRITA....I'm getting that book! Much luck on your trip.

And everyone else...thanks for all the great advice. Anymore is certainly welcomed.

We'll let you know how it goes.

Amy

My best friend and I did the same thing in Greece. I actually had a Fodor's Guide and I never had a problem with lodging. You are going in the off-season so finding lodging in Italy shouldn't be a problem.