Lodging: which city(ies) need the earliest reservations or you are doomed?
 

If I want a good place at a reasonable price how much time before I go should I book my lodging?<BR>I'm thinking of going to Rome, Paris, Venice, and possibly London. What do you think? Thanks.

Matt, I would think it depends a lot on when you will be traveling. The peak summer months fill up quickly as do holiday periods. I tried to book a castle hotel in Germany 4 months in advance but they were already sold out on my first date choice because of a European holiday I didn't even know about. I juggled my schedule and was able to get another date. However, after that I decided not to risk losing out on a hotel I really wanted and now I have booked all of my hotels for my May trip.

that's a very vague question. they're all equally popular destinations. London and Paris will have the largest selection of accomodation, Venice the smallest. You could just turn up at any of these places if you didn't mind where you stopped, or book 3 months ahead if you want a particular hotel. July and August will be the most overcrowded months, so book earlier still for specific hotels.. Also, watch out for any special festivals when accomodation might be scarce. When are you going?

Hi Matt (again)<BR>it all depends on your time of travel.<BR>Paris, Rome, London, Berlin are not overcrowded during summerholidays.<BR>But Venice.<BR>On the other hand during march/april <BR>a lot of trade fairs take place in<BR>Berlin, London, Brussels, Paris, Milano.<BR>You should figure out your specific dates to travel and be flexible while planning on it, to switch to another city due to above reasons.<BR>During summer holidays (july/august) all mediteranean cities are full with european tourists.<BR>Shain/EU/DE/d&uuml;sseldorf<BR>

It sounds like if you want your perfect place then you better reserve a few months in advance and if you don't care then you can wait until the week before. Why didn't I think of that? Actually I wanted to get a feel for which city has the best and worst supply/demand ratio for lodging. It definately looks like Venice is high demand/low supply due to its natural small area in size. I've been to Paris and it is really easy to find a place on short notice.

It partly depends on how particular you are about the type of place you want to stay. The reasonably high quality/good location for low price places seem to go first. I'm booking now for a trip in March and another one in July and some places are already full (e.g. Venice and Cinque Terre for summer). Also depends on if you want something other than a double. Most places have lots of doubles but limited numbers of triples, quads and singles (singles could always take a double if you don't mind the cost).