Scott_Trebble

My wife and I are planning a trip to Italy/Corfu this spring (mid May-mid June). We're flying from Calgary, Canada. The plan is to find a cheap flight close to N.Italy, maybe spend a day or 2 in Venice, then ferry to Corfu (we have a villa rented for a week there), then work our way back up through Italy to our return. We have about 4 weeks to enjoy. My last trip to this area was about 30 years ago, when I spent about 7 months travelling abroad as a teenager.
I'd like to keep our plans as open as possible,(with the exception of the villa in Corfu), and was hoping to just arrive in a city and search out a reasonable place to stay without any reservations. Hey, this worked fine 30 years ago My wife is a little concerned that we just might end up in the street. I'm trying to assure her that there must still be a lot of small places close to the core of the city where you can find a comfortable place to stay without needing a reservation.
Can anybody tell me what the situation is these days? We're not interested in 'Hotels', just nice local places to stay. For easy going folks, are reservations necessary?

francophile03

I don't know if you can go at that time of year without hotel res. Someone else just asked this question about another area and there are some who always wing it and others like myself who need to be sure of which hotel they'll be staying.

I think that since your wife is pretty concerned that you may get either an ugly hotel or no hotel at all upon arrival, you should go ahead and reserve ahead of time.

ira

Hi S,

How much vacation time do you want to spend looking for small, comfortable places close to the core of the city at reasonable prices, vs doing it in the comfort of your home online?

ira

PS,

>Hey, this worked fine 30 years ago...

30 years ago you were 30 years younger.

Judyrem

Great replies Ira!

GeoffHamer

You should have no problem whatsoever in finding accommodation, provided you act sensibly. I have stayed in hotels all over Europe without booking in advance. In a busy tourist city like Venezia, go to the tourist office in the station and they'll book somewhere suitable. Elsewhere in Italy, just walk out of the railway station, look around you, and you'll see hotels. Obviously, don't aim to arrive somewhere at ten o'clock at night and expect to find somewhere fancy. If you must stay in a hotel with a balcony, a sea view, cable TV, staff that speak English, etc, etc, then book in advance. If you're quite happy with a comfortable hotel that might not be the perfect place to stay, then you'll have no problems: you'll be be there well before the peak holiday season.

caroline_edinburgh

"Elsewhere in Italy, just walk out of the railway station, look around you, and you'll see hotels"

True, but the area round the station is usually unpleasant & sometimes downright dangerous.

Tiff

Hi Scott,

Ira stated my thoughts exactly. I would not want to waste one moment in bella Italia spinning my wheels trying to find a place to sleep for the evening.

While I can appreciate your desire for spontaneity, this is not the area in which I would choose to express it.

Plan here, enjoy there, Tiff

Scott_Trebble

I tend to side with GeoffHammer, and would prefer to leave it up to chance and adventure, but I'm afraid my wife is still worried, so I guess we'll be booking in advance. Hopefully we can advance-book to cover ourselves, but be free to cancel for a more local accommadation.
I just feel that the types of places that you can make reservations with online are not really the types of place that I would prefer to stay at. I would prefer just a small local place.

StuDudley

I think 30 years ago, it was more do-able because:

1. More Americans are traveling to Europe now and they like to book ahead, so many places are booked-up earlier.

2. Like someone else said, you are 30 years older. Your "comfort zone" (both the anxiety you wife might have, and the comfort level you want in a hotel) has changed.

I would never try to land in Venice without a reservation in May or June.

On several occasions, when we tried to book the day we arrived, there was a festival in town and everything was booked solid.

We've found many gems, and an equal number of "dogs". If you don't mind a bath/toilet down the hall a few times, then go ahead & be adventuresome.

Stu Dudley

Katiemay

My husband and I are 73 and we have
traveled for the last 18 years and
have never had reservations except
for the first and last night.
In all that time, we have only stayed
a couple of times in places that we
didn't like at all.
Just find out about fiestas and
the holidays, that is where we got
caught finding a place.
We stayed on some farms and really
enjoyed them
Enjoy your trip.

StCirq

It really depends upon the place and your tolerance for spending time looking for accommodations. Although I'm a proponent of always having reservations I've actually done a no-reservations trip in the past 5 years. It was pretty much a total bust. I was with a friend and we were in the Languedoc-Roussillon area in mid-October, and we could not find a place to spend the night to save our souls (and we had guidebooks and cell phones and everything you'd think you'd need to call ahead and get a place)! We ended up in a nightmarish place with spiders and a bed with tire tracks on the bedspread for something like 130€ a night. Absolutely horrible, and we probably should have motored on "home" to Provence because it was SO awful!

So my advice is, plan as much as you can or you may be in for some really rude surprises.

GeoffHamer

I've stayed in dozens of towns all over France without ever booking anywhere in advance. In most cases, I walk from the railway station or bus stop into an adjacent hotel and book a room. If I don't like a town or a hotel, I can pay the bill in the morning and move on somewhere else, but that has happened only once in over forty years of visiting France. I can't imagine being restrained by a booking I'd made in advance without setting eyes on the hotel.
The original question was about Italy, and my experiences there have been similar; in May and June, there should be no problem whatsover in finding accommodation anywhere in Italy. If you must have a hotel with English-speaking staff, a trouser press in every room, a balcony with a sea view, etc, then your choices might be limited, but if you're looking for somewhere comfortable and convenient to stay overnight, then don't worry. Rather than wasting time before your holiday poring over lists of hotels, do something more interesting like studying the history, geography, culture and language of the country.

travelbunny

..all the train stations in Italy seem to have a gov tourist office which will book an hotel for you. It may not nbe ideal but you will have the freedom to roam....It will be an adventure. I don't think at that time of year you will be on the street...just make sure none of the towns you will be staying in have any festival or unusual activities..avoid that town unless you reserve.