Ilana25841, I am emailing your suggestion, it look just right for us. We don't mind small, like clean, and safe. Thanks

Christina, I have emailed your suggestions, also.

We have been looking at hostels and they are running US$50 or so a night for 1 person in an 8 bed dorm, so thats $100 a night. Thats why we are looking at local hotels.

Again thanks everyone on Fodor.s Forum

Anyone familiar with Hotel du Lion in Paris?

We are almost ready to make reservations and looking for comments on the following hotels: Hotel du Lion, Hotel Marignan, considering location and price. Sort of being swayed in that the Hotel du Lion has air conditioning in the room we are considering, and with asthma it helps to sleep at night.

In Paris, Hotel Jeanne d'Arc on Rue Jarente, is in one of the loveliest and most central areas of Paris, the Marais. The rates are $100 or less, depending on the season. All rooms have private baths and a tiny elevator.

www.hoteljeannedarc.com

In Florence, Hotel Annalena, on Via Romana, has inexpensive rooms, some with balconies overlooking a private garden; private baths, but no elevator. It's across the street from The Boboli Gardens, a lovely and convenient neighborhood just slightly away from the crowds, but an easy walk to all important sights. Full breakfasts are included in the rates.

www.annalenahotel.com

I've stayed in both this year, Annalena, 2 months ago and Jeanne d'Arc over New Years'. Singles are very small, doubles are more spacious, but still small by U.S. standards.

Contact realrome.com and see if they have any apartments open for your dates in your budget. I doubt any will have ac, but this is a good agency. My sister and I used them before, staying in one of the Cappellari studios. We had we called "little nun's beds," side by side. Great value, great location.

Oops, my suggestion is for Rome in case you couldn't tell.

Don't know Hotel du Lion in Paris, sorry. Have seen Marignan mentioned here fairly often, though.

Many years ago we stayed in an apartment in one of the Cinque Terre--inxpensive and nice. It was in Corniglia which seemed to be a little less congested than the other towns. I will look to find the name.

Go a lot best values in cities betterbidding.com

bidding priceline usually snag 4 to 5 stars all over

from $80-120 nt might play around for deals there.

Was in the area in May for hostels super cheap

santafosca.com Insututo Gould Florence thebeehive.com Rome

Centricpointhostel.com Barcelona wombats.at hostel5terre.com

hostelbookers backpackeurope.com more for hostels.

eurocheapo.com virtualtourist.com good info from locals

mije.com hostel good in Paris or hotel-collegedefrance.com

for a splurge...Happy Planning,

In Rome in May for me on hotwire.com Sheraton Roma $69

awesome deal for me things are expensive there.

Beware there is a NEW guest tax of a few euros per nite per

person that can mount up so be prepared.

Oh, yes, I had forgotten about the beehive and its sister site, cross-pollinate.com. I rented an apartment in Rome many years ago with two girlfriends from cross-pollinate. It was cheap and in a great part of Trastevere. They have accommodations in Florence and Venice too.

VENICE - "Locanda Art Deco". Very nice hotel, very clean, really helpful stuff, and they serve the most memorable morning espresso you can have. In comparison to other hotels in Venice it is probably the most affordable and at a central location too.

OK now I am getting worried, I have emailed all the suggestions above that I can afford and all are full. So now I panic and start again. I am still waiting on a reply from Paris, 4 places in Venice said full, Rome is done, we have a place there, Might have a place in Barcelona, just waiting on 2 places. Everywhere in Cinque de Terre has NO availability. So I really need personal, or friend of a friend recommendations for Venice and Cinque de Terre, 2 nights in each. Oh, and the friend in Florence that we were staying with is now not so sure, so we may need a couple nights there. This was a last minute trip to see grandparents that live in London and the take a couple easy weeks seeing the major European cities as we had never been to the continent, but between deciding on rail passes, point to point rail tickets, 3 flights between some of the cities, and getting from US to London, we are exhausted and have headaches and tired eyes from the computer. And we thought getting an MBA would be hard.

Ok, that's off my chest, thank you for listening and all the suggestions and recommendations so far, all have been excellent and would have made great places to stay, though some of them were priced for after grad school and when we have real jobs. We leave this Sunday, July 3, and haven't begun to research what to do and see, reserve and tours, or what have you.

Gosh, I am really whining! So sorry. I know when we get there it will be a wonderful experience. We have both traveled in Australia and loved just wandering around and meeting the people of that country. So if we relax and have places to stay, I am sure we will go, do, and see, and soak up the countries cultures, which is the reason for the trip.

Again, Fodor's, I love reading this forum, and plan to have access to it on the trip, so I know I will have a great time.
Christine

I don't know any of these Italian ideas, just know Paris very well. There are plenty of hotel rooms at the end of July, it is low season. The problem is, no doubt, your budget and thus you are limiting yourself to only a few hotels and I guess they are full. Or maybe you haven't heard yet. There just aren't very many hotels in central Paris for around 70 euro for a twin.

Have you seen the website www.eurocheapo.com? I know their lists for Paris, and one of the cheapest Paris hotels in a central location is on there as they don't have a website, the Hotel Tiquetonne. It would be fine for you.

They might have things in other cities you want. Also, you can try www.venere.com as they do have some 1* hotels on there and I think show availability.

The problem with places like Cinque Terre is that they pretty much are solely for tourists/a resort town. SO places like that will be more booked up in summer than big cities which actually have more free hotel rooms because there is little business clientele.

Hi! For Rome, Florence and Venice I suggest 2 sites:
http://www.venere.com/it Very good if you look for hotels and b&b. It's very easy and there a lot of comments and suggestions that can be useful.
Check out also:
http://www.italyrents.com In this site you can look for holiday apartments, I've also read that there's a special offer for apartments in Rome.
Have a great holiday!!!

this place does have twins vacant on your dates, for 90 euor, not as cheap as you want, but it's a decent location and has AC http://www.hotel-paris-minerve.com/English/Main.htm

those twins are right next to each other, also, German-style, but partly that's because the room will be real small.

This hotel in Paris has twins available on your dates for 103 euro, and it is a 3* hotel with AC. I know you don't want to spend that much, but it's just there is more available that I know of at these levels. http://www.delambre-paris-hotel.com

I stay near it often and it'sw a great location in Montparnasse.

This is a 3* hotel with AC that does have twins on your dates for only 74 euro http://www.alizeparis.com/ It's in the 15th arr. which is a bit more out of the way, I'm sure you'd prefer something more central, but that's one reason it is cheaper. It's not that bad a location, it's a nice area, it will just take a bit longer to get places.

Thanks for all the help. I have places to stay in Paris, Barcelona, Venice, and Rome. Still working on Florence and Cinque de Terre. Printing boarding passes tonight.

Christine

Hi F,

For Florence, I can highly recommend www.bedinflorence.it.

Christine, please let us all know where you end up booking--and, if possible, how you liked the places after you return.

When I visited CT many, many moons ago, we called from Siena to get a room the day we were checking out and heading to CT. And called. And called. And called. Everything was booked, and we were very worried. It was a holiday weekend for Italians. We hadn't factored that into our trip planning. We did finally find a place that was suitable but were furiously making a Plan B on the spot. So be prepared to be flexible.

Have a great trip.

Thanks Ira, looking into it.

Leely2, yes we plan on posting where we stayed, prices, dates, and personal opinion. And working on plan B now.
Christine

Personal recommendations unfortunately won't help when your major problem is availability. Have you tried Venere.com, as suggested above? That will show you hotel availability for your dates and prices at a glance. I've also had friends scoop up some great last minute specials through them. Good luck!