Nice to Cinque Terra
 

We would like visit to Cinque Terra, driving perhaps by way of Nice, taking about a week, and then rent a house in Tuscany where we would have the option of shopping/cooking. Does this sound reasonable? Any suggestions for hotels and house rental for a budget vacation? thanks.

Where are you coming from?
Nice may not be convenient.

I recently asked this question on Fodors, about the drive from Nice to CInque Terre, along the coast. Nearly all the answers were that it is a difficult drive, with lots of tunnels.

Can you say what amount you mean for a weekly rental in the "budget" category? There are all sorts of prices. Have you checked Homeaway and/or VRBO, where i think you can sort results by price? Or Homelidays.co.uk, Tripadvisor, etc.

The place below was very reasonable cost, and Gabriele is great fun to write to; we'd have stayed there, except he required a full week stay (not uncommon) in summer:

http://www.letorri.com/index.php?dis...hianti-tuscany

The place we booked for 4 full days is a bed and breakfast farm, which is not exactly what you're looking for, but illustrates another type of Tuscany accommodation:

http://www.agriturismosavernano.com/

If you have reasons to go to Nice, then by all means. The drive along the coast from Nice into italy and to Genova and the Cinque Terre (which of the five?) is not as good or scenic all the time as it might appear on the map, but you'll get there.

If you don't have a special reason to first go to Nice, then don't, but where will you be before Nice? Anyplace from where access to the Cinque Terre is easier?

Thanks for all the good advice. We have friends in Nice so thought it would be nice to visit, and perhaps they'd join us for the trip. But, not necessary if the time is better spent flying directly into Italy. Our friends could just meet us. I see in an older forum that it may be less expensive to fly into Milano and drive south. I've flown in and out of Pisa before and it's not the most scenic of towns.
As for budget homes, I'd say in the $750-1500 range for 1-2 bedrooms or accommodations for 2 couples or 4 people. A B&B farm might be nice for part of the trip. I'll look into that site.
As for Cinque Terre, since it's all new to me, I have no preference. From what I've been reading it seems like taking the ferry from town to town, and/or hiking a bit is the preferred arrangement. I'm trying to figure out where to go and what to do!

I have rented many times from holidy-rentals.com and vrbo.com and recommend them highly.

Viajero2, why don't you give us links to the places you stayed? Since these sites represent owners, the experience at every place could be different.

I personally prefer to rent from agencies since that represents another level of guarantee; they're in the business, they don't want to rent you a bad place. And you can charge deposits, etc. to a credit card, yet another level of security.

But renting through an agency is not as cheap as renting from an owner directly. Depends on how much you're willing to take a chance.

Roherdesign, look at www.slowtrav.com. It has reviews of rentals (including ones from VRBO) and reviews of rental agencies plus all sorts of useful information about renting and traveling in Italy.

thank you for the advice. I will check out all these recommended links. sounds like flying into Italy directly and skipping the drive from Nice is the better plan.

Minar-- throughout the years I have posted the specific links to the places I have rented. None of these have been in Nice, so not sure it will help the OP to post additional info other than the fact that I have great experiences with those two links. I wil be more than glad to post a list on this thread if in any way useful to anybody. I have rented properties using either vrbo.com or holiday-rentals.com in France, Ireland, Puerto Rico, Spain, and Italy. Ask away specifics if needed.