places to stay
 

I will be travelling to Italy in July with 2 of my friends. We are all in our mid thirties and are going to be staying in Lake Como for 1 night, Venice for 1 night, Tuscany region for 3 nights, Cinque Terra for 3 nights, Amalfi Coast for 1 night and Rome for 2 nights. We'd like to spend about $50/night....in a "nice" hotel. Not too picky, but want it to be clean and in a good area in these cities. Any good suggestions? Thanks!

Sorry that this will sound so harsh, but...

I can only hope that you mean $50 <i><b>per person</b></i> per night. Otherwise, you're going to have to get creative at least every other night... like sleep <i><b>IN</b></i> Lake Como... as you phrased it!

And if you have so little money for lodging, why are you running all over Italy, burning up so much money on train (or car rental) fare, and leaving yourselves just a few hours in some of the world's greatest destinations to see what is there?! Is this a scavenger hunt? Or do you prefer to see the world from the inside out of a vehicle's moving window?

The whole plan neeeds to be rethought - - including going in July.

Best wishes,

Rex

$50.00 in Lake Come and Venice?
That is on the order of 38&euro;.
If you mean per room/night, I doubt if you could even get a room in a home from somebody hawking at the train station for that price.

I agree w/Rex. $50/night per person might be doable, but $50 per room will be impossible, especially during a busy travel month like July. If that's your budget, you should look at hostels, not hotels.

I see this is your first post, so I would like to offer some friendly advice on another issue. When you post a new thread, it's always best to use a very specific title. If you repost under &quot;budget accomodations in Italy,&quot; you will get a lot more responses that address your needs. Good luck.

See also http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34612225 and follow the recommendations there to write to [email protected]

The responses have been a bit harsh but your plan is unrealistic for two reasons. One, you simply can't enjoy Italy moving from one place to another like that. Two, unless you mean $50 per night per person, you probably won't find accomodations at all, especially nice and in good areas. I think you need to do some research, refine your plan and get a better idea of what is possible. I don't think it is worth staying one night in Lake Como, Amalfi Coast and one in Venice.
Italy is wonderful but you won't know that with your current itinerary. As Rex advises, and Rex is a very good but firm advisor, cut down on your destinations and train fares and save a little for your hotels.

The above posts are good advice. In addition to hostels, the Catholic church has lots of locations in Italy that are open to everyone (without regard to the person's religious affiliation). There are several books available: Bed and Blessings in Italy and Lodging in Italy's Monasteries come to mind. Also, there are some church colleges listed in those books that open their student housing to the public during the summer months.

$50 per night split among 3 people is only about 13&euro; per person... you likely cannot even stay at a hostel for that price!
Most hostels that I stayed at in Italy (and this was 2002) were 16-25&euro; per night, per person.

You might think about staying at convents instead of hotels, if a hostel doesn't appeal to you. You will need to up your budget but it will be less expensive than staying in hotels.

Also, it can be HOT in July and we Americans are pretty used to air conditioning. Any hotel with a/c is going to be WAY out of your budget unless you modify it.

Even $150/night for a triple (assuming that's what you mean) is a tight budget, especially in the touristy cities during the summer. You may want to consider convent lodging, which from the comments on this board, can be very nice and reasonable. Do a search on 'convent and rome', for each city, you'll find lots of posts.

I agree that this does sound like a rushed itinerary and you will waste a lot of time travelling and checking in and out of hotels. You may want to consider slowing down your pace a bit by cutting out a stop or 2. I think Rome deserves at least 3 full days and Venice at least 2. Given the number of nights and the travelling to and from, etc, your 2 nights in Rome, may end up being only 1 1/2 days worth of site-seeing.

P.S. Agree with Rex - cut down all that travel time. You're going to literally spend more time inside a train or car than enjoying Italy on several of your days.

I am a huge fan of the Cinque Terre region, but on such a short trip I'd cut it out.

In 11 nights on am ambitious itinerary I would do:
Venice - 3 nights
Rome - 4 nights
Tuscany (including Florence) - 4 nights

If you must see the Cinque Terre, you can daytrip there from Florence.

If you are tired of Venice after 2 days, you could daytrip to Verona or Varenna or a number of other splendid locations nearby (but I doubt you will tire of Venice nor see all there is to see in 2 days!).

You're not 'too picky'? You can't afford to be! :)
I'm going to suggest that you go to the Lonely Planet and Rick Steves websites, they have more suggestions for rock-bottom pricing, though I agree that your prices are not realistic.

I also agree to stop galloping all over the country--waste of time and money. and you're not allowing for getting from one place to another even if all goes smoothly and on time. Ending up with one night in Como or in Venice is just not worth the time and trouble.

Pick, for example, Rome plus Amalfi plus Tuscany, or else stay north and see Venice plus Lakes plus CT.

good luck

whoa, whoa, whoa.....slow down, everyone! I guess I did not make myself clear...you must all think we are a bunch of CHEAP women. We'd ideally like to spend $50/night per person if this is possible. Thanks for the quick replies...any suggestions now?

Okay, so now you don't to tread water all night in Lake Como!

I still say (as others have reiterated), cut out at least two (if not three) destinations. I would not go south of Tuscany (in <i><b>July!</b></i>), and would probably cut out Cinque Terre also (but I hate giving this advice since I have not been there personally).

Start with www.venere.com - - if you're having trouble with lodging costs, you could consider substituting Lake Garda for Lake Como (others will scoff and say you could substitute a Chevrolet for a Cadillac, but what the heck!)

Personally, I would start this in Tuscany, and end it in Lombardy, with Venice in the middle.

That's still only 35-40 Euros per person per night, which doesn't go far in Italy other than in hostels or some convents, or some hotels in less-touristy areas.

Thanks for being much nicer, Rex! Ha Ha! I know, I agree with cutting out a place or 2....I'm guessing maybe Lake Como....but one of my friends is really anxious to see the different regions....Of course we are willing to pay more, if you knew what the plane ticket was, you'd realize we are not stingy! Any good suggestions hotels, b &amp; b's or apartments? Thanks again for all of your replies!

hi
nobody said 'stingy', just unrealistic, especially for very very popular tourist destinations in July.

I'm hoping that when you planned your budget initially you had done some research about prices for lodgings.
If not you WILL save some money if you go to fewer destinations.
You're not staying long enough in any one place (so far) to find apartments for such short stays.

How about you come back with the revised itinerary, and number of nights in each place ,and then more suggestions can be made for accommodations and logistics.
With even just 3 destinations in 10 days, that's a lot of moving about, your friend will still see different regions, just not MANY regions with barely seeing anything in each one.

I don't believe your itinerary is reasonable. I'm not even sure it is even physically possible...

When you say &quot;1 night&quot; you must also allow for travel time (not to mention cost). Have you figured out how long each of these train rides will be? And what the tickets will cost?

$150USD for a triple room is still very low particularly for Venice or Rome. I would lower your expectations from &quot;nice&quot; hotel to a hostel, pensione, B&amp;B or &quot;adequate&quot; hotel, possibly with shared bathroom facilities.

My best suggestion would be take the 11 nights you have described and reorganized them between 2-3 places max. That will save you from what looks like a hectic &amp; stressful itinerary, and also saves money on transportation (which you could put to a better place to stay).

W51, skip Amalfi Coast and add an extra night to Venice...2 nights in Venice instead of just 1. You will save some money on transportation by choosing fewer destinations, and you can put that money towards hotels.

We enjoyed a fantastic first family trip to Italy in June, and we did see both Amalfi and Venice. but we had enough time to spend 2 nights in the Amalfi area (in Sorrento actually), and 3 nights in Venice.

the Amalfi area is so far south that it's inconvenient to go there if you don't have much time.

I would choose Venice over Amalfi. Rome is also fantastic!

don't be discouraged about the criticism you have heard here about your plans...I felt the same way the first time I tried posting a question. If you keep researching and brave the fodors board, you will have a fantastic trip in the end!

I recommend you get the Rick Steve's guide to Italy, because he has great recommendations for inexpensive and local/family-run/authentic hotels, B&amp;Bs, restaurants. I also used the fodors and frommers guidebooks, but in your case, I recommend Rick Steve. He has really fun money-saving tips! Good luck.

In many cities you can stay in a convent and save money!

Melissa5, thank you so much for your &quot;kind&quot; words and suggestions...I will pass this along to my friends. It's taken me 31 years to get to Italy for the first time and can't expect to get there in the next 2 yrs. or so.....therefore, your suggestions are great and we'd still be able to see a great amount of the entire country!

It took me almost that long to get to Italy for the first time, too, so I know how you feel. But please don't take the many constructive criticisms you've read here as being too negative (although I can see why it may sound that way).

A well-planned vacation in Italy is a sublime pleasure not to be missed. And a poorly-planned one can be a living hell. And if you're spending only 30-something euros per person per night on accomodation, while pursuing a travel-heavy and time-consuming itinerary...you may be setting yourself up for a disappointment.