Positano, Rome, Venice Hotels
 

We are flying into Venice and flying home from Palermo.

We plan on:
Two nights in Venice.
Two nights in Rome.
Three nights in Positano.
Then we will be flying to Sicily for a week and staying at my parents house.

We have been to Rome and Amalfi coast before but not Venice. Hopefully two nights is enough there.

Anyway, I think in Positano I have narrowed down my hotels to: Eden Roc, Miramare or Palazzo Murat. Any input for pros and cons of each hotel would be appreciated.

In Venice, we are are thinking about: Palazzo Sant'Angelo or Locanda Orseolo. Any input on those would be great.

Also, any suggestions on hotels in Rome. I think I would like to stay near Via Veneto. I've been researching so many hotels but still not too sure. Maybe Splendide Royal or Sofitel Roma? Hopefully someplace no more than 400 Euros.

Thanks so much!

You don't say when you're going, but you may be interested in this thread about Locanda Orseolo at Cruise Critic: http://messages.cruisecritic.com/sho...d.php?t=501382

Since I haven't been on my Venice / Rome trip yet, I can't help you yet....

Hi Mers,

There is an interesting website called www.hotelfiore.com. You might find some good suggestions there.

Good luck

Locanda Orseolo has to close its canal side rooms till the end of this year (or not that long?) due to plumbing problem or something. Those who had reservation on such rooms have received the notice/apology mail, it seems. I learned this on tripadvisor.com. Perhaps before thinking about booking this hotel, you might like to search on its Venice forum. There are more than one thread started by people who have received such notice.

How sad to hear Locanda Orseolo is having problems. We stayed there for 4 nights two years ago and absolutely LOVED the place. Our best to Barbarba, Matteo, et al.

I booked Sofitel for my upcoming trip and got a great rate of E250 per night. It gets rave reviews.

I have reservations at the end of March for a courtyard room at Locanda Orseolo. I'm trying to search on trip advisor now...but haven't found any details. Are non-canal view rooms unaffected?

My wife and I stayed at the Eden Roc in 2001 and we really liked it. We had a large room with a great balcony. We liked the fact that it was above the town so we had an incredible view (it was not a bad hike from the town up to the hotel). We also had a very good dinner at the restaurant one night. FYI we stayed at the Hotel American in Venice in 2001 and the Albergo del Senato in Rome in 2002 and liked both of those hotels a lot. We were in Venice for two nights and felt we saw most of the sites. We are going back to Venice again hopefully next year because it is such a fantastic city and we want to spend more time just wandering around. Hope you have a great trip!!

Deb, did you try text search? I got a few threads easily like the following.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic...29926-l6177888

Hi M,

>We have been to Rome and Amalfi coast before but not Venice. Hopefully two nights is enough there.<

No, it's not.

I would skip Rome.

((I))

My husband and I stayed at the Miramare in Positano for our honeymoon.
It was a very nice hotel, with a helpful staff and great views. It is located a few hundred steps off the beach, relatively central...with plenty of restaurants within walking distance. The walk to the bus stop was pretty long though as I recall.

We stayed in the Annex building - which was definetly not as nice as the main building. If you do a search on the forum there are a few specific rooms at the Miramare that are highly recommended. Our room was on the dark side - but it did have a very nice terrace with table, chairs and lounge chairs, and a spectacular view.

Breakfast was a nice selection of breads, cheese, cereals and meats, served in a bright room with floor to ceiling windows that overlooked the ocean.

The staff helped us with dinner recommendations and reservations. The were accomodating and helpful.

The BEST part about the hotel was the free boat ride. It only runs for part of the year, and it books up quickly...so you would have to check availlability. But it was fantastic - definetly a highllight of our entire trip!!!
A weathered italian man who spoke no english took us out on the "O' Solo Mio" a pretty little wooden boat with a striped sail. He sailed up along the coast and out to an island, where he provided us with snorkel gear. After our brief swim he hosed us down with fresh water, and brought out a bowl of fresh fruit and a bottle of wine.
We sailed along in the sunshine eating peaches and sipping on pink wine looking at the cliffs rising above....it was an incredibly memorable moment.

Thanks for the suggestions. By the way, we are traveling the end of July.

I emailed Locanda Orseolo about the plumbing and they said that only a few rooms were affected. The courtyard rooms were not.
For those who have been to Venice, do you think that it would be dumb of us to go to Venice and not have a canal view room though? I can just pick another hotel, but I'm not sure which one. I've heard so many good things about the Locanda Orseolo.

and for kfusto:
Do you know if Sofitel also has triple rooms? I tried the website, and I tried emailing them - but no answer.

and for ira:
do you really think we should stay extra days in Venice and skip Rome? How many nights do you suggest?

for john183:
Did you find the Eden Roc to be a long walk to town? How about to the beach? Do you think it would be better to stay closer to town?

Thanks all.

Although I try to stay away from these itinerary questions because so much is just personal taste, I will chime in here briefly. You are rushing around too much. If you are arriving in Venice after a long flight, half of your first day in that city may be a wash. So you really may have only one and a half full days there.

And the day you travel from Venice to Rome, half the day will be spent traveling. So only, let's say, 1 1/2 days and two nights in Rome.

The ratio of travel time to pleasure time is too high.

From where are you flying to Palermo?

Hve you booked the flights yet because if the answer is "no," I would fly into Rome and proceed from there.

Since you have been to Rome before..the obvious questions now is: Do you have a desire to return?

Do you anticipate making future trips to Italy?

When I first started traveling I did lots of those 2 night stay itineraries. Now that I know better, I try to concentrate on a geographical area rather than rushing around so much.

So, back again to the question of whether or not you have booked your flights yet.

ekscrunchy:

Thanks for your help. The only flights I have booked so far are from the US to Venice and then from Palermo to the US. Alitalia was having a special fare for the summer, and it was actually less expensive to fly to Venice ($749 RT with a transfer in Rome) then it was to fly to Rome. Flying to Rome was $769 - so I figured it was like getting free transportation to Venice from Rome - actually less money!

When we go to Palermo, we are flying from Naples. I have not planned any transportation for going from city to city yet. We have allowed two weeks for this trip - one traveling and one in Sicily. In Sicily, we stay at my parents house - so that week we will be doing all our relaxing since they are in a pretty small town with not too much of anything to do. We try to go to Italy every 2 - 3 years to go to Sicily, so we try to pick some other places to go to while we are there.

As far as Rome goes, we were only there for the day (went to the Vatican, Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon - all very quickly. It was in 2000. My kids were younger and don't really remember it much (they are also bring a friend who has never been to Italy) so I figured I would take a couple days this time on the way to the Amalfi coast. We also don't have a set time to get to Sicily, so I can probably spend an extra day in either Rome or Venice.

Your input is very much appreciated! (sorry for the long post)

Rome;
Hotel D'Inghilterra
www.hir.royaldemeure.com

Positano;
Hotel San Pietro
www.ilsanpietro.it

Venice;
Hotel Baglioni
http://www.baglionihotels.com/pages/hp_venezia.jsp

I would guess that both the San Pietro and the d'Inghliterra cost more than 400 Euro; San Pietro must be double that amount in season.

Mers..It is a difficult task to work out a good plan here. Any chance that you can give up Amalfi coast this time, since you have already been? You might be able to do lots of relaxing on the beach once in
Sicily... Then you could split the week between Venice and Rome, with maybe a day trip from Rome to Sperlonga for some beach time..just a thought...I know it is not the same as Positano!!


If not, do the best you can. We should all have such problems!!! Have fun and keep us posted on your plans!!

Oh..one more thing..any reason you want the Via Veneto? It would not be my choice but you have been to Rome before, so... In that area, I give you a recommendation for La Residenza which was my parents' hotel of choice in Rome. Small, charming and not too expensive...much less than your limit, I would think...

http://www.thegiannettihotelsgroup.c...denza/home.asp

I am sure you have been to Eden Roc's web site so you can see it is quite a ways above the beach and the main part of the town. It was about a 10 minute walk to the beach area if I remember correctly and it is a fairly steep hill but we did not find it to be a problem at all. We actually enjoyed walking past the shops and bars and hotels and restaurants. One advantage of it's location is the bus stop to Amalfi/Ravello is just outside the door. If you did not make it to Ravello on your last trip I highly recommend going there. I remember now we had a junior suite at the Eden Roc (it was the top left room as you face the front of the hotel) and it was quite large with a fantastic balcony. The Eden Roc is not the same quality as Le Sirenuse but you get practically the same view for a lot less money (and in my opinion, the view is why you go to Positano). Hope this helps.

john183:
Yes the last time we visited the Amalfi coast, we actually stayed in Ravello. We will probably take a visit there again. Does the Eden Roc have stores around it? Or is most of the shopping area down below near the beach?

ekscrunchy
Is there an area in Rome that you would recommend staying in besides Via Veneto? I just picked this area because I like to be near shopping areas. Or actually an area where if you just wanted to leave your hotel and walk around - you would be right there? Is the area around the Pantheon a better area? There was a hotel there named the Albergo Senato, I think, that looked pretty good.

About the Amalfi coast, I just loved it so much the last time I was there that I wanted to go back and see it again! We were originally thinking of staying at the San Pietro or Le Sirenuse, but we need to get two rooms now - sooo I think that would be too pricey!

Does anyone have any opinions about Palazzo Murat???????

I would have to agree with Ira regarding 2 nights in Venice. On our first visit to Venice in '02 we stayed 2 nights and it wasn't long enough. We ended a 3-week Croatia/Slovenia trip in 2005 with 4 nights in Venice and it was wonderful as we had time to visit the islands of Murano and Burano.

We have been to Rome 2x but I would pick more time in Venice over Rome.

There were a few stores near the Eden Roc but the interesting places were down by the beach and on the way down to the beach. My wife and I like to walk anyway so the fact we were not right next to the shops and beach was not a big deal.

FYI - I highly recommend the Albergo del Senato near the Pantheon in Rome. We stayed there in 2002 and loved the location and the hotel.