second honeymoon in italy itinerary...help please
 

my wife and i will be going to italy september 1rst for our second honeymoon.any hotel suggestions for our planned intinerary.<BR>we need our hotel to have a private bath,airconditioning,central location with a nice view. price of about 200 euros per nite.<BR><BR>september 2-6 Sorrento 4 nights<BR>we are considering: <BR>ambasciatori,central and belleview<BR><BR>september 6-11 Florence 5 nights<BR>we are considering:<BR>balestri,hermitage and hotel sila<BR><BR>september 11-13 Venice 2 nights<BR>we are considering:<BR>flora,disanzio,venezia<BR><BR>sept ember 13-16 Rome 3 nights<BR>considering:<BR>Scalinata di Spagna,Rafael,Sofitel,Eden<BR><BR>are you familiar with www.ehi.com? they called me and sounded well informed, but wanted a credit card number to secure the balestri before i was certain of it as a preference. <BR><BR>any hotel/itinerary suggestions would be appreciated. <BR><BR>should we stay in florence 1 less night and spend an extra night in venice?<BR><BR>thanks<BR><BR>jim and camille [email protected]

Personally I'd stay in Florence at least two less nights and add one to each Rome and Venice.<BR>And while I like Sorrento, I'd probably opt for that other four nights to be in the lakes, perhaps Bellagio rather than Sorrento. <BR>Are you committed to flying in and out of Rome or is it possible to do an open jaw, arriving in Venice and flying out of Rome, or the other way around? There is a lot of travel involved going from Sorrento to Florence, and then from Venice to Rome.<BR>The Hermitage and Raphael are the only two hotels you mention I'm familiar with and I'd consider both excellent choices. <BR>I'm not sure who ehi.com is but why aren't you booking your hotels directly with each hotel? Normally it gives you greater cancellation privileges and probably just as good a rate.

patrick,<BR><BR>thanks for your suggestions. our airline ticket is restricted to rome via usairways. it is a dividends miles award and there is NO CHANCE of making any changes to it . sorrento was our favorite place in italy and we have family near there,which is why we are returning. we enjoy the trains,but have considered driving. some suggest a whole week in florence. the italian lakes would be stretching us. we have not decided to use ehi.com...the rates for the balestri were lower using them and the rep was encouraging that we could save money and get the rooms we want due to a contract they have with the hotels. my concern is trusting an outfit that i have little understanding of.<BR><BR>thanks,<BR><BR>jim

jim and camille,<BR><BR>the balestri is a lovely hotel.<BR><BR>gina

So is the Flora, but ask for one of the larger rooms

WE are considering the same itinerary.<BR>How are you going to get from Rome Airport to Sorrento, are you going to rent a car and drive there after the long flight?

igor,<BR><BR>we travelled from the rome airport to the termini rail station in rome(30 minutes)...then from rome we travelled via train to naples(2+hours) and then from naples we took the circumvesuviana train (1 hour)to sorrento. our flight should have landed at 8:00am but was delayed until 1:00pm...we did not arrive in sorrento until 7:00pm which translates into 6 hours and a cost of 100euros. <BR><BR>next trip we will take a limo or taxi from the airport directly to sorrento at a cost of about 250euros but this will be worth it if we can get to sorrento in three hours or hopefully by 1:00pm<BR><BR>feel free to email me at [email protected] with specific questions<BR><BR>jim

go for the ambasciatori

I think that 4 inghts is the minimum I would stay in any location so I would recommend dropping one of your cities. I personally would do Rome, florence and Sorrento and leave Venice for a time when you can spend a week there. I find that Venice grows on you as you unwind and get in the rythym of a place without cars. DOn't get me wrong, Venice is one of my favorite places. But my wife and I would only go there for a whole week and then only if we stay in an apartment with a kitchen.<BR><BR>I have been very happy with 4 day stays in Sorrento, Florence and Rome. I might opt for a small town outside of Florence like San Gim or Castellina. I also would stay in Trastevere in Rome. I have 3 postings on the board on my favorite 10 things to do in Rome, Venice or Florence. I also have a long posting called Toscana suggestions.

jim <BR><BR>the ambasciatori is wonderful and much less than the excelsior