Suggestions for nice inexpensive hotels in Rome and Florence
 

Hello!

For any of you that have been to Rome and Florence, can you recommend an inexpensive hotel, priced between 100 and 200 dollars/night. Our requirements are a safe place, a comfortable bed and a nice bathroom. If not a hotel, a BandB or a small apartment that is in a central location. We will be in Rome for 3 nights and Florence for 2 nights in the beginning of Oct. Thanks in advance!

In Florence we always stay at a modest, clean hotel, The Nuova Italia,on Via Faenza. Its a short walk from the train station and well located for walking to the main sights. In your price range and run by a nice couple. Find it on the web.

Hotel Scoti is decent, cheap and in a fabulous location on Via Tornabuoni in the centre of Florence.

For more opinions, check out tripadvisor.com and booking.com and put in your dates and price range. booking.com is more trustworthy, only listing reviews from people known to have stayed in the hotel.

In March, we stayed at Tourist House Ghiberti in Florence, and we loved it. It is a tiny hotel/B&B with excellent rooms and a great location.

http://en.touristhouseghiberti.com/

I really can't praise this place enough. Our room had a laptop, tea and coffee facilities and all sorts of extras. Good capuccino for breakfast, nice sheets and towels.

A couple of reviews on tripadvisor mention how quiet the owner/operator is. He is very quiet, but he runs a great little hotel where you get A LOT for your money. Very close to the Duomo. I would stay there again.

There is a recent thread with the words "hotels in Italy" in the title, I think, and on that thread, bobthenavigator gives a good list of hotels in Rome, including well-priced places.

We stayed at the Calamatta B&B in Rome. The location was fantastic - near the Vatican, old city, etc. yet in a nice neighborhood. The rooms were very quiet. It is small, maybe 4 rooms. I think we paid 100 euro per night for 2.

We (4 people) stayed at Hotel Casci. It was in July Saturday /Sunday . I think I paid 220 euro/night with nice breakfast spread. Room was clean, air conditioned and friendly staff. Location can't be beat. Very close to the Duomo. It's on a third floor with small elevator.

You should start thinking in euros, especially since there are numerous countries that use the term "dollars" for their currency, and they all have different exchange rates. If you're from the US, $100-$200 is only about €70 to €140, so Indogirl's hotel would be way over your budget. She probably didn't notice the $ and thought you were talking about €.

Your budget is rather low for Italy, but you should be able to find something that suits you. I use www.booking.com to find hotels. You can enter "Rome City Centre" or "Florence Historic Centre" as your destination to avoid hotels that aren't central.

You'll be shown all types of lodging, unless you tick off on the right a specific type, so your list will include B&Bs, guest houses, and apartments as well a standard hotels. At the low end of the price scale, the choice doesn't include very many actual hotels.

You can sort the list by price or by guest rating. The guest ratings are quite reliable, as they solicit ratings and reviews only from people who have booked through them and then actually stayed at the hotel. I would tend to avoid any place that has a rating below 7.0. Read the reviews to see if there's anything that would not be acceptable. Most cheap places have some flaw, but, for instance, I can deal with a hotel that doesn't have an elevator, but I wouldn't want one that's above a noisy bar.

Also read carefully the conditions with regard to payment and cancellations, because these vary and are not set by booking.com . Some places will give you a sizable discount if you pay in advance and accept a contract that can't be canceled. All of this is spelled out, but take your time and read it all carefully.

We enjoyed the Hotel Europa in Florence (across from the Casci which I have also heard good things about.) Very well located and clean, good breakfast and nice owners.

We also like the Hotel Alimandi. This is located half a block from the entrance to the Vatican Museum. The family running this hotel have two hotels - one a three star and the other a four. The three star is just fine and they serve an amazing rooftop breakfast every morning.

Thanks, everyone. You all have given me a lot of options. I too use trip advisor, but I also like to get first hand opinions from here. I think this forum is so helpful...

We are budget travelers who stayed at Hotel Dali in Florence (near the duomo) and B&B Smart in Rome (near termini) in June 2013. I liked both and would stay at those locations again. Have fun!