We are planning a trip to Italy in October. I am thinking Rome,Florence and Venice. It is my first time but my husband has been to Rome for a limited business trip. Can you kindly give me some hints on places to stay. Can not afford the Ritz. Want a clean nice room with our own bathroom that is in a good part of town. I appreciate any input and have no clue on how to put something together but I am going to try.

Robbiegirl, you might want to repost this with a subject heading like "Help with Italy in October" or something that gives people an idea what information you need.

We're heading to Italy in Oct. also for the first time so I can't help you. I do know people have mentioned the Karen Brown web site for places to stay.

You could also use the little window on this site to do a search on Italy trips or Italy accomodations.

Hope you enjoy your trip.

Robbiegirl, like SalB, I have not been to Italy. I concur with her advice to repost with a more specific topic title. Also, from the relatively short time I've spent on travel forums, I do know it helps the experienced regulars if you state how much time you have to spend on your trip.

Also, if you can mention your accommodation budget in terms of euros per night, that too can help the experienced travellers to target their advice more accurately. (However, at this point you may not know enough about Italy to even be able to state a price range.)

SalB, from what I've seen on the Internet, Karen Brown is not into "clean nice rooms with their own bathrooms in a good part of town" (Robbiegirl's description of what she was looking for). Karen Brown's recommendations typically are a lot more upscale than that.

But I think your advice to Robbiegirl to do a search of Fodors' Italy forum is spot on.

Robbiegirl, are you familiar with the Venere hotel booking website at www.venere.com ? I'm not suggesting you should or should not book through Venere. I don't know enough about them to comment one way or another. But I do use their website to search for accommodations in a specific city just to get an idea of the range of accommodation that's available. Their site displays a small map of the districts in the relevant city, and this helps one to get a sense of what's available where. Checking out several properties in a given city gives one at least some idea of what one would need to pay to get, say, a 2 star hotel, a 3 star, a 4 star, and so on.

Several of the Venere property web pages also carry feedback from patrons who have stayed at those properties. The feedback is not always complimentary, so that leads me to believe that there may be relative freedom of expression on Venere's feedback pages.

If one finds a promising looking hotel on Venere, one can then go to a travel discussion forum such as this one and do a word search to see if forum members have commented on it. Also, once one has identified a hotel on Venere's site, one can do a Google search, and in many cases one can find that hotel's independent website.

Hope this is of some assistance.

Three hotels which i thought were good are
Rome, the Del Senato, which is in Piazza dellla Rotunda, looks right onto the Pantheon.
This is the one we retutn to, but it is a bit more expensive.
Has a lift, A/C and a terrace.
Has breakfast room

Hotel Campo di'Fiori, right off the Campo. This has no lift, the room I had was very tiny but nice, good BR,FABULOUS roof top terrace. Has breakfast room. No A/C .
about 100E cheaper.

Venice- Locando Leon Bianco- very small pensione, in Cannareggio area , had lovely old fashioned room on the Grand Canal, no A/C , serves continental breakfast in room.
No lift, on "first " floor,
2 yrs ago double room was 140E.
Would return there, very nice without paying alot.

Florence, stayed at a nice but noisy pensione called Old Florence Inn,
as the double was only 100E and the room was pretty and clean , possibly would return there. No lift, has A/C
It is convienent in location and small.
(six rooms)

How many days will you be in italy?
do ytou like to move around alot? if so, 3 maor cities might be the thing for you.
Otherwise, limit it to two.
My fav is always Rome.

As someone mentiuoned you can do a search here, type in something like Rome Hotels in the text search box.

also, I am assuming you have a couple books to look at?

Have fun planning. and have fun there!!

Please take advantage of the "search" function. In the meantime, here's a start:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...=4&start=0
http://www.fodors.com/forums_reg/pgM...0&start=50
http://www.fodors.com/forums_reg/pgMessages.jsp
fid=2&tid=34458413&numresponses=1&star t=5
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34450773
http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...=2&start=0

robbiegirl-
I think the most ideal areas(read- most convenient walking locations) are Campo de' fiori, pantheon, piazza navona areas. I am staying at a B&B Relias Banchi Vechi which is in Campo de' fiori area.
http://www.sleepinitaly.com/files/bb_roma.html
I have also used www.venere.com to book rooms. My suggestion is to type in "Rome Hotels" in both this forum and doing a google search. You will get a ton of info. Narrow down searches by the areas...it is helpful to have a map so you can orient yourself with the city. Good luck!

Hi robbiegirl

What is your budget?

All Cities? If that's what you like, great. Our favorite part of our Italy honeymoon was the smaller towns. I'd get Rick Steves book and keep researching the net. Determine what interests you and plan your trip accordingly.

I realize now how ambiguous my title is and I thank those that stated I should be more specific.

I am not sure of the budget. I have to see how much the hotels run and then i can determine what portion can be utilized for various parts of the trip. We do not plan on being in the room a lot of the time that it would matter.
I have not tried the website Venere and I will. I also have not heard of Karen Brown. Can I just google her name with the word travel?

I am hoping for two weeks but hubby is afraid to leave the house for that long. Not sure why but it will most likely ending up being a two week trip. I am thinking three cities such as Rome, Florence and Venice. After seeing the movie about Tuscany though, that seems beautiful too.
I thank you so much for your help and will look at the hotels that have been posted and use those as a first place to start. Thanks.

Hi Robbie,

Two weeks is perfect for Rome, Florence and Venice.

If you do 4 nights Rome, 6 nights Florence and 4 nights Venice, you will be able to drive around the Tuscan hill towns, or take day trips to Lucca/Pisa and Siena.

You can do a daytrip to Orvieto and or Pompeii from Rome.

What are your requirements for hotels?

I want a 3 star hotel. I am not too fussy. A bed is utilized for two things! As long as it is a clean place with our own bathroom, that is fine with us.
I am debating on an Alitalia Unescorted tour or going on our own. Seems flights are around 1965.00 with going into Rome and leaving out of Venice. Trying to find a good flight but it seems easiest at this point to go with Alitalia.

May I suggest you go to venere.com, specify your desired city and 'three star hotel.' Venere will generate a whole list, with starting prices, allowing you to get an idea of the hotel market in Italian cities. Thus armed, you can start planning your budget.

Note: Although Karenbrown.com listings are often above three star category, you might find her useful as a guide to the 'good' areas of town in the cities you mention.