Anyone know of cheap hotels in Rome, Florence, and Venice?

[bif]

We're planning on a trip there around Christmas. The hotels we've been finding, especially Venice, have been very expensive. Any help would be appreciated.

[rrneck]

1. Went a few years ago

and stayed here.

In Rome:
Hotel Trastevere House
Vicolo del Buco 7
00153, Rome

Tel/Fax [phone]
Tel [phone]

In Florence:
http://www.hotelboboli.com/

In Venice:
http://www.albergosansamuele.it/

Try Googling pensiones, they are the cheapest we could find.

Have fun!

[elleng]

11. Trastevere's a GREAT part of Rome, neat, small, atmospheric!

Have to get out my pics to find 'our' hotel in Venice, about 10 years ago. OK, Hotel Universo & Nord, not far from railroad station. Don't know how much, but not much as we don't do high-end.

Florence = Hotel Aprille, 49,000 lira, but it was 1984!

Rome, 1984, Hotel Esperia, 76,000 lira.

[TreasonousBastard]

2. How fearless are you? I have had great success in...

most of Europe using those big blue "I" signs all over the place-- national and local tourist boards have lists of rooms available at all price ranges and will make the reservations for you for that night. I make arrangements for the first night and then hit the road assuming there is always a room available somewhere.

Never tried this in Italy, though, because my only trip there we camped every night, and suspect it might not be quite as efficient as in Scotland or Germany. But, you never know, the Italians are nothing if not surprising-- often enough in a good way.

Dunno how big a deal Christmas is in Italy, but it should still be off-season enough to get deals.

Here's the US tourist offices which may help:

http://www.enit.it/dovesiamo.asp?lang=UK&sede=usa

And the list of local tourist offices:

http://www.enit.it/otp.asp?lang=UK

(Then, there's always that thing Shatner is pushing, and the other online travel agencies.

[WinkyDink]

3. Guides: Frommer's; Fodor's. For Venice, I stayed in Mestre twice (3rd? Venice. Heh.).

http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/

www.tripadvsior.com

[fishwax]

4. I'm not sure what range you're looking for, either in price or amenities, but here are a few ideas

I assume you're hitting Rome first? There's a place called The Beehive which is handy for a few reasons: it's close to the train station, easy to find, and relatively inexpensive. It's run by an American couple, which can be nice on the first night to ease the transition. It's been a few years, but when we visited Italy we stayed there on the first night and then on subsequent nights in Rome moved to an apartment that we rented with friends. I might be wrong, but I think we found the apartment through the beehive's "Cross Pollinate" site, which allows you to search for guest rooms, B&Bs, and apartments based on the number of people in your party, the dates you want to stay, and your budget per night. That might be a useful resource for you.

In Florence, you can find fairly inexpensive hotels if you want to stay outside the city center, but then you have to hop the train to get to and fro, which isn't terribly inconvenient but can be time consuming. We used the site Venere to find our place in Florence. (You can also use it to find places in Rome and Venice.) We found a relatively inexpensive room (for the location) through that site at the Hotel Bavaria. If you don't mind walking down the hall to use the bathroom you can get a double room for around 40 a night. Also, hotels in Florence make it easy to get tickets for museums--you can usually buy tickets for the Uffizi and the Accademia (home of David) through your hotel--it's convenient, guarantees that you've got a time to get to the gallery, and I think it's less expensive that way.

You might be able to find a relatively inexpensive Venice room through Venere too, I don't know. Our traveling companions were responsible for booking our Venice room, and I think they found the place through the listings in Rick Steve's book. It wasn't cheap, exactly, but was relatively inexpensive for Venice--you can find a great deal occasionally, but make sure it's actually on the island and not on the mainland.

Anyway, I may be telling you some information that you already know, but maybe one of those resources will be helpful for you. Have a great trip! :hi:

[JCMach1]

5. 3 star in Europe is about the equivalent of Motel 6 in the states-

and most likely smaller than that Motel 6 room.

Buyer beware... and remember, Trip Advisor is your friend.

Essential Websites:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/

http://www.booking.com/

http://www.octopustravel.com/IntlHome.jsp

I use booking.com or Octopus travel whenever I travel in Europe and have never had a single problem with my reservation.

[pink-o]

6. Here's my face website for hotels in Italy and western Europe

Www.venere.com

Used them for 4 years now and never had a problem. Now I love Venice it's one of the most unique cities I've ever seen. And I seem to recall you can stay in convents for considerably less $$$ but I don't know if it's possible yr time of the year. You can try googling it to fnd out fer shure

Anyway have a great trip. Love all 3 of those places always a good starting point to get to know Italy!

[WolverineDG]

7. not great on atmosphere, but these are cheap & clean

the ibis hotel chain, part of the Accor chain. A little bit above Motel 6/Red Roof variety (at least the airport hotels).

I lucked out in Madrid. I was down to my last few $, checked in to this hotel near the airport (very early morning departure), & wouldn't you know all the English tv stations weren't working? Not a big deal, but I had been out of pocket for over a month & wanted to catch up on the news, so I asked about it. Turns out they have this deal where if there is a problem with your room (any problem) & they can't fix it within 15 minutes, you aren't charged for that night or for any other night until that problem is fixed (or you check out). :wow:

dg

[bif]

8. Thanks for all the tips everyone!

[GoneOffShore]

9. Check out AirBnB

We've used the service - and we're hosts.

You just have to be careful reading descriptions and recommendations.

And remember that if it says 2nd floor walk up that's 3 - count em' - 3 flights that you'll have to climb with luggage.

I just did a search on the AirBnB.com site and there are 452 listings for Rome - ranging in price from $53 per night and up.

http://www.airbnb.com/rooms/6141?price=75

Venice only has 65 listings and Florence 122.

Have fun.

[cbdo2007]

10. sent you a private message