Group lodging

What time of the year are you going and how long do you plan to stay in each location and what is the age range of your group? The obvious answers are hostels or university dormitory rooms (London) or monasteries (Rome).

Well, I was thinking more along the lines of a rental home. We've been looking at hostels. It is a family trip, ages ranging from 14-80, so something with a living space would be nice. Travel time in June.

How long is your trip? How long do you intend to be in each area? You might have difficulty finding a rental home large enough for that size group. (How easily would you be able to find such housing in the US?) The term "whirlwind trip" seems to indicate that you are talking about only a few days in each place, and it might be difficult to find a rental for less than a week for that size of group. That would be the most economical way to go, if you can, because you could do some of your own cooking.

We were in Dublin in 2009 with a group of 11, 2 families traveling together. We found townhomes just outside of city centre with enough beds for 5 each (they gave us an extra mattress for the other one). The website is http://www.brookman.ie. They're 3 br/3ba townhomes, but the bedrooms are up a flight of stairs. There is a sofa in the living room. It's got a full kitchen with a washer and dryer. The neighborhood is nice, it's a residential area with lots of shops. There's a bus stop nearby, and it's a 10 minute bus ride to city centre.

A friend of mine regularly rents a villa in Italy during the summer, her family members travel from all over the US to stay there. I think she does Tuscany/Umbria mostly.