My wife and I are taking my parents to Italy for an 11 day vacation. We will be staying 5 nights in Rome, 3 in Venice and 3 in Sorrento.
Where do you suggest we stay in Rome to keep costs down, but give us enough space and privacy? Hotel, apartment, or other??
Any help and hints are much appreciated.
Gratzie!
Michael
You might get more responses by posting this, and any other questions you might have, in the regular Italy and other more specific forums. The "reviews" forums are more for people to post info about what they experienced on their trips.
Having said that, your 5 nights in Rome will probably be the most appropriate time to rent an apartment. The other stays are a bit short for that.
Some potential sources to search for lodging options include booking.com (where putting in 4 adults will generate hotels, apartments, family rooms and rooms for 2), Homeaway, VRBO and FlipKey. The last 3 are all about apartments.
In all sources you can filter the results by criteria specific to your group's needs. But not all sources have all the options that may be important to your group.
So you will need to look closely at the pictures and read the reviews. For example, not having a shower head above or high on the wall of the shower is a deal-breaker for us.
I also recommend that you ignore the "star" ratings in favor of those of the reviewers. For example, on booking.com l only consider places with a "review score" of 8 or higher.
Be sure to notice whether or not there is an elevator. Most moderately priced places do not have them. If they do have one, it may start on the 1st floor or end one floor below the top floor. So there may be an unanticipated flight or 2 of stairs. Keep in mind that in Italy, as with the rest of Europe, the ground floor is 0. The 1st floor is what we would label the 2nd floor.
I see this is your first posting, so I encourage you all to thoroughly explore the RS website for all the info you need to know about this trip. That will help you to avoid costly mistakes, both of time and money.
Getting a copy of RS's Italy guidebook will be well worth the money spent to buy it and the time to study it.
Speaking of money, it's never too soon to start thinking in € instead of $, so whenever possible, click on the currency option of the sources you use to see the price in €.
Have fun with the planning!
You can find accommodations in Rome on RonInRome.com. Or, you can go to Booking.com and filter for the neighborhood you'd like to be in.
We stayed in a 2bdrm apartment in Trastevere neighborhood in Rome. It was great and the price was very affordable. I found out about it on this forum.
Apartment 19
http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p300175
Just a piece of advice, in Italy make sure your hotel does have a lift, not always so obvious in Italy.
How old are your parents? What kind of shape are they in? What kind of shape are you in, for that matter. We're old enough to have adult grandchildren (excuse me while I go fan myself...I can't believe I just calculated how old our non-existent grandchildren could be!) But we're perfectly capable of climbing stairs and carrying our bags. So take stock before you make any reservations. By the way, we're fans of Hotel Aberdeen in Rome. It's in walking distance from the train station, and not too far from all the main tourist sites. Last spring we paid under €70 per night for a double. YMMV
