My wife and I are taking our first trip to Italy in mid-November. We are planning on staying in Florence, Parma, Sienna and Rome (something like this anyways). We have never traveled in Italy before, but have had several friends tell us to not book hotels ahead of time and find lodging after arrival in each city. Could you please make any recommendations regarding booking ahead or getting lodging as we go during this time of year.
Thanks!
Patrick
Mid November you will probably be OK. I'm going in mid October, and have booked all my rooms... but I would do that whenever I go. I like to check out the hotels on-line to make sure it will be a good fit for me and read all the reviews so I have an idea of what I am getting. Plus I have a very tight budget (45 euros per night), so booking in advance means I'm able to make sure it'll fit within my budget.
There is nothing wrong with booking ahead once your itinerary is set.
November is low season for all those locations, so you shouldn't have many problems finding places the day before or even the same day.
But if you just wing it will you have with you a device with which you can do searches online (like an IPad)?
All depends on how you like to travel....I wing it most of the time, every moment planned stresses me out...for others the opposite is true. I have always found great places to stay...just find a town you like, look around a bit and walk in and ask if they have a room. If not, drive on, but nov should be easy.
Some people like to wing it and have the flexibility without a lot of pre-planning. Nothing wrong with that.
But consider how much time you will spend searching for a hotel instead of sightseeing. How important is the quality of the room/hotel you stay at? And many hotels offer discounts for pre-booking (though often with non-cancelation policies - always carefully read the terms).
As Terry kathryn said, it depends on your travel style, but also on what you're doing on a particular day. More and more, we've had most of our rooms booked ahead of time, but we've also generally known where we planned to be on a given day on our last few trips. Other times, winging it, you have more flexibility if you're not tied down to a certain town and a certain hotel or other lodging. With days getting shorter in November, if you won't be arriving in a place until late, maybe having a room reserved would be nice, so you're not trying to secure one after dark. That would also assure you of having a room waiting for you even if you don't plan to arrive until evening, giving you more time in the place you'd spent the day. When traveling on the fly, getting rooms as we go, we've sometimes stopped in the Tourist Information office in a town or two ahead of our destination, and had them call ahead and find and book us a room. That can save you time and ensure you don't arrive in a town and have to start looking for a place to stay.
I agree with Douglas, I prefer not to spend time looking for a room once I arrive at the train or bus station. Without reservations I don't have to leave a place when I would like to spend one more night or two there (the biggest drawback to booking in advance for me).
I take my iPad with me, there is free wifi almost everywhere, so when I'm ready to leave, I can book a hotel the day before or the day of arriving there. I use booking.com to compare location, price, amenities, and to read reviews. You can locate the place on a map.
When you decide what cities you are staying in for sure, we can give specific recommendations. For example, in Florence I like Hotel Bigallo near the Duomo or Hotel Paris near the train station. In Rome I like Hotel Teatro Pace or Hotel Genio, both near Piazza Navona. Hotel Genio is a bit worn in the hallways, but has a great rooftop terrace where breakfast is served and has views of Rome. It also has a major bus stop and taxi stand just a few meters from the entrance.
Patrick, you do have the Rick Steves Italy guidebook, right? As for your specific question, I agree with the others that it all depends on how you like to travel. Personally, I do a lot of research well in advance so I can have the pick of the hotels/B&Bs/apartments that best match my preferences. Not surprisingly, the best places in general book up before the lousy places, esp. the smaller Mom & Pop hotels that we really like.
Thank you all very much for your input. We are in the process of setting out itinerary. We are flying into Milan and out of Rome, making our way south as we go. I think our goals were Siena, Florence and Rome, though we are open to suggestions. We usually like to stay, relatively, grounded as we travel and really want to spend more quality time in fewer places. We have 10 "tourist" days and two (flight) travel days. As discussed, first day would be in Milan and then.....thoughts? I am not sure Venice at the top of our list for this trip as we will likely come back during warmer weather (is this wise?)
Thank you all again.
You really don't have enough time on the ground to go to all of these cities. Staying both in Florence and Siena would be redundant, as they're both in Tuscany. Stay in Florence and do a day-trip to Siena. Especially with this being November, shorter daylight hours, you'll have a better time in the "dark" in Florence's Piazzas. The fountains will be lit and beautiful! You could easily do 4 nights in Florence and finish the trip with Rome. Both of these cities have so many sites, and so much to do that you will barely scratch the surface, especially if you take into account the "day trips." From Rome you could spend a day at Ostia Antica, Ancient Roman Ruins, not as far as Pompei, but equally impressive, although smaller and much, much closer to Rome.
Rome and Siena have Many Visitors all year long, and I, personally, would feel better having a reservation in both places. I looked yesterday for a hotel reservation for my favorite hotel in Rome for January and it's BOOKED! Shucks.
I was in Venice a very long time ago in November, and maybe we were unlucky but it rained nonstop, which certainly diminished our enjoyment of the canals, etc. Much better in the Spring or earlier Fall.
Seriously, One night in Milan, 4 Florence (with a day trip to Siena (and Fiesole), 5 Rome, day-trip to Ostia Antica. Trust me, the non-day-trip days will fill up. Remember shorter hours of daylight will effect your outdoor hours in a smaller place like Siena. Get an early start on those day trips.
Thanks Donna. I think we will cut back and plan on staying in Florence and Rome.
You are wise to limit your stay to Florence and Rome. You will barely scratch the surfaces of those two cities. While in Florence we took a day tour that included San Gimignano, Sienna, and Pisa, well worth it and not too pricey. We had reservations in both Rome and Florence after much online research on tripadvisor.com specifically for those cities. We wanted to choose hotels in specific areas so we could walk to practically all of the sights and/or be near transportation. We never used public transportation in either city and had a hotel in Florence a block from Ponte Vecchio and walkable to all the sights, opera, and even the train station. In Rome we had a hotel around the corner from Campo de Fiori and a 20 minute walk to the Vatican. Both hotels were modestly priced and just excellent locations for walking (and eating!).
