Camolgi and Cortona hotels

Sharon,

I've stayed at Hotel San Luca and would certainly recommend it. It's in a great location - nice views of the valley, convenient walking distance to Piazza della Repubblica, right beside the Shuttle stop from the rail station and comfortable rooms.

I stayed at Hotel Italia in Cortona, it was lovely. Cortona is home to many artists, very popular with tourists and ex-pats.

We stayed in Hotel Italia as well in Cortona, but beware...the hilltop town of Cortona doesn't have direct train access, you'll have to take the bus down to the station. Cortona is tiny...not a lot there....the bottom part of town isn't very pretty, more industrial - where most people live. We spent 2 nights in Cortona (again on a bike tour) and pretty much saw everything the first day.
If you get the right room, you'll get a view of the valley below....

Camogli on the west coast, (?) that's a pretty town, we rode our bike there on a trip from the Piedmont region. Walkable, lots of good places to eat right off the beach. Loved the hotel we had there because it faced the water...Albergo Casmona

You probably can't book hotels for June 2016 until end of this year at the earliest, but do check booking.com or Venere.com Make sure you get a hotel with cancellation option. Personally I start end of Sept for May travel. Some hotels might not open their rooms that far out, they may look like they are booked, when indeed, they haven't started to take reservations.

To add to Ellen's comment about views, I didn't have a great view from my room, but the view from the breakfast room was spectacular.

Thanks for the replies. I wanted to avoid trying to see too much in just two weeks which is why I decided on two bases of Camogli for one week- instead of the very popular Cinque Terre and one town in Tuscany hoping to take a train or bus to visit other towns. Cortona was recommended by a friend. Do you have another favorite and do you think a car would be the way to go? Thanks all.

If you have a car, nearly any town in Tuscany would do. For the most part, parking might be in a garage rather than at your hotel. A couple of years ago two friends and I rented a car and stayed at a hotel with parking onsite at one of the city gates of Siena, and we visited two towns each day. It was a ten-minute walk to the center of Siena. Let me know if you want the name of it.

Zoe, I'd love the name. I'm more than a year out but I love the research and want to plan the best trip for my needs. Much appreciated. S.

You have to realize if you pick a small town your transportation options will be a bit more difficult unless you have a car. That said, having a car can be an issue as well dealing with parking costs/tolls/rental fees etc.

Choose Cortona is OK, as I mentioned, it's not super simple to get to the train station, but totally doable and there aren't that many connections from Cortona that are direct, you will have to most likely change trains.

Since it sounds like you want to hike, you might do what we did, and take a self guided hiking tour of the region. We hiked in Umbria last year. While it's not as cheap as going it totally on your own, you do get the experience of going to small out of the way towns, spending the nights there while the day bus trip tourists leave town to you and the locals. You might consider one week of your trip doing a self guided hike trip, then the other week just on your own in Camogli.

We've used Nichols Expeditions for 5 or more trips now and they are great. There are also Italian companies that offer self guided tours. They set up the routes, give you printed directions and a map and move your luggage from town to town, as well as offer suggestions for places to eat and what to see. Our last trip took us from Perugia to a B & B where we had a cooking lesson, then the next morning they transferred us to the trailhead at Valfabbrica and we hiked to Assisi, then on to Spello, Bevagna and Montefalco.

The companies to check out - if you are so inclined: http://www.nicholexpeditions.com/ and/ or http://www.viadelsole.it/cycling/Ad-whywithus.html

We love our time in Italy, and it's always for an active vacation. We are not bus tour/or group people.

I'm happy to connect via PM, or I'm happy to call you to tell you about our experiences in Italy on trips. I'm not a rep for these companies I've mentioned, but have been a very happy customer!

The hotel in Siena is Hotel Minerva, on via Garibaldi. It's very near a couple of bus stops, too. Breakfast is included in the room rate, parking is extra but is in a covered garage on the property. Some rooms have views of the skyline of Siena. Several good restaurants nearby (up the little hill).

Thanks Zoe and Ellen. Cortona was recommended by a friend. Siena seemed a bit too big. Any others that would be smaller but maybe easier to get to? Thanks.

Sharon, you might consider Perugia or Orvieto. Both have pretty easy access to the train...Orvieto is on a direct route from Rome and Chuisi is just up the line, lots of trains connect there.

Both of these towns are smaller than Siena, and access to the train station is either a MiniMetro ride (Perugia) or Funicular (Orvieto) ride to the train station.

Personally, I love Orvieto, lots of nice people, very quiet at night and great views of the country side. Instead of trying to find a hotel, you might consider looking into a B&B instead... I booked a nice B & B in Orvieto using Booking.com only 4 rooms and they had a great breakfast, it was like staying with a family instead of in a hotel

Perugia is quiet at night, and during the day, as most tourists skip this hilltop town, not a lot to see/do there, but not far from Assisi or Cortona, the rest of southern Tuscany, and the rest of Umbria.

Just want to second (or third, I guess) your idea of Camogli. We stayed there (Hotel La Camogliese) and loved it. Took the boat to Portofino, walked from there to Santa Margherita and took the bus back to Camogli. Since Camogli is also on the train line, you have a lot of options there as well. We sent friends to Camogli after we'd been there, and they also loved it. Have fun!

Great ideas Ellen! Until I retire and can travel off season I think I'll stick with public transportation. Orvieto is a super idea and I will check into it. Janet, I'm excited to hear good things about Camogli. My next move is map out some dates, check the trains and I'll be back asking for hotels/B&B's in Orvieto and final itinerary comments. I might even divide that 2nd+ week between Orvieto and Cortona.