Please sign in to post.

Flexible backpacking through Italy in May

So after reading Europe through the Back Door and now Italy, I'm planning on doing maybe about a monthlong backpacking trip through most of the important places in Italy this coming May. I'm not crazy about luxury, but easily satisfied with budget travel, so I would go by train or maybe bus, sleep in hostels and be content with eating mostly street food and do picnics. I speak some French, Spanish, and learned enough Italian to get by.

So the one thing I'm worried about is finding ad hoc accommodation in every new city I arrive in. Rick says May has the best weather, so I'll go then. Rick frequently speaks about backpacking, and advises being flexible to stay a night longer at places that you really like, and that also sounds very reasonable. But then he goes on to recommend reserving a few months in advance. Well, that doesn't go together very well. I'll maybe know in which town I'll wanna stay one day in advance, but even that might not always work out. I'm convinced it would be a big mistake to plan everything out exactly day by day beforehand. If anything goes wrong, like bad weather, strikes, a missed train, or if I just like some place and want to stay, my schedule could shift and screw up all those reservations easily.

So how does that work? Did anyone here do a similar trip? Should I be afraid of having to spend a night outside, or to pay a fortune, or to search all day? Or are there enough budget places in Florence, Venice, Rome, Milan, the Cinque Terre, etc. where I likely won't need a reservation or that don't take reservations at all, where I can just arrive early to secure a bed? I'm hoping Rick's recommendations don't paint the whole picture, being geared more to people with somewhat higher expectations and no Italian skills.

Thank you!

There are no replies to this topic.