Does anyone have any recommendations for hotels in Rome, Florence, Venice and Cinque Terre for family of 5? Traveling with my husband and three children - 10, 7 and 2. First trip to Europe with the kids and would prefer a hotel over an Airbnb.
Thanks!
You need to ask for or look for "Family rooms." Not all hotel have family rooms so they are more limited than double. Indicate directly to the hotel you needs and numbers. Look through the hotels recommended in Steves' guidebooks and various booking agencies. We have used a number of times Aberdeen and Sonya near Termini in Rome but have no idea of they have family rooms.
As a solo traveller, my criteria for choosing hotels is different than it would be for a family of five. Without knowing what price range you want, what comfort level or what part of each city you want to stay in, it's very hard to make suggestions. In the Cinque Terre, it would also be very helpful to know which of the five towns you plan to stay in.
I'd suggest buying a copy of the RS Italy guidebook as it has listings for good and reliable hotels in each of the places you mentioned. It also has lots of great information on transportation, sightseeing, etc. so it would be a good resource to pack along. Once you've had a look at the book and have scoped out some hotels, the group here will be able to provide information.
Most European family rooms only cater for 2 adults and 2 children, so for 3 children, your choice will be more limited. European bedrooms maybe smaller than you are used to and you will not be able to squeeze in 3 children where only 2 are allowed.
You may want to consider a mix of hotels and apartments, the latter being far more practical for your use, as you will get more space. Booking.com would be a good starting point. Eating out is expensive and an apartment would allow you to self cater for some meals.
I hope your trip is longer than 2 weeks for the number of destinations that you are visiting, particularly with a 2 year old. Venice is super expensive. What is your nightly accommodation budget - in Euros?
Rooms for 5 will be hard to find. I’ve had trouble finding family rooms for 4. Are you open to 2 rooms? That will greatly open up your options, but obviously will mean you and your husband won’t be in the same room. Also would be more expensive.
I’d go to booking.com on a computer (the app isn’t good for this) and search each location, putting in 5 people and your dates. You can filter by hotels (booking.com also offers apartments and villas). It will offer you 2 rooms in many hotels - be sure to note that and skip those if you don’t want 2 rooms. Some rooms for 5 will probably exist, but it will take some searching.
I know you said no apartments, but this is the ideal situation for one. You can get a 2 or 3 bedroom apartment for the price of a family hotel room. In a good location (hotels with rooms for 5 might not be where you want to be, because they are rare you might need to compromise on location).
You get more space for the kids to play (my kids at least hate being stuck in tiny hotel rooms), a kitchen for snacks (you don’t have to cook, you can just store milk and fruit!), and more privacy for you and your spouse (your own bedroom away from the kids!).
My kids go to bed early. In a hotel I’d be stuck in a dark room, but in an apartment my husband and I can have wine in the living room. Or, when we are lucky, on the private patio/balcony/terrace/roof deck with a view of the city.
Anyway, you probably have solid reasons for preferring a hotel, so ignore me, but if not you might want to consider apartments at least some of the time.
European hotel rooms are tiny compared to the US. Find a room in your house that's about 15'x20'. That's the average size including the bathroom and probably no closets. Can you deal with that with three kids and 3-4 beds?
That's the reason Mira suggested an apartment.
In Rome, we stayed at the Aenea Superior Inn in a family room with a private terrace, but there are larger apartments. Great neighborhood and close to a lot of sites and conveniences. They bring breakfast to the room each day as well. There is a small grocery across the street and other convenient shops nearby. LOTS restaurants! I would recommend!
hey markelpatel
when do you plan on taking this vacation, how many days and what is your budget in euros?
hotels are difficult to find a family room for 5, you'll need 2 rooms and an adult in each room. an apartment is more likely for you and family, more space, kitchen to store some drinks and snacks, find one with a terrace to relax.
you can only move so fast as your children can. how much luggage, elevator/lift, stairs to climb up, arrival and departure times, can you store luggage if too early for check in and if not do you store at train stations or is there baggage storage somewhere. pack light, maybe find an apartment with washer/dryer, in summertime it's hot, sticky, crowded, lots of waiting in lines, does place have A/C? any important sites you wantt to see and train connections, book early for cheaper fares, where are you flying from and does anyone have problem with jetlag, how many nights on the ground, takes about half day or so to move from place to plave. wake up, pack, get ready, walk/run to train: check into next place, unpack and get situated. if you have a car, get an IDP, if parking, where and how much and distance to hotel/apt, no driving in main cities because of restrictions, getting tickets to pay expensive fines later.
lots to think about with a family. when you have done your research, get a guide book, decide what's important to see, how tired will the kids be, how many museums, art, monuments, churches do you want to sightsee with them, come back and these posters will give you the good bad and ugly.
aloha
aloha
Check out https://sleeps5.com/ for hotels in many cities that sleeps 5+.
In Venice, we had a room for 5 at Pensione Guerrato. See https://hotelguerrato.com/ for details. The location was incredible.
In Cinque Terre, we stayed at Albergo Marina which was in Monterosso. See https://www.hotelmarina5terre.it/en/. They had a family apartment which was just a building away from their main hotel so was very convenient. We still got to go to the hotel for their amazing breakfasts in their lemon garden! Plus they gave us a free afternoon "snack" at their restaurant nearby which was our dinner. You could choose a bowl of pasta and a glass of wine and that was also included.
We did a big splurge one day and took "Angelo's Boat Tours" from Monterosso where we had a private boat that took us all around the 5Terre for the whole day. It was one of the favorite things we did on a month-long European vacation.
We did not stay in Florence but visited it for a day before spending a few days by the hill town of Volterra. We stayed in an amazing agriturismo called Podere Marcampo. See http://www.poderemarcampo.com/. You need a car for this but it was very close to Volterra. We loved their pool and the views from here!
Good luck!
Cindy
