Italy April 3-14 2018

One way to get an idea of how crowded a town might be on any given day is to check hotel rates. My go-to hotel booking website (also includes apartments) is Booking.com . I'd go there and check rates the nights you would stay. For fun, check a few nights earlier before Easter in Venice and before the marathon in Rome. You can probably see the difference.

If I were you, I'd go to Booking.com right now and book lodgings in every city as long as they have FREE CANCELLATION. Read the cancellation policies carefully. Usually, there is no charge at all to cancel up til a few days before check-in. It varies by property. Note down each one you book when it must be canceled by.

Use the map feature on Booking.com to see prices by map. You don't have to pick the perfect place yet - it's your first pass. Book something now you could live with. Maybe later you'll decided to try AirBnB - then you can go back and cancel your hotels or change to different hotels or whatever. There's not much point in waiting - the prices are likely not going down between now and April.

Before you book anything, you should start by deciding which parts of which towns to stay in. People can chime in with their favorite places to stay in each city. You'll get a variety of opinions.

I always prefer VRBO over hotels if im staying a city for a few days. We had great apartments in Venice, Florence, Rome.

After many trips, our criteria on apartment versus hotel or B&B is this: 3 nights or fewer stay in a hotel or B&B. 5 nights or more, an apartment. What to do with 4 nights? Apartment if we've been to the city prior, otherwise a hotel or B&B. Why? Because when you are new someplace and have limited time, it is nice to have a front desk or a host that can answer questions. In your case, I would lean toward a hotel or B&B everywhere you are going since they are short stays and all new-to-you places.

Do you only have from April 3-8 to see Venice, Bologna, and Florence before you have to be in Rome? That is only 5 nights for 3 great cities. I think you need to drop one.

Sorry, I see now that I misread your dates and you have April 3-11 for three cities, 8 nights. That is doable, barely.

3 nights each in Venice and Florence, 2 Bologna leaves only 3 for Rome. Maybe drop Bologna and add a night each to Florence and Rome.

Hi Jessica, I’ve booked hotels through Booking.com and Expedia and never had any issues. Definitely book something this week, as Andrew mentioned, with free cancellations. I book my hotels early (already reserved them for Sept. trip) so there’s a better choice of options/price. Don’t select anything on the edge of town where they will be cheaper; maximize your time by staying in the center of the historical city. For Venice, we stayed at Hotel Ala last time, and I really liked that location, and the vaporetto (Venetian waterbus) stopped close by without even needing to cross a bridge with luggage. It’s also near La Fenice, San Marco, the Accademia Bridge, etc.

When selecting hotels - after you’ve narrowed down your choices, check “travelers photos”on TripAdvisor to doublecheck if the site photos are accurate.

We like to stay at apartments if we’re at a location for 4+ days to cook a few meals and be able to run our clothes through a washing machine vs. hand-washing.

The weeks before and after Easter are school vacation times in many European countries, so count on crowds. Besides the other drawbacks of crowds, they slow you down. Look into getting advance reservations for blockbuster sights, like the Vatican Museum. No sense in wasting precious time waiting in lines.

I, myself, would skip Bologna this trip.

Since this is a period when a lot of people will be moving around on trains, you stand to save some money by buying train tickets early. But you must be sure of your schedule before doing that, because the cheap tickets are nonrefundable/nonchangeable.

I agree with the others that it would be better to bypass Bologna on this trip (unless you prefer to skip Venice or Florence). If April 3 is the day you arrive in Italy, it's likely to be one on which you're not up to much sightseeing due to sleep-deprivation and jetlag. You may not feel like doing more than walking around sort of aimlessly. So you really have just April 4 - April 10 (7 days) to see Venice, Bologna and Florence, with two of those days being partially lost to the move to another city. So five fully usable sightseeing days for three cities. It will feel very rushed.

You also have very little time in Rome, given that you'll use part of April 11 just getting there. Are you flying home on April 14 or April 15?

For sightseeing options you should consult a guidebook. Any Italian guide will cover Venice, Florence and Rome. I think Rick's may possibly not cover Bologna, so if that stays on your itinerary you'll need a different source of information for that city.

As a compromise, you could always stop in Bologna off the train for just a few hours - leave your bags at the station, walk or take a bus to the center of town, walk around a little, but most importantly, HAVE A MEAL in Bologna. Otherwise, it's not a particularly charming town in my view, but the food is amazing.

I've booked through Booking.com for several hotels in Europe. Never had a problem. About 2 weeks before I arrive, I email the hotel property (through Booking.com) to confirm my reservation. I agree that if you're staying 1-3 nights, use a hotel. Longer than than, an apartment is nice to have.
I agree with the other posters that 4 cities in the time you've allotted is really pushing it. Suggest saving Bologna for the next trip. Enjoy, Italy is wonderful!