Wrestling with Cinque Terre reservations. Finding the CT sites that forward my request to hotels, and they all say "We're ever so pleased to provide you with reservations for 120-130 euros. Please reply with you're credit card number." Looking at the IP address shows the CT tourist site is located in Rome. Oh well, it's better then Lagos I suppose. Don't get me started on Lagos. So, I resort to Google maps....and when you zoom in close enough, you find hotels and B&B's, in addition to restaurants and bars, etc. Google seems to smash up whatever has been written about places with the address, and voila! I can see ratings and comments from venere, etc. When I click on a place, I can select "more" tab and look at edit history. This allows me to see that some place has been added in the last month. Maybe not so much with that place. This seems like it might break the CT "tourist board" cartel. Google manages to translate italian to english. There may be hope. Has anyone used this?
Posted by
Seattle, WA, USA
120 posts
Yes, that's how I located my hotel in Rome. Location was very important to me, so I zoomed into a likely area, clicked on 'places,' and started my research. For Florence, I went through the same process. As it turned out, the hotel I chose was also recommended by. R.S.
Posted by
Oak Park, Illinois
4535 posts
You do realize that you just mangled French, Italian and English all in the title? Just kidding, good advice...
Posted by
Alta Loma, CA, USA
1446 posts
Wow, never knew about Google Maps. I did a quick search & you're right, it's a great tool! Thanks so much for sharing this information Ted. It will definitely be useful in planning my next trip.
Posted by
Seattle, WA, USA
7737 posts
And if you're really fortunate, Google has done their StreetView photo capture and you can actually get down to street level and take a look around. This kept us from accidentally booking at a hotel that had a McDonald's in front. :-) Unfortunately for this feature, sections of a lot of the historic centers of cities/towns in Italy are closed to cars, so Google can't take photos except from the edge. And in some cities (Verona, e.g.) Google completely ignores the entire historic centers. Venice, of course, remains immune to Street View. So far. :-)
Posted by
Seattle, WA, USA
120 posts
RE: Venice
The Veniceconnected website ( http://www.veniceconnected.com/ ) offers something very similar to Google Earth Street Views. Apparently they went around in a boat and captured every canal. You could also place the 'camera' on paved areas. Both offer 360 degree views and the ability to move along a path. Having made this claim, I just checked the site, and, for me at least, the viewer was not working.
Posted by
Belleville, Ontario, Canada
58 posts
I found booking a room in CT as simple as any place else in Italy. I found a place listed in RS's Italy book, emailed them directly from the email provided in the book, got a prompt response and then reserved with my credit card (can be done through email or by phone). However, I've been using Google maps to locate my hotels and get directions! I've got great confidence that I'll be able to walk to all of my hotels when I go in May/June using my print out of Google Maps...at that point I'll be able to report if this method was reliable or not (I got lost looking for 2 hotels on my trip last year only relying on the RS maps in the book).