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Travel with out reservations-Tuscany in September

We are traveling to Italy in September for 3 weeks. Flying in and out of Milan, train to Lake Como, Dolomites, Venice, Tuscany. We plan to rent a car for our week in Tuscany. We have reservations for 4 of the nights. We are wondering how difficult it will be go with out reservations for 3 nights? When we were in France 5 years ago and driving through Provence, we drove through many villages we wished could stay in. Thought we would try that in Tuscany. We are turning the car in and taking the train to Cinque Terre for our last 3 nights. Any advice on whether train reservations are necessary , most of them are fairly short routes.
Thanks,
Laura

Posted by
11247 posts

I have not done this, but I plan to next time we have a week in Tuscany. I tend to be a little but too oriented to advance planning, but I am striving to be more impetuous. As September is "high season" in Tuscany, I think I would be most comfortable if I had a means of booking online with me and I would probably plan at least one night in advance of arrival. I am sure many others on this board have actually been this impetuous.

If the Cinque Terre is after Tuscany, I recommend keeping the car until La Spezia. Then you have only a short (7-15 minute depending on which town) ride. No reservations necessary for that train, but if you want to take a train from Firenze, for example, you can only buy tickets online a week in advance (regionale trains) and that won't necessarily guarantee you a seat. :-)

Posted by
11613 posts

I agree with Laurel. If you see a town you want to stay in, you can search booking.com and see what's available instead of randomly driving/walking around. I have booked online the night before or even the day of arriving in a city, I like flexibility but not the hunt.

Posted by
9 posts

Thanks , a few things to to think about. We should have figured September is busy . We had a hard time getting reservations in Rick Steve recommend hotels in Venice and Cinque Tere. Starting to worry a little about all the trains we need to catch.

Posted by
15043 posts

I often travel and find accommodations on the fly in Italy. You will certainly be able to find accommodations as at least some places will have vacancies.
However, unless you want to drive around and waste precious time walking into hotels until you find a suitable vacant room, you need a modern communication device preferably with internet connection capabilities (aka smartphone or tablet) so that you can more efficiently find a place in whichever town/area you decide to stop for the night. In the old days before Internet existed I would carry with me the catalog of all accommodation in the province(s), published by the Provincial Tourist offices, and just call from a phone booth (later cell phone) till I found a place. Today it's best and faster to search online.

Posted by
506 posts

I think it depends on how picky you are. I had a hard time finding rooms available for two couples back in January for May from Rick Steves recommendations, I think between the low Euro and RS popularity those go fast. I booked two trough the hotel web site of RS recommendations and the other two though Bookings.com. The hardest to find were Orvieto and CT. You can probably find rooms on the fly if you don't care about shared bathrooms and smaller rooms.

Posted by
11247 posts

Rick Steves' recommended hotels are fine, but not the be-all-end-all. I see his recommendations as a starting point, but in fact seldom stay in any on his list as we are quite able to find others on our own, whether apartments, B&Bs or small hotels. Booking.com will be your best friend for this endeavor.

Posted by
3387 posts

We've traveled all over Europe, including Tuscany, the Dolomites, and Venice, without reservations even in the height of summer. We have found that tourist offices in smaller places are often happy to help you. Sometimes we just see a sign on a cute place that indicates they have a free room and pull over.
It's not always that easy though...sometimes you have to settle for something that isn't so great either in charm or location, or you have to move on to the next town to find something. Just because you like a village doesn't mean there is lodging there or that there is anything free. It can sometimes be time consuming to find something so plan to pull in to places you are interested in staying early in the afternoon so you have enough time and don't waste daylight.
We usually only travel this way if we have a lot of time and aren't in a rush...seeing that you already have 4 nights reserved in Tuscany, maybe once you are there you can scout out a place you like and reserve a room for later in the week at the beginning of your 7 days? That way you won't have to be stressed about not having a place to stay after the 4 days are up?
You shouldn't need train reservations for these routes.

Posted by
10344 posts

The above posts are a good description of the potential challenges of winging it.
Better to know about these challenges before you go.
And September is a busy month in Tuscany.

Posted by
3696 posts

If you are ok with compromise, then by all means just wing it. I do most of the time and have found some of the most wonderful places I would have never found ahead of time. I am like you when I drive through a place and the town has the feeling I want, I will try to look for a room. It can take some time, but it can be part of the fun, as long as it doesn't take too long. I find running into a hotel that I see and like is far easier than trying to find wifi and start looking it up. If you are in a pinch, then go to booking.com, or again the tourist office is a great place. Bigger cities and if I do not have a car I usually book ahead now, but if I have a car there is always another place to drive to... all part of the adventure!