My friend and I are going to Provence, the French Riviera (will probably stay in Nice) and Northern Italy (Cinque Terre, maybe Tuscany for a night, Milan for a night) for the last 2 weeks in September. Do we need to make a reservation ahead of time for either a hotel room or private hostel room that would accomodate 2 people? I would like to wait until we get to some of our destinations to find a place to stay, but want to make sure that we won't be spending hours searching and making phone calls to find a place to sleep. What do you think? Thanks!
Posted by
NYC, USA
219 posts
Marni, Wing it if you're adventurous! Go to the "booking centers" in the major towns usually in or near the RR station. There, the people would book the accommodations to fit your budget and needs in that town or surrounding area. Keep this in mind, there might be long waiting lines at these booking centers. But, then you could be the only person there. Good luck!
Posted by
Austin
203 posts
I would suggest at least making reservations for Friday and Saturday nights. Otherwise you're probably OK. However, making reservations is so easy nowadays. Why not take that anxiety out of the equation?
Posted by
OP
San Diego, CA, USA
29 posts
Thanks for all of your suggestions! Sounds like a good idea to book a room in Milan since we know which day we will definitely be there because we are flying out the next day from Milan. We will most likely be in Cinque Terre on Saturday night so I'm hoping that it will be okay to wait to find a room there. I'd like to be able to be spontaneous there and see what we find...
Posted by
Portland, OR, USA
389 posts
If you have the RS book on Italy I'd read his suggestions. This last trip was the first time I made reservations for every town we were going to because there were 6 of us, but RS says there are many cheaper/better rooms if you show up at the TI and ask for rooms on their push list - hotels that don't want to have a single room open for the night will rent for cheap. I personally have fun with those, but sometimes they aren't available and you have to pay more because the cheap seats always sell first.
Posted by
Austin
203 posts
If you are at all fussy about what kind of room you end up with, I would strongly suggest booking a room for a Saturday night in the Cinque Terre. When I was there (early June on a weekend) I talked to an Australian couple headed back to the train in the morning because they could not find a room in Monterosso for the night. Now if a non-luxurious room in somewhere like Riomagiorre would be OK, then go ahead and wait until you get there. Happy Travels.
Posted by
Anaheim, CA, USA
1455 posts
You can wing it, or you may panic like this fellow traveler
http://www.ricksteves.com/graffiti/helpline/index.cfm/rurl/topic/4642/why-cant-i-find-an-available-hotel.html
Posted by
OP
San Diego, CA, USA
29 posts
Thanks for your feedback Michelle. I actually read that one the other day and it turned out other people were able to find available rooms, he just wasn't looking in the right places. We will probably end up making some reservations anyway because my friend likes to plan more than I do, but I was excited about the prospect of finding a private room in someone's home when we got there. This is something I have never done before and it seems like it would be fun. Also, we are on a budget so we don't want to stay in a fancy hotel.
Well thanks everyone for your help. If anyone wants to suggest anywhere specific in Cinque Terre or Milan, feel free! THANKS!