Jasper2009

A friend of mine is planning a honeymoon in Venice anbd/or Rome and has asked me for help. Unfortunately the budget is limited to 80-100 Euros per night (preferably incl. breakfast), and while I´m pretty familiar with the chain and luxury hotels, I honestly have zero experience with the mid-level accommodation options.

They´re quite flexible with regards to location:
Venice: either in Venice or outside Venice with easy access to Venice or possibly further away near a nice beach/town (with the option of doing 1-2 day trips to Venice)
Rome: either in Rome or slightly outside Rome with good transportation options to the touristy areas

Doesn´t have to be a huge chain hotel either; a nice, romantic locally owned hotel would work just as well - but knowing that many hotels are quite crappy I´d have to rely on personal recommendations from FTers.

Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

bdemaria

80-100Eu/night is not going to yield "mid level accommodations" in Venice or Rome proper, esp. not in the summer. If they are traveling Nov - March they might have better luck (except for Carnevale in Venice.) finding something at that price.

A # of FTers have had very positive experiences at the Crowne Plaza Venice - which is not in Venice, but on the mainland, at Quarto d'Altino. It is however in their price range. The beach hotels in Venice are on the Lido, and - again - if they are traveling in the summer - their budget will be a problem. In Winter/Spring many of the Lido hotels close.

They should check out venere.com - which lists a lot of 2* and 3* properties in Italy. They could also consider airbnb - which is becoming very popular option for many travelers to Italy - b/c the prices are lower and quality higher than what one might find at a hotel.

slawecki

i would recommend your friends stay in a more affordable setting. many small towns in italy have lovely 50-75 euro digs. they can go to some brand name area and brag about that. save venice, florence and rome for when they are old, rich, and tired like me.

there is plenty to do in the rest of italy, and it is much more enjoyable than rome and venice and florence if one is on a budget.

Jasper2009

Thanks for the recommendation. They´d be travelling in April and I can find hundreds of hotels on Expedia / Tripadvisor / etc. with a 3.5*-4* rating, so I don´t think it´s impossible. The bigger problem is I´ve never heard of any of the smaller (probably independently owned) hotels and I generally have little confidence in the accuracy of those reviews/ratings.

Jasper2009

You wouldn´t be able to recommend a few such places by chance?

The only issue is that those places should be reasonably accessible from any airport (public transport would be a bonus).

JMN57

in my experience, in cities like Rome & Venice, the market is pretty efficient and hotels at those price points will have compromises. depending on one's tastes, those may be acceptable or not. I'd echo Slawecki's comment that smaller towns offer better value/deals. Transportation becomes an issue though.

slawecki

man, that's really lame. tell them to get a library card and take out frommers and fodor guides of italy. read them, then get back to me, and i will answer questions about places they find of interest. if i cannot answer, bdmeria will. that person really knows a lot about italy.

Jasper2009

Thanks. I didn´t mean to get a detailed list with hundreds of options from you. But it´s not uncommon on FT to see a post like "I stayed at a very nice boutique hotel in this nice little town 60km away from (insert major airport) this year and had a great experience doing..." - basically info one would never find by reading guide books. I´m sure I can come up with dozens of more or less reasonable places myself, but typically the really great gems can´t be found this way, which is why FT is such a great place.

Perche

This is quite a secret place that not many know about in Venice. There's a Capuchin monastery on Giudecca that is attached to the Redentore Church. Redentore Church in Venice is very famous. They rent out rooms for two for about 40 euros per night. The rooms are spartan, but less spartan than a 100E hotel would be in Venice. Not exactly a honeymoon suite, but immaculately clean and there's not going to be anything better on such a meager budget. There is a private bathroom, free internet. No TV. Communal washer and dryer, and if you get up early or stay up late, it's no problem to use. There is a communal kitchen. People go to the grocery store around the corner, store their stuff there, and eat or cook. Eating in can save a lot of money, and some good bread, cheese, grilled vegetables bought at the grocery can make one heck of a decent sandwich to go along with a 4 Euro bottle of wine. It's called Foresteria Redentore. I've stayed their many times. The bedrooms overlook olive gardens, where you can see the cloaked monks tending the vines in the afternoon. There's only one downside. To get to Venice proper you need to take a vaporetto. That's 8E each way. You can cut that way down if they buy the Venice Connected card in advance. The Venice connected card provides airport transfer and vaporetto access for about 50Euros for one week, and they also have 24 hour and three day cards.

In Rome, there's a lot of seasonal and even daily fluctuation on price. You might get Hotel Parlamento in that price range. Not at all luxurious, but in the best of locations, clean, safe, breakfast included, etc.

Jasper2009

Thanks a lot!^ Will look into that place - definitely sounds like an interesting experience.

I´m considering booking the Radisson Blu in Rome for a few nights of their stay which I can get for <100Euros/night, but still have some more time to do some research.

soccerfanz10

Allow me to suggest they consider renting a flat for their stay. Aside from the costs savings, it affords more privacy, a kitchen and a more "local" feel.


Home Away has a good reputation although I've never tried them. In Rome I've had awesome experiences with -
Rome Loft
Rome Rents

retrovertigo

Forget Rome. Forget Venice. Have them go to Sorrento (across the bay from Naples) and stay in the Marina Grande at the Hotel Del Mare. I've stayed there many times and am actually going back in a few weeks before they shut down for the winter. They will never forget it. Actually even a day trip to Rome from there is very easy.

Jasper2009

Thanks a lot! That seems like a great place, and very reasonably priced. Also there seems to be a shuttle bus from Naples airport to Sorrento, so that would be quite convenient as well.

Perche

For someone who has never been to Italy, settling on Sorrento as the place to go is a very unusual recommendation. Sorrento is nice for a day trip, or as a launching pad for excursions down the Amalfi Coast. If they haven't been to Rome or Florence, it would be telling an Italian to forget New York City forget San Francisco, go to Santa Barbara. Nice place, but.....

Jasper2009

Thanks. At the moment it would be more likely they´d do 3 days in Rome and 3 days in Sorrento and not the entire stay in one place, but still checking how good public transport is between the two places.