BombayBabu

I am travelling to Italy and am looking for suggestions to travel from Vienna to Italy, stopping at Venice, Milan, Florence, Tuscany and ultimately ending up in Rome. Would like to do this by train/bus (want to avoid driving) with stopovers of one or two nights. Tips on finding decent but inexpensive hotels with minutes access to train stations and attractions. Looking forward to all your great responses. Thanks in advance!

ellenem

You can do your itinerary by train. For trains in Italy, check here:

http://www.ferroviedellostato.it/homepage_en.html

I suggest you stay at least two nights (if not more) in each location.

charnees

Many guidebooks have sections on accommodations that list them by price level. Or you can go to tripadvisor or a similar site. If you stay somewhere for 3 or more nights you can rent some apartments. Look at sleepinitaly.com, VRBO.com to start with.

In Florence, the historic center is so small that everything is within a few minutes' walk of the sights. Including the train station. That is somewhat true in Rome, where Termini station is not far from the Roman Forum area, and just a short bus ride to most else. Venice is an exception because the train station is at one end of the canal system and you take public boats (vaporetti) to the center. But even then, most of the place is easy to walk, or to take a vaporetto to. I am not familiar with Milan except that the train station is downtown. Tuscany is another issue. Some places like Lucca and Pisa are accessible by train, and it seems most people get to Siena by bus from Florence.

BombayBabu

This is fantastic, guys, much appreciate the input. This is my first foray into this media. It works, thanks again! From posts elsewhere I have concluded that driving from Vienna to these places means grief, so I canned the idea. Now I have to plan well located stays, walking distance to train stations and attractions. I will check out the links suggested. Would appreciate any other info to make the days worthwhile (like don't miss this sight/attraction/restaurant etc. Also any ideas on packing light? Travelling by air an then land through all these places means lugging as little as possible.

ellenem

Many of your questions are answered frequently on this forum. Do a search of the Europe forum about each individual destination. The Travel Tips forum has a number of packing light threads.

PalenQ

For great info on Italian trains check out these superb IMO sites - www.seat61.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.ricksteves.com. There are zillions of hotels of all shapes and prices surrounding Rome Termini station, Florence's Santa Maria Novella station and Venice's Santa Lucia station - I always have a hotel a few blocks from these train stations so I get off the train and in my hotel in a matter of minutes.

kfusto

Read the trip reports for the cities on your list to get ideas of what each offers. I agree with no less than 2 nights in each destination.

Booking.de is a very resource for hotels with comprehensive reviews by folks who have stayed there - not a requirement on TripAdvisor.com. http://www.booking.de/country/de.htm...d_currency=USD

PalenQ

Tips on finding decent but inexpensive hotels with minutes access to train stations and attractions>

For really inexpensive accommodations check out Let's Go Europe, which I have used for years to track down budget hotels, pensions and B&Bs - I recently stayed in a nice B&B right near the Florence train station for 35 euros - unlimited breakfast included - but the cost of hotels in Italy varies as to the season - in peak season of summer that room would have cost over twice as much - what time of year are you going?

BombayBabu

Thanks, guys! I am planning around june/july timeframe. I am checking out some of the info here. Will also check other forums that is destination specific. Will let you know how it went. This is my first time out to Vienna and Italy. I am really looking forward to it.

StCirq

I can hardly think of a single city in Europe where access to train stations and main attractions is minutes from any hotel. I think you need to rethink that requirement. If you consider the age of most of the main attractions relative to the age of the RR stations, it should be clear why. It's true there are usually low-cost hotel options near train stations, but that doesn't mean they're going to be minutes from the main attractions.

BombayBabu

How are you folks doing? Hopefully well! I have finally decided that I will travel to vienna, make a side trip to Budapest (during the week I am in vienna), then leave Vienna on the way to Rome with 2 night stopovers in Venice, Milan and Florence. I have made enquiries (remember this is my first venture to these places) and have sourced a 6-day pass with a bonus 7th day for train travel through these destinations. This will cost me $430(x2) US plus $15(x5) reservation fee for each destination. I have browsed various euro-rail sites and am completely confused with flexi passes, saver passes, point-to point bookings etc. Any suggestions are welcome! I am also confused with the array of hotels, inns and B&Bs and would appreciate any tips on places to stay that are located near train stations and attractions. I look forward to your specific experiences. I am looking for accomodations for 2 preferably with breakfast included that is between 40 to 60 euros a night in June 2011. Thanks!

ellenem

For your entire itinerary, Railsaver.com recommended 2nd class point-to-point individual tickets for a total of $208 per person, including seat reservations.

Take the $200 per person savings and add it to your extremely low hotel budget.

tuscanlifeedit

Please do as ellenem suggest and purchase 2nd class, point to point rail tickets.

With $400 extra dollars to spread over your itinerary, you have a much better chance of finding rooms. Right now, in many cities, your budget is in the range of hostels and not private rooms with breakfast.

How many nights on the ground? Would you consider skipping Milan? I'm not sure your very limited tourist budget would give you as much bang for your buck there, as it might in the other cities you plan to visit.

In any case, try using http://www.eurocheapo.com/ to search for rooms.

Dayle

Bombaybabu,

You should rest assured that Venice, Florence and Rome are very walkable cities. Most of the main sights you will want to see require nothing more than walking - if you stay in the Centro Storico of each city.

Eurocheapo hotel site mentioned aboved is a divison of venere.com. On that web site you can sort by stars, price, or location. If you sort by location, check the map shown on the website in relation to the sights. That will help you choose a hotel/B&B/hostel.

What do you really want to see in Milan? Unless you have a very high priority short list, I would skip it for this trip. Those 2 days would be much better used in any of the other cities you plan to visit. Milan is nice, but not a top priority compared to the others!

You should not take more than a 21" rolling suitcase and some sort of small tote. Those train stations have LOTS of stairs.....pack one week's worth of clothes, 1 pair of very broken-in shoes in addition to what you wear, laundry can be done along the way. The less you take, the happier you will be.

Buon viaggio!

BombayBabu

Ellenem: Thanks for your suggestions. However, when I did a multi-point on railsaver I came up with $389 p/p and it automatically gave me a 5 day 1st class pass from Vienna to Venice to Milan to Florence with last stop Rome. When I asked for point to point 2nd class it totaled $271. How did you get $208?

Further, since I am going to be in these places for multiple days, would it be better to get the rail tickets (since they ply every hour) at each destination instead of booking ahead? Thanks a bunch!!!

ellenem

I may not have chosen your itinerary correctly since I don't know your exact dates. I just plugged in your itinerary choosing a random date. With the itinerary set, I toggled back and forth between "Always railpasses" and "If less expensive."

A recent thread here has discussed that the Railsaver calculator does not show the cheapest discounted fares, just the standard fares, so in many cases you might be able to purchase point-to-point tickets even more cheaply. The Railsaver calculator is a starting point.

In Italy, if you book ahead, you may get some good discounts on tickets. Some of these discounts may still be available even a few days ahead of time, but there are no guarantees. If you are pretty set on which trains you want to take, you could wait until you arrive in Italy, but book all your tickets at the first stop in hope of scoring some discounts.

abenedek

To give you an example of the discounts ellen was referring to, I purchased two 2nd class tickets from Milano Centrale to Venice for 70% off on the Trenitalia website. The base fare for each ticket was 31 euros. I paid 9 euros each for a Monday morning train in May.

For the same train, the 1st class tickets were discounted about 20%. I've also seen trips (Venice to Florence) where the 1st class tickets are discounted 30-35%, but the 2nd class tickets are 20% off.

It takes some time to get used to it, but I had no problems booking on the Trenitalia site. If you are on a tight budget its a very good way to same some money. Yes you would need to be more strict with your planning and catch the trains you've booked, but then you could add to your hotel budget as the others have already recommended.

Select the train you want and then click CONTINUE to see if there are any other fares available besides the base fare (the page with the different train time options only shows the base fare). The one I purchased was the MiniFare. Just be sure to read all of the terms and conditions to understand the rules for whichever fare you buy.

Sampaguita

Get a copy of Rick Steve's Italy book, he has the agenda's worked out perfectly for folks using public transport to the popular destinations as well as recommendations for good inexpensive lodging

PalenQ

I am planning around june/july timeframe>


Well IME the earlier you go to Italy's tourist meccas - Rome, Venice, Florence, etc the better. July will be much much more mobbed in these places than June and a lot hotter as well with avg highs in Florence I think being in the 90s and often humid as well. June will also see a lot more availability of cheaper hotels and less long lines to get into museums, Vaticano, etc.