On 14 Jan 2007 10:59:46 -0800, "scottdanzig"
wrote:
>Hi travel-people,
>
>Here's the vacation I'd like to do starting around the last week of
>May:
>
>Fly out to Rome
>Spend at least 5 days touring Rome
>Take the train to some place near Mt. Vesuvius. Possibly Naples,
>Capri, etc.
>Spend a day exploring the town
>Take a day tour of Mt. Vesuvius and Pompeii.
>Take the train to Venice.
>Spend two days there.
>Go home.
Time-wise, the schedule looks good, assuming you plan to spend two
full days (three nights) in Naples or vicinity.
>I do appreciate art, and architecture. I do like seeing the
>awe-inspiring tourist attractions. And I don't mind a day or two of
>just relaxing. Maybe Venice would be good for that.
You might better spend time just relaxing in the Naples area.
>My budget is lower end. There's at least 2 of us going. We also might
>have a friend joining/leaving us mid-vacation, so hopefully the hotel
>rooms can accomodate an extra body. I'm looking for 3 to 4 star hotels
>that are in the touristy areas of each of my destinations, priced at
>less than 100 USD/night. I made the mistake once of staying in a
>non-touristy area of Brussels, and that was a pain in the ass.
3 or 4 star hotels under 100 USD per night are very scarse. You can
find some nice 2 stars, though. In Italy the number of stars has
little to do with the attractiveness or cleanliness of the hotel.
Stars are awarded for certain features. A 3-star hotel has to have an
elevator, plus all of the things on the 3-star checklist. This means
that there are some very nice hotels which don't have elevators and
can't install them because they're in old buildings. If you don't mind
walking up a few flights of steps, these hotels might suit you just
fine.
www.venere.com is a good website for finding hotels in Italy.
Rome has very few hotels under 100 dollars a night, and I doubt that
you'll find one in the Piazza Navona area. Here is one of my favorites
in that area:
http://www.hotelarenula.com/
This is a 2-star, with no elevator, but with very nice rooms, nice
bathrooms, and air conditioning. Double rooms are 125 euros and an
extra bed costs 21euros. This hotel is within walking distance to
nearly everything. You can even walk to the Vatican from here. In the
evening, you can walk across the bridge to Trastevere and have dinner
in a nice restaurant there. There are also good restaurants nearer the
hotel.
In Venice, there are lots of cheap hotels near the train station. I
wouldn't rule out Venice based on the crowds. If you just venture a
little bit off the beaten path, you will find quiet little streets
with almost no one around. I've been to Venice during Carnival and in
mid August; these are the most crowded months, but there is always a
quiet canal nearby where you can relax. Here is a cheap hotel in
Venice, where I have stayed. It may not be the best, but it's clean
and convenient.
http://www.minervaenettuno.it/index-eng.htm
In this hotel you can get a double room for about 100 USD if you're
willing to share a bath. With a private bath, it's 110 euros. A
triple costs 110 euros, 160 with private bath.
In the Naples area, I can suggest a hotel in Sorrento where a friend
of mine stayed and which she liked very much. Sorrento is a good base
for exploring this area. It has good trasportations possibilities and
is within easy reach of Naples, Pompeii and the Amalfi coast. The
hotel is very basic, but it's in an ideal location overlooking the Bay
of Naples. They don't have a web page, but here are their particulars.
They're closed in the winter, but I think you can reach them by
mid-March. It's better to fax than to call if you don't speak any
Italian.
HOTEL LORELEI ET LONDRES
Via Califano 2, Sorrento 80067, Italy
Phone: 081/8073187
Fax: 081/5329001
If you're in the area for two full days, you might have time for
Naples, and Pompeii, and also take a bus ride along the Amalfi coast,
maybe stopping over in one of the towns along the coast. Positano
would be a good choice. You can get to Naples from Sorrento either by
commuter train (the Circumvesuviana) or by boat. It might be nice to
go by boat and come back by train. You can also get to Capri by boat
from Sorrento. All in all, you might want to spend three days here.
You could cut one day from Rome or Venice.
You might want to find an open jaws flight into Rome and out of
Venice. Otherwise, you'll have a long train ride back to Rome on your
last day. For getting from Sorrento to Venice, first you would take
the Circumvesuviana back to Naples, then a train to Venice. There's a
night train that leaves Naples at 7:57 pm and gets into Venice at 5:24
in the morning. This would work out well if you don't have problems
sleeping on trains. It would give you an extra day of sightseeing and
save on the hotel bill as well. If you want to do this, I would advise
you to buy your ticket (with a reservation) as soon as you arrive in
Italy. There are "couchettes" (with 4 or 6 bunks in a shared
compartment) and sleeping cars with private or semiprivate
accomodations. I tried to find the prices on the trenitalia web page,
but I can only find the prices for seats. (44 euros). Usually the cost
of a couchette isn't a whole lot more than the cost of a seat.
The web page for train schedules is:
http://www.trenitalia.com/en/index.html
--
Barbara Vaughan
My email address is my first initial followed by my surname at libero dot it
I answer travel questions only in the newsgroup |