My wife and 3 kids and I are headed to Italy and wanted to know about hotels or Villas?

Question

We heaed to Italy in August 2007 and are staying there at least 10 days. We want to see Rome, Florence, Pisa, Capri and Lucca at the very least. Most hotels I've checked into cannot accomodate a family of 5. Does anyone know of any hotels or other reputable choices (Apartments or Villas)? We would most likely be based in Rome and Florence and then travel from those Locations.

Answer 1

If you want to be based just in Florence and Rome then you need cancelling Capri from your list. It's a small island, very crowded in August, its rather far from Rome and to have some chance you should book in advance the hydroplane leaving from Naples port. This would be possible only If you stay at least one night in a Naples hotel, otherwise better you forget it.
My suggestion is to postpone the visit of Capri to a possible future trip in a different period of the year (better would be May-June or September). Then you could visit not only Capri but also Ischia island, Naples, Amalfi, Positano, Sorrento, Paestum,
Ercolano and Pompei (but you must remember, never in August).
On the contrary for the other towns August is right time since mostly of the italian residents will be on holiday by elsewhere. What will be for you a concrete problem is to succeed in finding an accomodation in hotel for yr family in a single room. Unless you want to afford the huge cost of a some suite I guess you'll need to book 2 rooms also because Villas and Apartaments are usually rented for minimum 1 week.
I don't know at this point how you prefer to split yr holidays since both sites (Rome and Florence) have so many highlight spots that 10 days would be not sufficient for just only one of them. However by assuming you'll stay 5 days in Rome and 5 days in Florence (by train you'll need abt 2 hours to move from to there; here is the link to check- http://www.trenitalia.com/en/index.html )
you should have time to see at least the best places. Rome has a very good service of subway connected with the most important spots.
In Florence all the top sites are concentraded in an area of abt. 2 miles per side and then it's very easy to be visited by walking.
You can do it in 2/3 days and then go from there 1 day to Siena and San Gimignano, 1 day to Lucca and Pisa (1 day would be enough to visit both -not too many things to see- in Pisa just the Leaning Tower in the Miracles Square with the Basilica and the Baptistery - in Lucca just a few churches,there are sooooo many of.., and the Defensive Walls-Le Mura).
I'm passing you a few links for the Lazio region (where is Rome)
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lazio
http://www.turislazio.it/index.php/turismo_eng
and theTuscany region (where are located Florence,Siena,Pisa and Lucca + many others)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuscany
http://www.turismo.toscana.it/new/sitoinglese/apet.htm
http://www.tuscanydream.com/english/welcome_e.html

I wish having been helpful.
Have a nice trip and enjoy yr staying in my Country.

Answer 2

Based in Florence and Rome is a good idea for 10 days in Italy. Yet while from Florence it is easy to make a day trip to Lucca and Pisa, it would be easy or a good idea to do so from Rome to Capri.
The reason is that it is not only to far and you’ll have to be depended on ferry schedules etc, but also there is a lot of beautiful thing to see on the way. Like the malfitana coastal road, which is very high trafficked at your time of travel. But yet it is very beautiful, and there there is Naples of course. You could stay a day there as well. But with a family you better find a nice town at the outskirts that rent apartment. I would give you a link to a nice family to a place where I was, but I couldn’t find it any more as it was through an agency.

Yet in Rome I can recommend to stay in an apartment at the center. (not in a villa outside, your time is valuable and the rides in the roman traffic is not a good idea, too much time an energy consuming), It is easier to explore Rome by foot and therefore the best is to rent a tourist-ready apartment for short term stays. It is cheaper then a hotel and more convenient cause you have a kitchen and don’t pay per person but for the whole thing. There are many agencies on the Internet yet the best is to find a site of the owner itself, so you’ll know they speak English and you’ll have a more direct approach and spare the middleman (the agencies send you to the owner only after you pay so you don’t know exactly what your are paying for)
One place I can recommend in Rome is this apartment
http://www.niceflatinrome.com/romanforum_offer.htm near the coliseum and the owners are an Italian couple who speak English rather good, they have a couple of other apartment if this is not available.

For Florence the site Mario above me mentioned looks ok.

Have a nice trip.

Answer 3

I suggest going to a hotel that either has the tram that runs through *slighty expensive* depends on how much yu are willing to spend. Or staying at one thats a little further away but they still have the buses come by and pick you up, and the prices arent that bad, we stayed there in March, and loved the fact that we never had to park and pay for parking just got on a bus *free by the way* and it took us to the parks that we wanted to go. and they run every half hour so you dont have to worry about missing a bus. Also i would start out by going to Downtown Disney, its a nice experience and its free, so i would do that the first night you get there just because its no hassle and not really busy. Then i would hit Disney World first, Disney World is usually about a 1 and 1/2 day thing. I find that is how long it takes to finish the park. Then defintely go to Epcot Center. Its great to see things around the world, and it has a lot of neat rides. The water parks are probably closed now, so you wont be able to hit those. MGM is okay. But its pretty boring for the kids. Really mre of a grown up kind of thing. Not many rides. Heres a webste, and it will tell you everything you need to know. But this is from my personal experience. Oh yeah and i recommend getting park hoppers. They will make the experience a lot more easier, and its cheaper in the long run.

Answer 4

I'm also in the process of planning a trip to Italy and have been using the website

http://www.initaly.com/toc.htm

I don't know how I would have done any of this without them. The people who run it are all Americans who have lived in Italy for over 10 years. They know the country inside and out. There is a list of many villas and apartments and you can request accomdations through them. There are pictures of all the places and they are all gorgeous! They go above and beyond to help you out and can answer all of your questions. Best of all there are no hidden fees. The website isn't just for accomdations either, it is a wealth of information about Italy. Have fun! Ciao!

By the way, I came across tons of places that would be perfect for a family of 5.

Answer 5

Unfortunately Europe lacks hotel rooms that can accomodate more than two people. On two of my trips to Italy we traveled with three people and even that was a challenge! European hotel rooms also tend to be smaller than American rooms. The cheapest solution seems to be to buy two rooms, two people in one and three in the other is possible. As for a suggestion on hotels in Italy that I am familiar with I absolutely reccomend the Hilton Cavalieri in Rome. It has great rooms (still the best i've ever stayed in) great service, great wiews of all of Rome, and good location. It is a bit pricey though at around $800 U.S. per night. Good luck and have fun in Italy, one of my favorite places to visit!

Answer 6

Hi,

Try seraching ITWG, Venere.com and TripAdvisor.
I know I have seen accomodations where you all could get a room.
Here is a good link to serach from:
http://www.italyexposed.com/bookings.shtml#accomodations

PS!
Maybe you should consider a kind of villa-rental?
Check out "Italian Villas & Apartments" on this page:
http://www.italyexposed.com/bookings.shtml#train

Hope this was helpful info!

Answer 7

Buy Rick Steve's book on Italy ~ very informative.

Answer 8

For less expensive places, stay on the outskirts.
Everyone else has given you good web-sites.
August is very hot and many Italians are on holiday.

Answer 9

Try this website
http://www.rentvillas.com/

I agree Rick Steves book on Italy is excellent!

Answer 10

Florence accommodations you can check on:
http://www.tuscanweb.com