Lodging Information From Our Fall 2022 Trip

 All Lodging Was Booked Through Booking.com

As of today, all of our lodging has been finalized for our upcoming Italian adventure. We chose, and are not compensated by, Booking.com to reserve all of our self-catering apartments in Italy. Because we have used Booking.com for several years including for our last trip to Italy in 2016, we receive a 10-15% discount on our bookings. Their "Free Cancelation" feature is very attractive and easy to use. There is almost no risk of losing money by reserving lodging through Booking.com. Almost all rentals on Booking.com do not require a deposit or payment when you reserve. And, you can cancel easily if you've found more suitable accommodation for your needs (actually for any reason). You do have to be careful to check for "Free Cancelation" before you book because not all options for rooms, apartments, or villas include that feature. We have done that several times in preparation for our trip during the past year. When the COVID surge early in the year influenced us to change our trip from spring to fall, we had to either cancel all of our reservations or change the dates. The process was pretty simple on Booking.com. However, during that process, we did completely change a couple of apartments. Luckily, we had started planning early. We also added 3 days to our itinerary which became a slight challenge that resulted in a few longer train trips between cities/towns. All has worked out well, in spite of our changes.

Our total lodging expenditure for 26 nights in Italy will be $2856.00 not including local taxes that are paid separately in cash at the apartments. Those taxes range between $1 and $5 per night per person which for us will probably add about $150 to our total. Each apartment's rate will be charged to our credit card before we arrive in Italy unless we haven't reached the "Free Cancelation" by date. Some of our later reservations will be paid while we are already there. The average cost for our 2 BR apartments with kitchens and washers, patios, balconies, and free wifi is less than $110 per night. The most expensive is $137 a night in Florence. The least expensive is $92 in Feltre. Also, there were lower-priced apartments in Florence, as well.

I hope that this information gives you an idea of what is possible when planning your own trip to Italy. I mentioned that there are washers in the apartments which is important to us because we each bring just one carry-on bag; that means only about 3-4 days worth of clothing, so, being able to clean our clothes is very convenient. The first time we visited Italy in 2011, we carried 2 huge suitcases that we had to lug around on the trains which at best was a pain. We learned a huge lesson. Next up: ideas for day trips from the cities where we are staying. So many choices...

Here are the places we've reserved for fall 2022:

Venice - Ca' Venere Apartment (1st and last night):

Ca' Venere Apt. ExteriorVenice

Desenzano del Garda - Red & Blu Apartment:

Red & Blu BR, Desenzano del Garda

Verona - Boutique Apartment Ca' Monastero

Boutique Apartment Exterior, Verona

Feltre - La Maisonette Apartment

La Maisonette entrance hallway, Feltre

Bologna - Tilia Apartment

Tilia Apt. BR, Bologna

Cortona - Donnaberarda Apartment

Donnaberarda Terrace with view, Cortona

Florence - Greenhouse Apartment 

Greenhouse BR and Hallway,  Florence

How Much Will It Cost?

 How much will it cost? This is always a tough question to answer on your own if you're planning your first trip to Italy. On this post, I'll share what our actual expenditures were on our most recent vacation in Italy. Whether you're staying for a single week or a month, the costs of traveling can be high. There are so many variables. One cost that I check often, mostly just out of curiosity, is the euro/dollar exchange rate. Another, that I receive email alerts from Kayak, Tripadvisor, Swiss International Airlines and Aer Lingus is airfare for the dates we're hoping to travel. A third might be the fluctuating room rates at hotels. Depending on where you choose to stay when you travel, which airline you use and whether or not to rent a car, your what you will spend can vary widely.

On our way!

   We have found, more than once, that our airfares turned out to be our single biggest expense. For that reason, and because we are retired, we have been fortunate to spend 14 to 16 days in Italy on each visit. Plane tickets are just too expensive for us to stay just seven days. But, if you have only 7 days, plan a less ambitious itinerary and get going! You can still have a wonderful trip if you focus on having the Italian experience concentrating more on one locale or two. More on this in a future post. On our first trip in June/July 2011, our economy tickets on Swiss cost $1252 each. In September/October 2014, our tickets cost $1420 each, once again, on Swiss. Last year, in November 2015, the cost was just $655 each on Aer Lingus! So, you can see a major fluctuation in prices. The 2015 trip wasn't planned or thought of, until we got the email price alert from Aer Lingus on August 28, 2015. By the 31st, we had booked our flights for November 7th. That gave just a little over two months to arrange lodging, renew our passports, reserve train tickets and pay deposits. On September 2, 2015, we had new passport photos taken at the post office and mailed our new applications. We also reserved a hotel room in Milan for our first three days in Italy. Since the great plane ticket price required flying into the Linate airport in Milan, we got to visit that city and area for the first time.
   Now, back to the costs of the trip. Our flights were a total of $1314; the hotel room in Milan was $345 ($115/night); our rental apartment in Bologna for the second three days was $338 ($113/night); seven nights at the apartment in Florence was $500 ($71/night) and one more night in Milan for our departure was $94. Our reserved seat train tickets that we purchased online before we left were $86. Those tickets took us from Milan to Bologna, Bologna to Florence and Florence to Milan all 2nd class on Trenitalia's fast trains, the Frecciargento and the Frecciarossa. The tickets prices were greatly discounted by buying them in advance online. Of course, then, we were tied into specific dates and times, regardless of weather or changes in plans. We had no problems with that.

Debbie relaxing in our Bologna apartment

Flights $1314
Lodging $1325
Trains (res.) $86
Other trans.$264 (taxis, regional trains, buses, ferries)
Food, misc.$900 (our pre-trip estimate was $1500)
 Total         $3889 (give or take $100-200)

That brings our total for the 14 day 2015 trip to $3889. (we had additional costs for boarding our dog, Sandie ($447 after a long-stay discount) and rental cars to/from the airport in Boston ($235) where parking our car would have cost about $200 for 16 days. We chose not to leave our car there for that long. Also, our US passport renewals cost about $250, which we won't have to do again for 10 more years. Please note that even if you have six months left until your passport renewal date, some countries, like Italy won't accept them. Get your passport renewed if you will have six months or less on their expiration date by the time you travel.
   Not only were the plane fares great, the exchange rate dollars to euros was the best we've had on our three trips: 2015 ($1.09), 2014 ($1.31) and 2011 ($1.46). We were paying about 26% less in 2015 than we were in 2011!
   On our 16 day 2011 trip, we spent about $6400 due to higher plane fares, larger apartment rental and a less friendly exchange rate. In 2014, four of us traveled together for 14 days and split the cost of the same 3 bedroom/3 bath apartment ($1834/$130 per night) we had rented in 2011, so our total costs were about $5900 even though plane fares were higher.
  Obviously, there are a lot of factors that can influence how much your trip will cost. Restaurant prices vary as widely in Italy as they do anywhere else. We rarely chose $$$$ expensive places to eat and several times each year, we prepared our own meals at our apartment. Lodging can be a huge expense with choices for a hotel room ranging from $45 to $750 a night. Self-catering apartments can run between $60 and $400 per night. You can save a lot of money buying some train tickets before you leave home. Museum tickets and passes can be pretty costly, too, but be sure to include them in your budget.
   Lastly, don't let the exchange rate prevent you from making your plans and going on the trip of a lifetime. And, once you're in Italy, the sooner you stop calculating euros into to dollars every time you eat out or buy something, you will begin to enjoy your trip even more. Italy is waiting for you. Get going!

From our balcony at Hotel Mythos in Milan