Priceline Hotel: Southern Italy - WON TRIP!

[IBDMC]

:) Hello, I won a trip for two to Italy last Sat. in NYC at a convention. The itinerary I have is six nights at the Duke Hotel in Rome, a four-star hotel. I can expand the trip at my desire. I just called someone from Italy and they suggested four nights in Rome, One night Sorrento, One night Amalfi, One night Positano, and Three nights Capri. I really don't like moving around that much as far as one night. I can deduct some of my Rome nights and add them elsewhere. I would just rather pick the places instead of the travel agent. SHe is trying to convince me of a tour, which I'm not interested in doing. Probably because she gets more commission.

I have a budget of five grand that I've won for the trip - pretty good, huh? I don't want to insult the people who awarded the trip, since I will be working for them as an independent contractor, and would love to stay at the Duke Hotel in Rome. It sounds lovely. I notice Priceline only does Rome. I'm just going to stick to the southern part of Italy this time and next time we go back visit the North. So any suggestions on great rooms at a great rate would be greatly appreciated! Or any suggestions whatsoever! I've never been over on that side of the Atlantic. Thanks!

[thesqueegeekid]

:) Hello, I won a trip for two to Italy last Sat. in NYC at a convention.

WOW!!! The most I ever won was $120 at Bingo on a cruise ship when I was 10 years old!!! :)

Enjoy your trip!!!

[blindman]

This thread has links to hotel booking sites for Europe.

We did a little of South Italy years ago.

Went to:

Pompei

Herculaneum (same but smaller)

Top of Vesuvius

Capri on a day out.

Naples.

Pisa

[WillTravel]

Congratulations!

I think the best sources of Italy travel advice are the Fodors Europe forum at http://www.fodors.com/forums

and the Italy forum at SlowTalk - http://www.slowtalk.com . The latter forum tends to favor longish stays, which is also my preference, but you can get much good general information. See what works for you.

[IBDMC]

Thanks everyone. Although I appreciate the congrats and helpful hints I was hoping to get more info. I will check out the sites you recommended. Thank you. DMC

[Romelle]

First, congratulations! MOLTO BENE!!

You can move at will around Italy on their trains. And they are very reasonably priced, frequent, and nice. Don't even think about driving in Italy, especially in the south. Life-threatening.

Sorrento could make a good base for about a week and you could see all those sights mentioned above with quick train rides.

Check out a web site www.venere.com. It seems to offer some of the best hotel prices. I got a hotel in Rome via it, that I had stayed at on a Cosmos tour several years ago so know it is nice and conveniently located - Caravel. Rome seems really expensive this year so I was happy with the deal. I rented for 3 nights and think there was some sort of package for that amount of time. Also was able to book a B&B in Venice using the same site You can move around Rome very nicely using their buses and their metro. The metro only has two lines, forming a big "X". Every time they try to dig for more lines, they run into "antiquities" and have to stop.

I've rented a tiny apartment in Florence via www.vrbo.com (Vacation Rentals by Owners). Haven't taken the trip yet, but the references all checked out and it looks very convenient. A week for around $1000 very centrally located. If you are staying at least a week someplace, at least consider this source. I've rented via it in Florida and was very happy with the results.

Have a wonderful time - Romelle

[IBDMC]

thank you, MY neighbor is going to Italy for the month of october and he uses vbro.com. Although, I don't think we're staying anywhere for a week and the travel agent has go to make her money, per the free trip, so I'm trying to figure out what is Priceline and Hotwire and then she can book those rooms. We've changed our plans to include Venice, Florence, Rome, Amalfi Coast for two weeks or more. Arriverderci, Only one of few words I know, DMC