<p>Childless Aunt is taking two nieces to Italy this spring. They are thinking Rome and Venice.
Looking for hotel suggestions. The Aunt has no children and earns in the six figures and likes a nice hotel. So while she doesn’t want to pay $1000 a night she would spend 500-600. Important to be in a safe area that they can walk and use public transportation. They will not have a car.
Also for those who have traveled to those cities what do you suggest as must see’s. The girls are 13 almost 14.
This will be the first trip to Europe for the girls. The Aunt has been to Italy but not these cities.</p>
<p>Rome:</p>
<p>You don’t have to stay in a fancy hotel on swanky Via Veneto to have nice, safe visit. We stayed in a hotel near Piazza Della Repubblica, and it was just fine.</p>
<p>Must sees: The Colosseum, The Forum, The Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, St. Peters, Ara Pacis, Baths of Caracalla, The Forum of Trajan, Piazza Navona, Trevi Fountain, I could go on…the list is endless. Also a day trip tour of Pompeii is great.</p>
<p>Venice:</p>
<p>Sorry, I don’t know Venice.</p>
<p>Also, if shopping is on the agenda in Rome, the area around the base of the Spanish Steps has a lot of shops. Plus at the Spanish Steps themselves is where a lot of teenagers – backpackers, tourists, (and pickpockets) etc. hang out. The nieces will probably want to make the Spanish Steps scene at least once. There are some good restaurants in the Spanish Steps area too. Actually, there are good restaurants everywhere in Rome.</p>
<p>I lived in Italy for almost five years, and I would personally skip Venice for Florence. It has much more to offer.</p>
<p>I would skip Rome for Florence. Venice could wow most people if you have never been. I like Westin Excelsior on Lido at Venice. You get a bit of surf and turf. The hotel is right on the beach(surf) and the rooms are huge. It’s also a sister hotel to other hotels in Venice(turf), so you could take their water shuttle to St. Marks squre.<br>
In Florence there is also a very nice Excelsior hotel (sister hotel to the Grand Hotel) right in the center of the City. Florence is great for shopping, sight seeing. It’s a walking city. It is one of my very favorite cities.</p>
<p>I agree with Qwilde. I would skip Venice and substitute in another city (Florence is a good suggestion). Rome is a large city with amazing historical sites, shopping, and tons to do. It was nice to see Venice, but there are definitely many places in Italy with more to offer. Girls that age will want to be in fun, active cities with lots of stuff going on. I think they’ll have more fun in another city than in Venice. </p>
<p>I don’t have any hotel suggestions (I never remember the names of hotels), but they’ll have a great time. They are very lucky. I was that age the first time I went to Italy, and I had a fabulous time.</p>
<p>My daughter adored Venice and Florence but thought Rome was overcrowded. She was in Rome by herself but joined us in Venice and Florence. Her favorite city was Verona, where she also went on her own. </p>
<p>I’m kinda cheap about hotels–I wouldn’t dream of spending more than I have to–we stayed at the Hotel Diana in Venice, great location, small but clean and decent rooms <only two=“” stars=“”>. I choose hotels by location. I’d rather be close in and walkable than farther out and more luxurious. This one is right next to St. Marks Square. There was a pizza place sort of next door where we had wonderful and reasonably priced pizza every night for the three nights we were there.</only></p>
<p>There is also a Prada outlet outside of Florence, which definitely makes it a must vist. We also like Luca outside of Florence.</p>
<p>Here is a tip - you could bargain at major stores when you are shopping in Italy. Some of those stores (Prada, Gucci…) will have sales for their “very good customers.”</p>
<p>Try the Hotel Alexandra on Via Veneto.</p>
<p>We took our kids to Italy for the Olympics in 06. Stayed in Rome, Milan and Venice (2nd time for h & I).</p>
<p>Venice is our favorite city in the world. We stayed at the Splendid Suisse (it finished renovations in 06 and the room are gorgeous). For 600 you can a two bedroom suite each with their own sitting area that are connected through a private hall. (we pd 660 per night in total) The bedrooms overlook the streets or canals. It is a hoot to hear them sing O Sol Mio. The Suisse is ideal in location, only 2 blocks for the Square and the Rialto. They have a rooftop restaurant which would be perfect in the spring. We stayed there for our honeymoon and had breakfast there. The restaurant has excellent food.<br>
When shopping as soon as you get to the top of the Rialto Bridge there iis an excellent leather shop on the right…worth every dime, my d got a lime green wallet and people thought when we returned that she got coach b/c a few mo. later that was the color they came out with it, but when yiou touch it you can tell it is differently better. First time when h & I went $$$ was tight and didn’t do the gondola, this time we did and learned a lot…kids loved it, esp. when the gondolier said Venice isn’t sinking the water is rising LOL</p>
<p>As for Rome we stayed at Lord Byron, it is quaint, rooms are gorgeous, but to out of the way, stay closer in. Our splurgewas a private driver and tour guide. Well worth the money, didn’t wait in line at the vatican, took us to the catacombs, knew everything about the city, known landmarks (pantheon, trevi) and off the wall sites( a small church that had flood markers) and took us up a hill that overlooked all of Rome (I can still see it in my mind). The cost was 850 for a family of 5 for 2 days included private tour guide for the vatican (she spent @ 4 hrs. with us, and was with us alone, nobody else).</p>
<p>Milan was horrible and would never go back there, but if you go stay at the Westin it was right across from the train station, and is a beautiful hotel.</p>
<p>Turin is somewhere I would go again in a heartbeat, cute quaint town. Side note the symbol for the Olympics was a spire, the reason why is the spire was destroyed in WWII and the jewish congregation paid for it to be rebuilt. For young girls they have great shopping (stay no more than 2 days though)</p>
<p>Our next trip to Italy will be Florence, so I can’t give suggestions…only big city h & I haven’t hit yet, but when we do go again I will be staying in Venice AGAIN.</p>
<p>Finally, we did our entire trip, including airline through AMEX travel. They set up everything, transportation to & fro hotels, rail, tour guides, restaurant reservations. They had a different hotel for Venice, but since we honeymooned there I wasn’t budging. We used points to upgrade airlines and the tickets came straight from AX. They sent all of the confirmation numbers at least 1 month in advance, contact people for their co in US and Italy, same is true for tour guides, rail and restaurant. They had a tray of cookies or goodies sent up to our room within minutes of arrival. Also since we used AX, the hotels were more lenient in their AX travel check cashing policy. </p>
<p>Side note I can’t speak highly enough about their conceirge service…our flight was to leave for Rome on Sun, Sat a snow storm hits and Delta called us saying your flight is cancelled, click. We called AX, they had us re-routed through Atlanta that day. Also if she is a platinum card she can just show her card at Delta crown room whether or not she is flying with them. It is a great place to sit and relax, have a glass of wine, surf the net, etc.</p>
<p>If you go to Italy, there’s nothing like staying in a nice farm hotel in the countryside, especially if there is an old lady there who can cook. It will be heaven, but you will get fat, but it will be worth it.</p>
<p>Forgot to say the Best Western in San Marco square is gorgeous, you won’t believe it is a Best Western.</p>
<p>Have her convinve the girls to feed the flying rats. I have a classic pic of my d on 1st day after 20 min of convincing her to feed them (Sheer squealing), but for the next 2 days all we did was walk back to the sq every couple of hours to feed them, thankfully it was around the corner so it wasn’t a biggie</p>
<p>I wouldn’t skip Venice and preferred it to Florence. Venice is quite unique with its canals whereas Florence is a fair-sized city full of traffic and beggars. Okay, it’s certainly worth seeing but personally I liked Venice much better. Florence is close enough to Rome and Venice that there’s no reason to not see all three. Other places to consider in the relative area - Siena, Pisa (just for the leaning tower), and the Cinque Terra along the coast.</p>
<p>I also loved Venice…but only off season. Went in mid winter, luckily no flooding at the time though. The locals were welcoming and friendly without hordes of tourists. I was in the Basilica practically by myself, and on one occassion was let into Scuola San Rocco by a janitor sweeping the sidewalk in front of the disappointingly locked entrance. Imagine, I had the Tintorettos to myself!
I can’t remember the hotel I stayed at, Cavaletto? maybe, very close to the Piazza San Marco. I’d recommend a similarly close area as it’s central. I must have walked the entire island, little streets and lanes, the canals, fish market etc. to get a real feel of the place. Just VERY easy to get lost and disoriented. Carry a map, it’s essential.
Go up the tower in San Marco for the view.
I returned to Venice in September which was an entirely different story…full of crowds and none of the evocative feeling of the past.</p>
<p>Liked Florence very much as well, just for the amazing history, Renaissance art, Uffizi etc. San Gimigniano (stayed in a wonderful farm house near the town) and Siena were also favourites. As were Lucca, Verona, and Ravenna.</p>
<p>I would highly suggest to keep Rome on the agenda. The girls would enjoy the people watching, shopping, terraces, busy and upbeat joie de vivre of those streets around Spanish Steps. Plus ofcourse the monuments mentioned above. One word of warning…NEVER let a stranger (young, charming youth)offer to take a picture of you with your camera. You may be minus a camera for the rest of the trip! Though that’s not the norm as the Romans are wonderful.</p>
<p>Cinque Terra is a wonderful area. I highly suggest it as long as everybody is able-bodied enough for lots of stairs. </p>
<p>I didn’t like Venice as much as other places in Italy because, at least at the time of year I went (early September), it seemed as if the city was only tourists. There wasn’t a sense at all of what the local culture was because it seemed like the city operated solely for tourists. Rome and other cities have lots of tourists but there are also locals everywhere and a very distinctive local culture. I stayed right by San Marco Square, so maybe that’s one of the reasons it came across that way. (I was also on Percocet from surgery-gone-wrong while I was there, so that could be coloring my perceptions, though the rest of my family and other people we talked to said similar things.)</p>
<p>For Venice, I recommend the Hotel Abazzia. It’s 3 stars. It only has about 50 rooms. From the outside, it is less than impressive. Inside, it is really nice, especially in good weather. (There is an inner courtyard where you can eat breakfast when the weather is good.) Two things make me recommend it: (1) the staff–just really, really nice and helpful; (2) location. We were traveling by rail and we were able to carry our luggage to it from the main train station. It was only a short walk from it and right near a major stop for the water boats.</p>
<p>Can’t be outdone by oregonianmom–adding link to website:</p>
<p>[Venice</a> Hotel Abbazia hotels Venice Italy - Official Site](<a href=“http://www.abbaziahotel.com/en/index.htm]Venice”>http://www.abbaziahotel.com/en/index.htm)</p>
<p>Sorry, I totally neglected to mention that if your “childless Aunt” does choose to visit Florence she would be well-suited to consider the Hotel Continentale. It literally overlooks the Arno and from what I remember is only a minute walk from Ponte Vechhio (it is also directly across from the American consulate should they ever have a problem). It is also typically European inside. Bon Chance!</p>
<p>We stayed at the Hotel Gardena in Venice and recommend it. Our room overlooked a canal just off the Grand Canal. The gondolas would go right under our window, and it was so fun to hear the singing and laughter. Location is excellent, in a quieter area but very near the train & bus station, which really helps when hauling your luggage. Venice is small enough that you can walk most anywhere within 30 minutes.
[Hotel</a> Gardena Venice hotels - Official Site - 3 three star hotel Venice Italy](<a href=“http://www.hotelgardenavenice.it/en/index.htm]Hotel”>http://www.hotelgardenavenice.it/en/index.htm)</p>
<p>Here is link of the hotel I stayed at (as I mentioned previously). It was wonderful and located around corner from Piazza San Marco. My window, as many of the rooms do, looked out on a parking lot for gondolas. Have a look at the photo albums on the site, as well as rates that are within the budget you mentioned.</p>
<p>Hotel Cavaletto e Doge Orseolo</p>
<p>[Hotel</a> Cavalletto e Doge Orseolo, Venice Hotels, Italy Hotels](<a href=“Hotel Cavalletto e Doge Orseolo, Venice. Cavalletto e Doge Orseolo Hotel Venice.”>Hotel Cavalletto e Doge Orseolo, Venice. Cavalletto e Doge Orseolo Hotel Venice.)</p>
<p>might want to visit milan too.</p>