This isn't a poll, but I would like to know what you would do:

You're eight nights in a place that can be booked as an apartment-small kitchen, dishes and cooking ware, kitchen table, sofa, and separate bedroom and a two sink bathroom with terrace-or as a B&B with breakfast, daily cleaning with fresh towels and sheets.
...The difference in price is 20euro...
What would you do?
You can cook either way, if you wanted to.
So..........
W

I'd go with B & B. - stuff the cooking!

Elly

Oh Elly, we don't go to Italy to cook but to eat. .
(Though a small kitchen is nice to prepare the cheeses,cured meats,olives and stuff to go with the wine and sunset.)
Thank you for your voice.
W

A lot of B & B's have a small bar fridge to keep those delectable items, so go and enjoy the sunsets, I'm right behind you!

But I'd still rather have breakfast prepared for me. I can't survive without it. Can do without lunch and can skip dinner till late, but breakfast is a MUST EAT for me.

Elly

I'm with Elly on this one. I go to work, then I come home and do the second shift (keep a house and raise the boys). On vacation I want to kick back and do no work at all.
My idea of heaven (today) is buffet breakfast at La Cisterna in San Gimignano.
Leslie, 8.30pm.
"if there are any heavens
my mother will
all by herself
have one..."
e.e. cummings

Wendy do you still get the terrace with the B & B option?

Other than that you will be paying a total of E260 for breakfast.cleaning and linens.

If you take the apartment you could probably pay a little something to have a cleaning and fresh linens halfway through your stay.

Sheena, yes the same space with terrace. The difference totals 160EU and breakfast buffet is always wonderful.

BYW, we are taking the place as B&B, I was just wondering what the ST community would choose.

W

quote:

BYW, we are taking the place as B&B,

So Wendy, where are you guys going?

And now you (or Rob) need to take pictures of the breakfast buffet.

M

quote:

The difference totals 160EU

Ooops

But the Canadian dollar might have made the difference 260 so no needed Sheena.

Actually Marian you have seen our breakfast because it is at Castel Bigozzi I have been referring. They offered us our unit which I've done a couple of reviews of as either an apartment arrangement for 100 Eu or as the B&B for the 20 EU difference. As I said earlier, we have taken it with the breakfast. As I also said I was just wondering what our community here would do...

We have finalized our reservations for our fall trip, flights with Lufthansa, Excelsior Rome for eight nights and Castel Bigozzi in Strove-near Monteriggioni-for eight nights before heading to the piers in Venice for a run up to the Black Sea with Croatia, Egypt, Turkey and finishing in Greece to fly home again. We will be gone the 23rd of Sept. returning home on the 22nd of Oct. Can not wait. We missed our Tuscany time this past fall so we are staying extra this year to make up for it. We are even thinking that maybe one day we could go up to Florence and stay over night, especially with the great price CB has offered we can afford it. We'll see what shakes
W

Absolutely--The B&B--no contest.

It's what my husband would call "the princess factor"

jan

"the princess factor"
I like that and works as 'the princely factor' too because Rob enjoys his breakfast.

Wendy.

I voted for the B&B too.... I like the idea of someone else doing the cleaning... after all, it is a vacation!!

Doug

Okay, here's a different perspective.

In my "old life" when I had lots of disposable income and knew there was always another check for a defined amount coming in the next month, I probably would have paid the 160 extra euro too. It's always nice to have someone else take care of something like cooking or making my bed.

Now though I'd probably opt to save the money. We actually enjoy shopping and cooking in Europe a lot-- and it's easy and inexpensive to fix breakfast for ourselves. Making the beds and tidying up is no big deal to me. 160 euro could be used for a lot of other things that would be more important in my overall enjoyment of the trip, to let me stay in Europe one day longer, or to go into the savings account for the next trip.

Kathy

Kathy, my sister and I are doing this upcoming 5 week trip with inexpensive accommodation again like we did our first trip together in 2001. We had both travelled with our husbands before this and in 2001 (where we started in a convent in Rome) and this year, we are in inexpensive hotels. We had 2 trips with Sherry's husband, 2003 and 2005 and she booked expensive rooms for them with me on a sofa bed in the suite's living room. We are in a convent in Castello in Venice, Istituto San Giuseppe, for the first 8 nights (single ensuite rooms) at 40e a night each. The location is perfect and I've not heard any negative reports. Our little trattoria where the signora cooks whatever we like early for us is nearby.
http://www.trattoriadanino.com/
We've had the Le Rasse apartment in Venice the last two trips so this will be different! It sure is a different experience, being in an apartment. We had Al Vecio Penasa right downstairs to have our breakfast at. I wonder what bar will be at the Ponte della Guerra where the convent is? We will have to find one right nearby that opens at 7am for our first cappuccino.
Leslie.

I would take it without the B&B, that way I can have what I want for breakfast in the apartment or go out to a cafe for breakfast.

I think the only things that determine which to choose are:

1. If you want to save money, don't choose B&B option.

2. If you don't want what they would have on the breakfast buffet, or to be restricted to their breakfast times, don't choose the B&B.

I enjoy eating out on vacation, but after two or three nights in a row eating dinners out, all I want is plain brown rice and steamed vegetables. But that is just me.

Apartment hands-down!
I have stayed at B. & B.'s a lot, and the one thing missing is the convenience of being able to make myself a snack whenever I like. Maybe that has something to do with being radically hypoglycemic and HAVING to eat every 2-3 hours, or maybe it's just because I like what I like, when I like it!

This fall, when I'm staying in Rome and Venice, I'm staying in apartments, by choice. My Venice apartment rental is located in a house with a B. & B. as well, and I was able to choose between the two...no problem! Apartment, it is!

I'm like you, Pauline, I get very tired really quickly of eating out, after a few meals. I also love to wander thru' the local markets and shop for all of the different and new foods that I've not tried before. Some of our best dinners in Italy and France last spring were ones that we prepared ourselves in my apartment's kitchen. It's not that we didn't have great food when we were eating out...we did! Delicious food at Trattoria Mario, Boccadama, sidewalk cafes in Paris, Tuilieres Gardens cafe...truly yummy food! Then after a few of these perfect meals out, it was a true joy to make a simple salad, some cheese with baguette or cibatta, a decadent and divine dessert with an espresso or two, sitting on the terrace of my apartment and enjoying it totally.

I just spend the weekend in Edmonton with my 15 year old granddaughter, and we stayed at the Glenora Bed and Breakfast. The saving grace for me with this B. & B. is the Guest Parlour, complete with full kitchen and a huge fridge, all for the guests' convenience. So, snacks, late night cinnamon toast, whatever my tummy demanded were easily accessible in an incredibly comfortable environment. Perfect for me...a B. & B. that also has a huge well-equipped kitchen, and a great dining room, Glenora Grill, on the main level!

BTW, my granddaughter was ecstatic to find Jack Johnson's Buttermilk Pancakes on the breakfast menu! We then went out and bought his newest CD at Chapters with 'Banana Pancakes' on it!

“I went to a cafe that advertised breakfast anytime, so I ordered French Toast during the Rennaisance.” ~Steven Wright
Brenda

Maybe I'm lazy, but ...

In our 3 weeks in Firenze/Sorrento we ate out every day -- sometimes 2x. The closest we got to doing-it-ourselves was to buy a foccacia on the way back to the B&B one night. I thoroughly enjoyed not cooking a single blasted thing for 3 weeks!

I only gained 4 pounds, but with all the exercise, my pants still fit the same.

We ate quite well. We were attending the Koinè school, so we wouldn't have had much time to cook anyhow. Each day we had to relate what we did the day before, and Stefania, my teacher, quite looked forward to me telling about our meals the day before.

Definitely the B&B - in fact I think I finally figured out on this last trip was that I just love breakfast rooms - I love the little tables, and especially the ones with garden views or garden tables. I like having someone bring me a coffee in the morning when I'm on vacation. I could skip lunch, maybe, but I love breakfast in Italy!

Marcia

For me it would also be the apartment. I like the autonomy and I also occassionally like the rice and steam vegie options. I also have some wheat sensitivity and find that i regularly need to do yogurt and fruit for breakfast instead of the wonderful pasti at the bar option.

But mostly I just like the option of being able to cook if i want to even though i do most of the cooking at home and love a break.

Sound like a great trip Wendy and Rob, have a ball.

Anne

I would have to go with the apartment also but I don't have to cook very often and when I do it is rather simple meals. I, too, love exploring the shops when I travel and checking out the different foods. My one peeve with the apartments is having to clean at the end of my stay. Other than that, I love going the rental route.

With most vacation rentals you pay for the cleaning, so you don't have to clean at the end (all the ones I have stayed in were like this). I tidy up, put the garbage out - but I don't sweep, wash floors or clean the bathrooms.

Alas, not all rentals come with a cleaning service or the price is such that it is worth it to me to whip thru the rental doing my own cleaning with the help of my frugal husband. I do try to find the rentals that I don't have to clean myself but am not always so fortunate to locate them in the area I wish to travel.

Hola.

From our side ( the b and b owners)

Most of our guests end up in the kitchen with us at sime point. (Maybe it's because I always have an open bottle of Rioja whilst I cook. A lot of fun is had in our kitchen. Recipes are swopped and friends are made whilst I make the Gazpacho or baste the meat.

Sue is hypo glycemic so we have a good understanding of people who need to eat little and often.

We have a big fridge in the hallway full of goodies that is open access. (The one in the kitchen is mine and is off limits!!). Having said that the kitchen is open for anyone whenever they fancy a cup of tea or a snack day or night...

We are not your average B and B so our set up is very different to what people are used to.

I couldn't stop the couple last week from doing the washing up after the meal...They felt sorry for us because we walked the mountains every day and "looked a bit tired" as they put it by the 5 th day!!!!

Clive and Sue