I don't know about anyone else, but I'm finding my favorite hotels pricing me right out of the market. We've decided to stay clear of Rome for awhile and now Venice is looking pretty nasty as well. Our favorite B&B in Florence is still reasonable, but this is nuts. Thanks to many great reviews on this board, I'm finding some wonderful short term apartments in Venice. Until the dollar improves, we may bypass hotels for quite awhile.

Thank goodness, we booked our trips for this year a long time ago when prices were more reasonable, but shopping for next year is grim.

Sharon J

Sharon,

I agree, it is very discouraging. I am determined to travel to Italy or other favorite locations in Europe once a year but the cost has skyrocketed this past year, not only is the dollar's value against the euro bad but now the cost of the flight to get there is climbing daily! We have finally reached a point in our lives that we can (could??) afford to travel. I hope we don't have to cut back on our yearly trip, we aren't getting any younger.

Apartments are definatelty the way to go. Just being able to have a nice breakfast at home is great and saves money. Plus you aren't tempted to just do a dolche and a cafe. We just had dinner with a couple who spent the same for 1 night in a Venice hotel as we did for a week in spacious apartment with a view of the sea in Campania. Rethinking the itinerary is better than not going at all. There's still some bargains out there.

Bed and breakfasts around Teramo are going for in the neighborhood of 30-40 euros/person/night. Not a great bargain but still pretty affordable.

And consider staying "outside" the big cities, taking local transportation in to visit daily. Much less expensive......

ciao,
Cheryl