6 city’s in 6 days for ≈600€ for two
Venice, Roma, Florenza, Nice/Monaco, Paris, London
02.04.2008
we started early from London Stansted – Venice by plane “ryanair”
spending the 1. day in Venice
Zecchini Hotel** – Venice
03.04.2008
spending the 2. day in Venice
Venice – Rome by night train
04.04.2008
spending the 1. day in Rom
Hotel Mimosa – Roma
05.04.2008
spending the 2. day in Roma
Rome – Florence by train in evening
Hotel Liana*** – Florenza
06.04.2008
spending one day in Florence
Florence – Nice by night train
07.04.2008
spending one day in Nice and Monaco
Nice – Paris by night train
08.04.2008
spending one day in Paris
Paris – London by bus
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Italy – as always grand, especially at spring-season!
Our first destination is Venice
As we arrived by plain, we took the bus (about 1hour to Venice-it’s all perfectly organized at the airport) which arrives at Piazzale Roma, next to the train station (Staz. Ferroviaria S. Lucia) in Venice. If you stay in an other hotel you will find all the “water-buses” living from there as well (cheap, and very convenient-buy a day pass if it’s likely you use it again).
As probably most people know, Venice is always beautiful, but can transform into a foul-smelling place under the hot summer sun and in autumn it is famous for its high tights when the water bubbles through the floor plates of San Marco’s square…So, try spring it’s most likely that you shall have a fabulous time.
Venice is expensive! Accommodation for less than 100€ is difficult to find (be careful with the youth hostel, I heard lots of bad stuff about it, like a 11pm curfew-all lights go off!!!) I found this one:
Zecchini Hotel**
Lista di Spagna
152 – VENEZIA
Tel. +39 041715066
Fax +39 041715611
We paid 80€ double room per night incl. Breakfast (bath in corridor)
My review: They where very friendly and helpful (left our luggage with them the hole day) , the rooms were perfectly clean incl. the brand new bathroom with hairdryer (good if you have long hair). The location is close to the Main station, so you don’t have to carry your luggage all over the place – but be careful they don’t have a lift (but 4 story’s)! It’s a good place if you want to explore the city, rather then your hotel… so it’s a good, cheap place to stay, but don’t expect anything spectacular.
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Night train to Roma
Via a very busy old second class train (sitting, if the train would have been less packed you can lower the seats so that you get it into a perfect horizontal position-which is very comfortable)
but it was dirt-cheap! :)
Our Hotel in Roma:
Hotel Mimosa
Via di Santa Chiara, 61
00186 Roma, Italy
Tel. +39 06.68801753
Fax +39 06.6833557
VAT 03429880580
info@hotelmimosa.ne
We paid 80€ double room per night incl. Breakfast (with our own bath)
My review: I hardly could believe the location of the hotel. It is really 100 meters from the Pantheon!!! and 5 minutes from piazza Navona, the heart of the historic center of the city and is ideal for visiting Rome conveniently on foot! It is located in a quiet site street – watch out for the little sign on the House wall. Go up the stairs one flight (no lift) where the Hotel is located. It’s again nothing special, but clean and our room was spaces (with high ceilings and tall windows with wooden clatters), friendly and modern decorated… the Hotel Mimosa offers 11 spacious rooms, breakfast and 24 hr. reception
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After two fabulous days in Rome we took the evening train to Florence (about 2,5hours). As it was our last night in Italy we wanted to spend it in a Hotel which could give you all that Italy flair
HOTEL VILLA LIANA
Via V. Alfieri 18
50121 Firenze
Tel. 055245303/4
Fax 0552344596
e mail: info@hotelliana.com
We paid 110€ for our double room per night incl. a huge Breakfast (with our own bath)
my review:
All our expectations where for filled! Beautiful house and interior – all of the 19th century…elegant rooms with high ceilings, very comfortable bed (you even get slippers, hair dryer…) and comfortable all the way. The stuff was friendly and what an amazing breakfast! All kind of bread, cheeses, meat…even 4 different cakes where on the buffet. I felt quite predestined and very happy to stay there and just can recommend it!.
But it is good to knoe that it took us 20min. by food from the main Station, you might want to invest into a taxi?! The Dome (7min.), Fortezza da Basso, Ponte Vecchio and Piazza della Signoria are all in walking distance.
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We left Florence on the nighttrain to Nice. When we woke up the train offered the most stunning view of the Cote d’Azur. We visited Monaco and found a them park- the place didn’t seam to have any soul. Thats what you call “high-density living”, a very aggressive construction industry had burryed all nature under concrete. So, I just recommend it if you are a lover of polished theme parks/yachts/or came to watch the grand prix.
Nice (Nizza) is livelier with some great historic buildings, but just a small corner of it contains “old town charm” and is worth a visit.
The rest of Nice is built very quickly after the second world war and is mostly face and soul-less.
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We are so use to our train nights, we properly can’t sleep anywhere else anymore.
We wake up in Paris, and have a romantic breakfast on the Seine.
The worst thing of our travel tour is going to happen now, we are taking the bus.
If you can help it don’t take the bus!!! It takes ages, it is expensive (if you didn’t book way in advance) and is uncomfortable. We should have booked the eurostar from Paris- but (as so often, we where late and all the cheap tickets where gone) But I am sure you can take the “normal train” to the ferry and get on a train on the English side again as well.
