Newsgroup: it.hobby.viaggi
Titolo: Holiday in Italy

Can anyone advise on the best way to organise a holiday for two adults and
three teenagers in Bologna/Venice/Rimini - preferably a week in Bologna or
Venice and a week on the coast.  There are no package holidays available
from Ireland to that area (that I know of!) so I am trying to organise
accommodation and travel separately but it is working out very expensive!
Mille grazie!
Finola


Hallo Finola,
in which month are you planning your trip here? I would not
recommend August, especially before 20th, because at that
time most of Italians are on holidays, prices are higher,
beaches are crowded, many shops in major cities are closed,
and it can be awfully hot and humid, especially in this part
of Italy.
I am pleased to see that someone from abroad wants to visit
Bologna, where I am from, because it is a very nice city and
unknwn to most foreigners.
Italy IS expensive, and Venice is surely the most expensive
city of Italy, maybe of the whole Europe. If you go there, I
recommend you not to book your hotel there, neither in the
real Venice (which is on islands) nor in Mestre, the part of
the city on the mainland, where most of Venetians actually
live: it is an ugly and grey industrial city.
I suggest you to book a room in Treviso, about 25 km from
Mestre: you can reach Venezia Mestre station by train (or
car, if you will have one) in less than half an hour, and
from Mestre there are trains every 5 or 10 minutes to
Venezia Santa Lucia, the railway station in Venice. It takes
about 10 minutes. Even if you have a car, it's better to
leave it in Mestre and go by train, because the few parking
places in Venice charge you excruciating tariffs.
Treviso is a beautiful town in itself, with rivers and
canals, nice to walk or to cycle about. There are a few
restaurants where you can have a very good dinner paying
about 30.000 lire (12 Irish Pounds). In Venice for the same
price you hardly get a lousy pasta dish with low quality
wine (unless you know the "secret" places where the
Venetians go, but I don't know them).
Bologna, now. I repost here an old message.
============================================================
I recommend you Hotel Orologio, Hotel Dei Commercianti, and
Hotel Roma. They are all close to Piazza Maggiore, three
star hotels and they should be - comparatively - cheap.
People who have been there are satisfied (I am from Bologna,
so I never slept in a hotel here...).
Hotel phone numbers (all hotels in town - for some of them
on-line booking is possible) may be found at URL:
http://www.omega.it/alberghi/bologna/welcome_en.html
For general information about the city:
http://www.comune.bologna.it
(it has links to the other URL).
Warning: if in those days there will be an important fair,
you will have to pay top-season rates.
==============================================================
Rimini, finally. Warning: the sea water and beaches are
mean, and Rimini and the nearby Riccione are too much
crowded in summer. The other towns of that area are much
quieter, but the sea doesn't improve: nevertheless these
places are the favourite by many Italian and foreign
families - German above all - because they offer friendly
and informal hospitality in cheap guesthouses and good food
in restaurants. Self-catering is also popular, but you have
to contact a specialised agency to rent an apartment.
Nightlife in Rimini and surroundings is the most lively of
Italy all year round. Many young people drive 600 km or more
on Saturday nights just to spend the night in the famous
discoes of that area.
So it's up to you. If you want beautiful scenery, cliffs,
clear waters you had better go to the western coast of
Italy, not too far from Bologna as well: there are very nice
places, Portovenere, Chiavari and many other ones in
Liguria, and Elba and other islands in Tuscany (as well as
some nice spots on the mainland).
Enjoy your holiday.
E-mail me if you need further info,
Paolo