Thrifty Tuscany Forum

[Etruscan Urn]

I am quite surprised that people choose to go to a hotel when traveling to Tuscany and moving around the region.

At first I though that hotels were the best deal for the service you get, but after touring Tuscany for about a month, changing home-base every 4 days or so, and staying at various hotels on the way (all of them excellent by the way) we ended up spending a lot of money, and the obvious alternative was right handy.

I don't know how come, but I totally neglected the idea of renting an apartment for one or more weeks. That's exactly what I did last summer vacations.

The advantages are multiple. To begin with, you get to stay in way more comfortable places for much less, get a more familiar environment without forgoing any privacy (actually the sturdy, thick ancient walls of Tuscan country homes give way more privacy than flimsy hotel walls, where you get to hear..aehemmm...everything!), having a swimming pool at few steps from the apartment is priceless, the peace and beauty of the location and surrounding landscape just gorgeous. Plus, you get to cook whatever you want to, whenever you want to, but you may also find places that give you a great deal of extra services, such as dinner and breakfast among others.

Another major reason to get a fixed location is that while traveling through Tuscany for a month I realized how easy is to travel around from one city to another, with car, but or train. So the hassle of having to pack every 4 days was gone, and we saved a lot of time going somewhere to actually visit the place and then coming back, instead of going there to check in a hotel and getting set to move around (which usually took a good 5 to 6 hours each moving day).

Another option might also be to get an apartment in Tuscany for a week at a time, each time moving from one area to another of Tuscany. But this is worth the effort only if you move from the southern area to the northern one.

[Fred]

First of all, welcome to the Forum Etruscan Urn!

Having a great experience about Tuscany and Tuscan properties, I totally agree with you. However, there might be times when you are just traveling through Tuscany for less than a week. In that case a hotel might be the easiest solution for your travel plans, since apartments and villas usually do not get reservations for less than a week during high season months.