Accommodation in Italy

Over the last few years, internet hotel booking has become the norm in Italy - a big step from the days when you had to ring the hotel, grapple with language differences, and then fax information through. Nowadays you can search through thousands of hotels throughout Italy with secure online booking, comparing prices and availability, and even book a room for that very night. Detailed hotel pages describe each hotel and its location, and you can read user reviews to see what other guests thought of their accommodation and the services offered. As well as hotels, you can choose from a range of other accommodation options including vacation rentals, holiday villas and apartments and B&Bs.

> Advice on choosing and booking hotels - we've written a long article with general information about hotels in Italy (what to expect, how to choose) and answering some frequently asked questions about booking online.

Online booking

We always book hotels online using one of the two booking networks below. It's so much easier and quicker than contacting the hotels directly, the prices are always competitive (this is a contractual undertaking for the hotels) and you can compare prices and availability with other local hotels. Throughout this site we provide quick links to the relevant hotel or destination pages on one or both of these networks. Generally their prices are the same, but you may find slightly different offers so if you have the time it's worth making a comparison.

> Venere - a Rome-based company which specialises in Italy hotels, featuring over 6,000, grouped by area, with location maps. The hotel pages (and translations) are varied and individual, tending to open in different windows. As well as the hotel's own description they provide basic listing of facilities, and invaluable guest reviews and maps. A good feature of their website is the separate category-listings for bed and breakfast accommodation and apartments.

> Booking.com - an efficient international company with offices in Italy, lots of Italian hotels and good deals with many hotels. They have clear, standardised pages providing room information, location maps and reviews. They also pride themselves on their good last-minute availability.

Our hotel recommendations

On our destination pages we always provide links for booking hotels in that locality. In some cases we provide a shortlist of good hotels and we have also included our own hotel reviews. When we visit hotels we always book online and don't mention this website. So our experience is that of typical guests; we pay the full price and are completely honest with our reports. You'll come across our reviews as you browse through our destination guides.