I rarely stay in hotels when I travel abroad. I prefer to stay in an apartment in an area of town that is still in the central historical core, but slightly off the beaten track. Apartments work really well if you aren’t going to be moving around a lot and if you enjoy a more in depth glimpse into the lives of ordinary citizens of the country you are visiting. I also like to spread out. And…I must have a nice table that will function as my travel journal station.
Sometimes apartments are cheaper than hotels and often they are the same price. I love the feeling of stepping into another life in another country. Being in an apartment helps complete my ex-pat fantasy!
I almost always start searching on VRBO. I also like HOME AWAY. For more obscure locations I’ve had to go with other vacation rental sites I find by doing google searches.
The search is always such a delightful part of planning a trip. I look at dozens of places before making up my mind. I take my time searching and make a choice that feels right intuitively. A few key things that help me with my decision:
- is communication with the landlord EASY?
- do i have a welcoming sense from the owners?
- are they thorough with their answers to my questions?
- DO THEY HAVE GOOD REVIEWS?
- is the apartment close to public transportation lines?
- is it in walking distance of restaurants/pubs?
- does the furniture/bed look comfortable?
- is there a lot of natural light?
- is there a washing machine?
As you can see I am a little bit on the picky side. I know what I can and cannot tolerate. I don’t like poorly lit cramped spaces. I don’t like sacrificing comfort to save a few bucks.
For the most part, I subscribe to the SLOW TRAVEL school of thought, which means staying in one spot and delving into the culture more deeply rather than hopping from place to place. There’s not a single thing wrong with hopping, but I prefer long stays in a single apartment if possible. It’s how I’m wired.
I almost never stay in apartment with no reviews or negative reviews. The exception was in Norway when rentals were hard to come by and the ones I found did not have reviews. I took a chance anyway and was not disappointed.
I would NEVER stay in an apartment in Paris, for example, that did not have at least 5 or 6 excellent reviews. A sleepy village in Norway is one thing, but in a major metropolitan area I would be less likely to rely on the photos and description alone. In Budapest I wasn’t that thrilled with the apartment photos, but my contact with the landlord was so pleasant I WANTED to stay in his apartment. He had dozens of top-notch reviews and he went out of his way to be attentive and welcoming. I made the right decision! The apartment turned out to be absolutely fabulous! When I’m doing my VRBO search I like to use the sort function to order the rentals by the number of reviews.
Hotels can also make wonderful homebases when traveling. Especially if you feel nervous about renting an apartment alone. A hotel with kind proprietors and helpful staff can be a refuge in a foreign city. For short stays, hotels are super convenient. I always rely on Trip Advisor for hotel & restaurant reviews. HERE is the link to the Venice info on Trip Advisor. You can also find vacation rental information and reviews on Trip Advisor.
I love the SLOW TRAVEL site. It’s my favorite. Good people taking lots of trips and writing about them. Most of them stay in vacation rentals. Such delicious trip reports! They have excellent & reliable vacation rental reviews HERE. Before I book an apartment I usually conduct a google search to find an independent review of the place. So helpful!
When I return from Venice I will list my apartment rental information over on my public blog DFLA in the TRAVELS section.
If you have any vacation rental or hotel advice feel free to add your voice to the conversation via the comments below!
Rented apartments in Istanbul, Madrid and Rome. Truly the only way to go. Two weeks anywhere can be expensive especially when one starts tacking on 3 meals a day and the occasional treat. Making one’s own breakfast and snacks can save some serious money in the long run. Like you, I love to spread out and not have to put things away when I leave for the day.
The only way to travel anywhere if one is going to be gone a week or longer. Just saying!!! :))
Love all the travel tips Mary Ann. Thanks so much!!
I am new to travel (have only had a passport for a year and 1/2) After three trips with Untours.com I believe that we are now progressing to Mary Ann’s level! Untours has appartments available in non-English speaking countries and you also get an individual who will give you an orientation in the city or area and is available by phone if you have a problem during your stay. You are also given transportation vouchers (Metro tickets in Paris for example or a car in Tuscany), museum passes and suggestions of sites to see. It has helped us build our confidence toward independent travel. Our first trip was one week in Florance and one week on a vineyard in Tuscany. Then we went to Paris for two weeks and had such a fabulous time five months later we went back to the same apartment for two more weeks. I so appreciate your hints and tips maybe we can do it ourselves!
I just have to comment on our version of Slow Travel. We have traveled all our lives but since my husband retired 3 years ago, we joined http://www.homelink.org and do house exchanges. This means we trade our home with another member of the group and live like the locals for two or more weeks. We have done 3 exchanges in Australia including 2 in Sydney, 2 exchanges in France including 2 weeks in a Paris apartment, 5 weeks in the middle of Germany, and an exchange in Canada. Next year we are going to Amsterdam and England for exchanges and hope to also do one in New Zealand and another in Sydney.
My husband blogs all the trips at ratbagp.blogspot.com if anyone is interested. No Venice though, sorry! We highly recommend exchanges if you are ready for a more enriching travel experience than hotels can provide. AND the price is right-free!
When we visited London, oh it must have been 9 years ago now, we rented an apartment for a week. It was in a totally renovated old Victorian warehouse just steps from the river Thames. When we got there, we were greeted by the friendly owners who showed us the rooftop terrace (with views of Tower Bridge!), the fantastic circular staircase, the washing machine, and then 20 minutes later, off they went for the week. We felt like this ultra modern, gorgeously decorated, huge multi-story flat was OURS! We went to the local grocery and picked up dinner, and really enjoyed not eating out. I don’t eat at restaurants very much at home, being a homebody, and it was so lovely to just relax on the plushy leather sofa and watch the British t.v. shows in “our” apartment. Before this, we’d stayed in bed and breakfasts, which can be lovely but is really better suited to extroverts! I’m a polite introvert, so I’ll try really hard, but small talk with complete strangers whom I’m unlikely to ever meet again is stressful for me, especially at breakfast! An apartment rental means no thinking of conversation in the breakfast room at the B&B. Also, no multi-hour delays getting out the door to do your sightseeing because I can’t quite figure out how to politely make an escape from the nice but WAY too chatty B&B landlady. And if you get sick, like with the flu, you can stay ‘home’ in comfort and not be disturbed by the vacuuming and hard stares from the not-so-friendly landlady who wants you OUT of the house from 9 until 6 p.m. Yeah, these are all true stories from B&B land! So, I’d say apartment rentals are really, really awesome!
Ten years ago my sister and I traveled to Europe for the first time and she gave me the task of planning and renting (it was a pleasure, really, one of the best parts of a trip is the planning). I was set on finding places to rent to Rome, Tuscany, Provence, and Paris. Like Mary Ann, I read everything on the forums, travel guides, kept pre-travel journals of ideas, articles, photos, and reviews, and communicated with Italian and Provencal landlords directly using Babelfish for translation, and even needed to send a bank draft in converted cash to the Provence location (sort of an extra nuisance and I always now look for more convenient ways to pay. We had the most delightful places and everything worked out fine (well, except getting lost a few times finding them!) The internet has made it a whole lot easier, I now use vacation rental sites in the 5 trips I’ve taken since my inaugural in 2003. I have used Vacations in Paris to find Paris apartments and they operate out of New Jersey which is convenient for sending $$ and communicating. Rental apartments are just the very best way to enjoy a city,go to markets, relax and spread out. It will probably happen sometime, laws of chance such as it is, but so far, haven’t been disappointed yet!
Thanks for this very helpful info. So far we’ve only done the hotels and a couple of B&B routes. The B&B route was definitely a challenge for us. Like walking on egg shells and always being “ON” (being polite, not disturbing) Also some very uncomfortable moments with personal issues with owners. The apartment idea is magnificent and one I’m anxious to work on and experience. Thank you Oh Great Adventuress.
While I enjoy hotels, B&Bs and apartments, my fave trips involve stays on a boat or in a tent. If you are a sailor (or power boater), look into rentals or boat swaps. And if you love the outdoors and have a tent – there is really no better way to see the world. I have wonderful memories of a 2 week trek in Nepal, and 2 weeks in a tent in Yosemite, etc – but urban camping is fun too. Did you know you can camp a mile from the subway, and get to the National Mall in Washington, DC in 20 minutes? What a deal!
Venice info, pretty please.
I’ve had experience with renting apartments 3 different times now through VRBO. We rented for the first time in the Trastevere neighborhood of Rome with my family and my in-laws, it was fabulous. My teenage kids loved being able to explore the neighborhood on their own and my in-laws were thankful for a place to rest while we traipsed off for marathon sightseeing. This past February, my husband, daughter and I along with some friends rented in Covent Garden, London. The apartment was modern and comfortable and extremely convenient to the tube, shopping and entertainment. It was owned by a company I think and had a fabulous manager who was helpful with orientation. My daughter,friend and I went on to an apartment in Paris also found on VRBO. It was owned by an Irish woman who lives in San Francisco now. Her place was more of a home, beautifully Parisian and comfortable. She also had a manager who lived locally and was there to orient us. And we were able to pay her in US dollars. I don’t think I’ll travel any other way now!
Thank you SO MUCH for this! My mother and I are planning a family trip to Paris next fall & wanted to rent an apartment.