Europe A La Carte Blog

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The year’s Umbria Jazz Festival takes place between 11 - 20 July 2008 in the beautiful Umbrian city of Perugia. I first heard of the Jazz Festival when we stayed at the Holiday Inn in Perugia in May 2008 as the hotel displays photos taken at the Festival in the public areas and the bedrooms,

Pallo in Piaizza Novembre by Enrico Maioli

The Festival has been running since 1973 and one of the highlights of year for jazz fans in Europe. Concerts take place at various locations around the historic city centre.

Good - great value 60 euros for a double room including breakfast. Our room had a partial lake view and good sized balcony, friendly, helpful staff.

Bad - no separate shower cubicle, so all bathroom floor wet after shower, room rather small with wall mounted TV a real head bumping hazard.

Rating out of 10 - 8

We stayed for one night at La Vela Hotel in the small town of Passigione sul Trasimeno on the north eastern shores of Lake Trasimeno, near Perugia at the end of May 2008. I wanted to spend a night at Lake Trasimeno and there wasn’t a great selection of hotels available for on line booking in the area. La Vela had received fairly positive reviews and was available at the rate of 60 euros per night booking with Venere found using the HotelsCombined price comparison website. The hotel’s own website just quotes the range of prices but as the lowest price shown was 60 euros, the same as Venere for a double room, I decided to book online through the Venere secure server.

When we arrived I was offered the choice of two rooms, there was larger room on the second floor at the back of the hotel and a smaller room on the 3rd floor at the front of the hotel with a partial lake view. I chose the lake view. We both almost banged our heads several times on the wall mounted TV which instead of being a in the corner of the bedroom was just above the corner of the bed. The bathroom shower consisted of a shower curtain but no solid shower cubicle or shower base, so the bathroom floor was soaked after you had a shower.

We enjoyed sitting on the balcony, the road next to the hotel is pretty quiet and although the single track railway line is fairly close by the trains didn’t appear to run very late or early. There’s a car park at the rear of the hotel. It’s only takes a few minutes of level walk to the lake side and town centre. The breakfast was good with a fair selection of items.

In summary a good value small hotel with clean rooms and friendly staff, ideal for a couple of nights by Lake Trasimeno.

We visited at Lake Trasimeno, near Perugia in Umbria at the end of May 2008. We stayed for one night in Passignano sul Trasimeno on the northern shores of the lake at La Vela Hotel. There’s an old town which affords the best views of the lake. The video was shot from there.

There’s a lake side promenade and you can take a ferry to the islands in the lake. It’s a pleasant small town with a fair selection of restaurants. We ate at Franco’s on the lakeside road. We had the two course 15 euros Tourist Menu which included the cover charge, water and bread. The food was really good quality with several pasta starters and fish main courses. I don’t think you could get this quality of food in the evening for this price in the UK.

The next morning we spend a couple of hours in Castliogne del Lago, another very pretty small town. There’s good access to the lake here. Lake Trasimeno is very shallow and you need to go out a fair distance if you want to swim. I just went for a paddle.

Castliogne sul Lago

Lake Trasimeno is not as dramatically attractive as Lake iseo, my favourite Italian lake in Lonbardy in the north of Italy. If you’re touring the area it’s well worth spending a day or two there as it makes a nice change to be by water but I can’t say that I’d recommend staying for longer.

I interviewed Angela K Nickerson, author of Journey into Michelangelo’s Rome, during a live blog on Wednesday 11 June at 20:00 British Summer Time (which is one hour in advance of Greenwich Mean Time).

Angela’s book is a blend of biography, travel guide and the history and art of Rome and Florence during Michelangelo’s lifetime. You can read my review of A Journey into Michelangelo’s Rome on the Wandalust UK travel blog.

Please come along, the live blog will appear inside this post, you don’t need any special equipment or software to watch and it’s easy to make comments and ask questions.

I received a complimentary copy of the book for review purposes as part of Angela’s virtual book tour.

Good - 15 minutes drive from Pisa airport. Beautiful old building from exterior with impressive entrance hall, stairway and ceiling window in lovely grounds.

Bad - far too many rules and regulations and additional charge warnings. Not very clean, small bedrooms with no balcony or terrace. Difficult to find and you have to drive to find a restaurant as hotel restaurant is currently closed. Staff not very friendly.

Rating out of 10 - 3

photo courtesy of Trip Advisor

I selected the Hotel Villa Maya because of its proximity to Pisa airport for the last night of our touring trip of Tuscany and Umbria. Our flight didn’t depart until evening but I didn’t want to have a lot of driving on our final day in addition to hanging around at the airport, the flight and the drive home from Edinburgh. The cheapest price I found for a double room including breakfast was 74 euro on the hotel’s own website. It was the most expensive hotel at which we stayed during our trip but I was captivated by the photos of the late 19th century villa, set in a large garden with bedrooms furnished with antiques and wood beamed ceilings with Tuscan cotto tiles. It sounded a delightful contrast to the standardised boxes of a modern hotel.

My initial impression of the Hotel Villa Maya was that their car park was awful, it was a small graveled area in front of the fence around the grounds. It had rained earlier that day and the potholes were full and water and the clay stuck to your feet. I was glad that I wasn’t wearing expensive high heeled shoes.

I was then further annoyed to be “welcomed” to the VIlla Maya by a warning sign on the front door saying that if you checked in after 23:00 there would be an additional charge of 10 euros per person.

Our room was at the front of the Villa on the ground floor, which meant that anyone coming in or out of the villa came past our window. The room was pretty small and the bathroom was starting to show signs of wear. The rooms shown on the Villa Maya website looked much larger than the room we were allocated. My husband found used soap from the previous guests in the shower soap dish and a couple of hairs in the sink and I found a large dead fly on the bedrooms floor.

When I was reading the guest information in the hall, there was a large sign informing guests that they could only consume food and drink purchased outside the hotel in their own room, not the hotel gardens. In a way I can see their point but as the rooms didn’t have balconies it would have been nice to have a cup of tea (made with my travel kettle) or a glass of wine outside. The garden was probably the best part of the villa with a gazebo and cool shady areas ideal to sit and read.

Had I booked into the correct hotel? The website describes the hotel as making you “feel right at home with a warm, family welcome in a refined, relaxed atmosphere, ensuring that your stay with be a highly enjoyable experience that will stay with you long after you leave”, Well the last part is correct as the bad memory has stayed with me.

As we were leaving to go out for dinner the receptionist informed us that if we arrived back after 23:00 we should ring the bell as the front door would be locked and we only had a room key. Now if they are don’t want to give guests the front door key and are going to be disturbed by late returns anyway why should they charge late arrivals an additional 10 euro?

Breakfast was served in an out building which had a plastic awning so you could enjoy the garden views. The lady serving breakfast was pretty surly and my husband saw her moving the ham with her bare hands. There were large signs saying that it was not permitted to take items from the breakfast buffet to consume later.

I don’t think I’ve ever stayed in a hotel that had so many signs advising guests what they can’t do. and how much they’ll have to pay if they do it.  I was very disappointed by this hotel and had a far larger, more comfortable, quieter, cleaner room, better breakfast, friendlier staff and a proper tarmaced car park at a lower cost per night at hotels which are part of chains such as the Holiday Inn in Perugia.

Good - low price 65 euros for double room with breakfast, good breakfast, comfortable, clean rooms, lovely pool with great views,

Bad - a fair distance from old town, courtesy bus only ran 3 times a day, road noise at pool.

Rating out of 10 - 9

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Perugia for two nights in May 2008 during our one week touring holiday of southern Tuscany and Umbria. The best rate available when I booked in mid February was 65 euros per night for a double room including breakfast on the hotel booking site Venere found using the HotelsCombined price comparison site. You should also check the Holiday Inn Hotels site as they may offer the best rate. The Holiday Inn site offers a Price Guarantee but there seemed to be so many exclusions that I thought it simpler just to book on the Venere site.

View to Perugia from the Holiday Inn pool

I knew when I booked the hotel that it was several kilometres from the city centre but this meant that the hotel had free parking and there was a courtesy bus to the city centre available from the hotel. However during our stay the bus only ran three times a day, departing the hotel at 09:00, 15:00 and 18:00. None of these times was really suitable. It was very hot around 35 degrees celsius during our stay and we wanted to visit in the evening when it was cooler. I think that a service running every 2 - 3 hours until at least 22:00 would be more useful. We drove into the city centre where it’s free to park after 20:00.

The rooms even had a kettle to make hot drinks in your room, very unusual in Italy,. The room was very clean and comfortable with a good shower. Our room was at the back of the hotel away from the road noise from the nearby dual carriageway enabling us to sleep with the window open, rather than having the air conditioning on all night.

Breakfast was one of the best during our trip in Italy. Breakfasts in Italian hotels can vary quite a lot in quality and variety of items on offer and the Holiday Inn had a fair choice and the quality was good.

We were lucky to have the swimming pool and jacuzzi to ourselves on a couple of occasions. There’s a wonderful view to Perugia but the road noise is a bit distracting. There were about eight sun loungers around the pool which could be a problem if the pool were busy.

In summary a great value hotel with good standard of rooms and breakfast, free parking, easy access to a fast road with the bonus of a swimming pool. It’s ideal for a touring holiday as you’re only a couple of minutes drive from the dual carriageway. However I wouldn’t recommend it unless you have your own car or courtesy bus frequency improves dramatically.

This post was featured in the Carnival of Cities on 21 June 2008.

It’s really hard to answer the question “Should you hire a car in Italy?”. It depends on:

1 Where you want to visit - if you want to visit a one or a few major cities such as Rome, Florence. Venice a car is just a pain in congested traffic and one way systems, difficult and expensive to park. It’s much better to walk around, use public transport or taxis.

2 Where you want to stay - if you want to stay in a rural location e.g. a villa in the Tuscan countryside you’ll probably need to hire a car to get to your villa, do grocery shopping and visit some nearby villages.

3 Your nervous disposition - if you can cope being constantly honked, crazily overtaken, and are good at squeezing into tiny parking spaces.. I must admit that I find it really stressful and I drive around 20,000 miles a year in the UK annually so I’m a pretty experienced driver.

4 Your budget - car hire in Italy is pretty expensive, at around £150 a week for a super mini, about 50% dearer than Spain and fuel costs 1.5 euros a litre. Obviously the more passengers the more cost effective it becomes.

Castliogne del Lago. Lake Trasimeno

We hired a car for our one week tour around southern Tuscany and Umbria during the last week of May 2008. To visit all the locations such as Lake Trasimeno, Spoleto and Gubbio in one week we had to have our own transport. It cost £157 for a 7 day hire through Economy Car Hire for a Renault Clio with no insurance excess to pay and 2 named drivers. We paid 85 euros (approx £65) for unleaded petrol coming to a total of around £220 or £110 per person which is pretty good value for a weeks transport.

My husband did the majority of the driving, partly because I’m better at navigating and deciphering one tiny road sign with arrows which points in an indiscernible direction, I drive a lot for my day job in the UK and I chickened out as I couldn’t face the aggressive driving style on roads which I’m convinced were much narrower than those in the UK, even on dual carriageways.

However it was quite nerve wracking, one evening we got totally lost and disorientated in heavy traffic trying to find our hotel in Treni. We just had to stop and take some deep breaths. Luckily we found a bus route map in bus shelter and we able to work out our own directions to the hotel.

On the other hand we saw so much beautiful scenery and found some idyllic spots and had flexibility about where and for how long we stopped at each location. Having the car was very convenient for example we’d carry a thermos flask and various provisions in the car so we could have refreshment and picnics at scenic locations. We didn’t have to carry our luggage to stations, on and off trains or to our hotel.

So as every no easy answer to the question, “Should I hire a car in Italy?” You have to carefully consider what you want from your trip in Italy and decide if car hire is appropriate for you.

Good - great value at £49 sterling for double room with breakfast, close to Pisa airport, swimming pool and private beach, spacious bedroom and bathroom.

Bad - not really up to 4 star standard could do with revamping.

Rating out of 10 - 8

I selected the Grand Golf Hotel because of its proximity to Pisa airport as we were flying into Pisa in the early evening and didn’t want a long drive in the hire car after the flight. I found the hotel for £49 with gta hotels using the HotelsCombined price comparison site.

It took around 30 minutes to drive to the hotel from the airport. The hotel is a quiet location, near pine woods around a 10 minute walk from the town centre. Our bedroom was very spacious with a large bathroom. The fittings in the room were quite old fashioned but perfectly serviceable. Our balcony was tiny but there was a sea view. The breakfast was adequate. The swimming pool was attractive but be warned you can only swim there wearing a bathing cap which costs 4 euros at reception.

We walked to the hotel’s private beach in the morning which took around 5 minutes. There were only a few fishermen around. It’s free for guest to enter but you have to pay for sun beds and parasols but there was no-one around collecting money when we were there. There are changing facilities, showers and a cafe.

I think that the hotel is ideal for a stopover if you have an early or late flight in or out of Pisa. It would also be ideal for a relaxing couple of days by the seaside.

Can you have too much off a good thing? Almost everywhere we looked in Umbria we could see charming medieval hilltop villages and towns. You really are spoiled for choice, you could stop every few kilometers and wander around another historic village or town.

Gubbio

Don’t thing these are decaying, neglected places or just tarted up for tourists, these towns and villages are full of life.

Todi

You do really need to have a hire car to get around rural Umbria though. The driving can be pretty hairy at times.

Spoleto

It was amazing on the drive back home to Berwick from Edinburgh to get the impression that Scotland wasn’t that green. Usually when you return from the south of Europe you think it’s lovely to be back in verdant Scotland but after all the densely wooded hillocks in Umbria, Scotland was looking slightly wishy washy.

If you hire a car at Pisa airport where the rental company has a policy of returning the car with a full tank of fuel you may find it virtually impossible to fill up the fuel tank of your rental car. When we were on our way to the airport on a Saturday afternoon, the petrol station near the airport, was unamannned and the payment machine would only accept bancomat cards (I didn’t know what they were) or cash in 5, 10 or 20 euro notes. The machine would not take credit cards.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa

You don’t know exactly how much fuel you need to exactly fill the tank and you may not have notes of correct size. It’s a pretty nasty sting in the tail when you are getting back to the airport to check in for return flight. There’s only one machine for all the pumps and when we were there there were another British couple who put in 40 euro worth of fuel which wasn’t enough to fill tank but they had no more cash, so they were going to be hit with refuelling charge although they were perfectly willing to refill car. A Brazilian guy lost 40 euro in the machine. We were lucky we had a 20 and a 5 euro notes and that filled our tank.

If suppliers have a return full policy it should be easier to adhere to this policy. I think all the car hire suppliers in Pisa should put pressure on petrol station to be manned or at least to accept credit cards.

My advice to you is to ensure you leave plenty of time to refuel and have a supply of 20, 10 and 5 euro notes.