How I Use Booking.com to Find a Place to Stay in Italy
People ask me all the time how I find places to stay when I’m traveling around Italy. The answer is pretty simple: I use Booking.com for almost everything, and I’ve been doing it long enough that I have a system.
Here’s exactly what I do.
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Why Booking.com and Not Airbnb
Airbnb is fine, but it only shows you private rentals — people who’ve converted a room or an apartment into a place to stay. Booking.com has all of that plus proper hotels with full-time front desks, hostels, agriturismos, and everything in between. More options in one place. That’s the whole reason I use it.
There’s also a loyalty angle. The more you book through them, the more discounts you unlock. I’m at Genius Level 3 at this point, which means I’m regularly getting 10–20% off stays. It adds up.
The Filters I Always Use
Before I even start scrolling through listings, I set my filters. Every time.
Review score: 8 and up. Anything below that, I don’t bother looking at.
Private bathroom. Non-negotiable for me, but adjust to your own comfort level.
Free cancellation. Plans change. I’m not going to lock myself into a non-refundable rate and then be out hundreds of dollars if something shifts. Just filter for free cancellation and move on.
Air conditioning — if you’re coming from the U.S. or Canada and visiting Italy in summer, late spring, or early fall, turn this filter on. You are not used to the heat here. I don’t care how tough you think you are.
Once the dates are locked in, I also toggle to show only available properties. No point in falling in love with a place that’s already booked.
Location Is the Only Thing That Really Matters
After the filters, I switch to the map view. This is where I actually make my decision.
I want to know: how far is this place from where I’m actually going to be spending my time? I pull up Google Maps in another tab and check the walking distance to the main areas. My rule of thumb is no more than a 15-minute walk. If public transit is involved, I’ll stretch that to 20–25 minutes, but ideally less.
For smaller and medium-sized towns, I don’t stress too much about the exact location — just being generally central is enough. For bigger cities, it gets more specific.
City-by-City Notes
Rome: Termini gets a worse rap than it deserves. It’s not charming, there’s a homeless population that gives it a weird vibe, but I’ve walked that neighborhood alone at 2am plenty of times and never had an issue. Trastevere is the classic move for atmosphere and food, but you’re looking at a 25 to 30 minute walk to the Colosseum and Vatican instead of the 10 minutes you’d get in the historic center. My actual pick for a compromise is Monti: you get a chunk of that Trastevere charm with a more local feel, and you’re close to the Colosseum. See also Where to Stay in Rome on Any Budget.
Milan: Public transit is the reason Milan is forgiving. Anywhere on a tram line or near a Metro stop works fine. Don’t pay a premium for “central” here, you don’t need it. As a rule of thumb, stay within a 30 minute walk of the Duomo, which is about 15 minutes if you’re taking the metro. See also: Milan Travel Guide.
Florence: Small enough that you can’t really get this wrong. Stay near the river or just north of it (centro) and you’re set. Piazzale Michelangelo has the view everyone wants for a photo, but it’s a real hike from the center. Don’t stay up there. See also: Where to Stay in Florence on Any Budget.
Naples: Central, full stop. Unlike Termini in Rome, the area around Napoli Centrale actually is rough, and it’s a hike from the stuff you’re there to see, so don’t stay there to save money. Aim for within a 10 minute walk of the Università metro stop. In Naples the gap between a good neighborhood and a bad one is bigger than in Rome or Florence, so don’t cheap out on location here.
Palermo: Central. Stay within a 10 minute walk of Teatro Massimo and you’re set. See also: Palermo Recommendations.
Bologna: The train station is enormous and spread across multiple levels, so “near the station” doesn’t always mean a short walk. Otherwise the city is compact enough that you can stay almost anywhere and still walk to everything, just keep it within a 10 minute walk of Piazza Maggiore and you’re in a good spot. See also: Guide to Bologna.
On the Room Itself
I look at the pictures. I check the room options. I skim the reviews. But I don’t spend a lot of time on this part, and here’s why: you should not be spending much time in your room when you’re traveling in Italy. You want it to be clean, comfortable, and safe. That’s the bar.
A view is a bonus. A nice view does not make a trip. If you want to be the person who opens the shutters to a perfectly set breakfast table overlooking the hills, great, go for it, but know you’re paying for that specifically. It’s not a factor in whether the trip is good.
The Short Version
Use Booking.com. Filter by review score (8+), private bathroom, free cancellation, and air conditioning if it’s warm. Switch to map view and cross-reference with Google Maps to check walking distances. Don’t stay directly on top of a major train station in a big city. Keep your expectations for the room reasonable — clean and safe is the goal, not Instagram-ready.
That’s genuinely all I do, and it works every time.