Cheap Sleeps in Italy '99 Ed

This book is not about smelly penciones, but about value for your money. We had lovely rooms, simple and clean - we could spend our money on more important things (shoes).

Pay attention to the shopping guides as well - there are lots of poorly made, tourist trap shops in Italy. Gustafson is experienced enough to know quality.


I would normally hesitaie to give 5 stars, but......   March 27, 2001
 15 out of 15 found this review helpful

The value of a really good book in other spheres of literature can mean hours spent in another time and place in a trance of pleasure, or perhaps the true satisfaction of gaining a comprehensive understanding of a concept or event that had formally intrigued or baffled you.

These are considerable and valuable pleasures of course, but when a book like this gets things absolutely right, it can mean a trip being enhanced to an immeasurable degree, resulting in memories that will stay with you until the day you die.

This was my experience with this book, and when I awoke on our first morning in our hotel, the sun was streaming in over a terrace bedecked with lemon trees and classical sculptures, I could hear the mass being sung by the nuns in the nearby convent, and I could look directly above my bed to see a deep relief sculpture of prancing angels, it was difficult not to be convinced, for a split second that I had not survived the flight over, slipped by the pearly gates due to some administrative error on the part of St Peter & Co, and awoken in paradise.

That I had this experience was entirely due to the quality of the research undertaken for this book, and the discretion of the author. The writing is of a quality that you will wish to revisit the book, and your destination.

A 5 star rating is probably overused on ... but it would be ungrateful and crass of me to give less here.

Priceless information, precious memories, a palpable hit.


Sleep Cheap and Enjoy It   February 24, 2001
 12 out of 12 found this review helpful

We used Sandra's books for both Italy and London and have had great success with them. In Italy we stayed in two of the most charming and wonderful hotels ever and have gone back to them a second time because we enjoyed them so much. Her information is accurate, her comments on cleanliness, location and amenities have been invaluable to us. We were desperately seeking a B&B in London and went to one she highly recommended. Believe me, it was more than adequate. In London hotels are very expensive and actually are pretty bare-boned but Sanda's information helped us to stay inexpensively, in a very convenient location, without breaking our bank account. I truly can't thank her enough for the recommendations in Italy. We love both of the hotels (Rome and Florence). We've also used cheap eats in Italy and London and found them helpful and accurate. Bravo Sandra! [:-)


Not Too Reliable   December 20, 2000
 8 out of 10 found this review helpful

We used this book and her Cheap Eats book recently in Italy. Cheap Eats was great - fabulous advice every time! But this book left us underwhelmed. A lot of the information was out of date or incorrect. Our hotel in Rome was nowhere near where we thought it would be. From now on, we're using Let's Go for hotel recommendations


Excellent guides   January 31, 2000
 42 out of 48 found this review helpful

I purchased this Cheap Sleeps for an as yet unbooked trip to Italy. I have used the Cheap Sleeps/Eats in London, so expected to get valuable information from this book. I was not disappointed. My biggest problem will be deciding on which of the dozens of places Gustafson recommends to stay when I go. I know from past experience that I won't be disappointed in any of them, because she gives any cautions required right up front. I would definitely buy any Cheap Sleeps/Eats book for a city I was visiting.