What is your idea of a holiday? Do you want to spend your days lazing at a luxury resort sipping margaritas or would you like to experience what life is like in the destination? Some of my friends have been on island holidays to 5-star resorts, but they have never seen the island itself. Others have visited big cities like Paris and have never walked the streets or experienced what it is like to sit at a corner cafe and watch the passing parade.

There are so many types of accommodation available: Motels, Hotels – from budget to luxury, Apartments, Bed & Breakfasts, Holiday Homes,  Luxury Lodges, Boutique Hotels.

For the budget conscious traveller, there are Hostels/Backpackers if you don’t mind sharing bathroom and kitchen facilities. There are also Camping, Caravan and Campervan facilities.

If it is a different experience you are looking for then Homestays may be your thing – where everything is shared with the family, including bathrooms and meals, or if you like a more hands-on approach you could even try a Farmstay, these range from truly rustic (sleeping in the barn with the cows) to luxury farms, where you can still get involved with the animals and try your hand at milking the cows before breakfast.

Finding the hotel, bed and breakfast or apartment at your destination will differ from person to person, perhaps it will be the size of the room, the location or even the price that will determine your choice. Let’s look at how you will start to find the best hotel for you. We are still in Milan and we arrived at the Central Station so let’s begin…

Google Maps

You can either love or hate Google Maps, in the image below I performed a search ‘Hotel, Milan’

The results Google give me are in the currency where I am currently, but I would rather see the results in US Dollars or Euros, but Google does not give me this option, also they tell me where the hotels are but it will be useless if the hotel I find does not have space. The only way to fool Google is with a VPN but that is a pain. Let’s move to a better solution.

Booking.Com

Searching for accommodation, in my opinion, has never been easier and I have been using this website for many years. I have always found good deals and it is definitely my first choice when searching for accommodation.

In the picture below I selected Milan City Centre as my first choice, but everything has been booked already.

Milan has a well connected public transport system and therefore it will be easier and cheaper to stay closer to the station, or outside the city centre. The Metro stations are marked with red M’s on the map, so it is easy to see the proximity to the accommodation you chose.

If you use the following link https://www.booking.com/s/35_6/f2978535 to book your accommodation, you will get 10% back after your stay from Booking.com

Hotel Booking Websites

When it comes to websites, there are numerous including sites like Hotels.com, Expedia, Trivago, TripAdvisor and even Google.

When planning your itinerary, it is best to compare prices from various sites, including the hotel’s own website, as sometimes the hotels have special offers and attractive package deals that won’t be available on the third-party sites.