Siena’s architecture and art are greatly celebrated, and there is no shortage of sights to see on your trip, from visiting a museum to taking a hike for sweeping views of the city.

Whether you plan to visit on a day trip or for an extended stay, this city will not disappoint!

Related: Our hotel guide and travel blog to Florence

The best budget hotels in Siena

Read on for our favorite budget hotels in Siena. And when you’re ready for a road trip through the Tuscan countryside, relax at these affordable accommodations.

A comfy common area at Casa di Osio.

Casa di Osio

Rooms from $69

With spacious, homey rooms and excellent views of the city, the Casa di Osio is an excellent pick for budget travelers. The cheapest rooms share very clean bathrooms. If you need anything at all, the kind owners are always willing to lend a hand. Book your stay here

It’s easy to fall in love with the rooms at B&B La Casa di Antonella.

B&B La Casa di Antonella

Rooms from $69

Get ready to fall in love. The B&B La Casa di Antonella, with its city views, central location, and art-flourished ceilings is an excellent choice for a home base. You can splurge for an en suite room, but the shared baths are immaculate. Read more

The view of Siena from Salicotto 56.

Salicotto 56

Rooms from $76

Located near many Sienna attractions, the Salicotto 56 offers simple, chic rooms at cheapo rates. The hotel offers a lovely guest kitchen, free Wi-Fi, and flat-screen TVs. Be sure to ask ahead for a room with a city view! Book your stay here

You’ll be charmed by the decor at Hotel Antica Torre.

Hotel Antica Torre

Rooms from $87

Soak in the charm when you sleep in a 16th-century palace at this three-star charmer. All the big tourist attractions are nearby, but the real fun is in the old-world rooms. Treat yourself to one of the two rooms that provide sweeping views of the Tuscan countryside. Read more

Cheapo splurge

You can’t beat the view from the balcony rooms at Hotel Athena.

Hotel Athena

Rooms from $105

This four-star beauty is worth the extra euros. All 100 rooms feature contemporary Tuscan decor with satellite TV, air-conditioning, and Wi-Fi. Try to reserve a balcony room if they’re available. A nice breakfast buffet is included in the price, and you can relax with a drink on the patio with a classic Tuscan country view. Read more 

More Siena hotels

Read through our Siena hotel guide to find even more great deals on hotel rooms. You can also search for rates on hundreds of Siena hotel and vacation apartment listings.

The post Italy on the Cheap: Our favorite budget hotels in Siena appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

Here are a few tips for navigating the dangerous (and delicious) waters of buying Tuscan wine.

Tuscan wines

First of all, how do you know if a wine is from Tuscany? In most cases it will be written on the bottle, often in the Italian form “Toscana.”

If not, there are many wines from specific areas of Tuscany that are well known and proudly display the name of their provenance. So, while scanning the hundreds of bottles in front of you, keep an eye out for these names:

Brunello di Montalcino: One of the most famous and prized Tuscan wines, Brunello di Montalcino takes five years to produce, from the picking of the grape to the sale of the bottle. This dry and robust red wine is produced in Montalcino in the southeast area of Tuscany.

Carmignano: This red wine comes from a picturesque hill town about 30 minutes outside of Florence and was a favorite of the Medici family, as two of their villas were located in the area.

Chianti: The most famous of Italian red wines, Chianti is an area not far from Florence. Due to its fame you will find a seemingly infinite number of “Chianti” wines, so keep an eye out for the “Chianti Classico,” which has its own DOCG. Also check out the Chiantis produced in other nearby areas such as Colli Senesi and Montalbano.

Morellino di Scansano: A strong, dry red wine from the Grosseto area, in the south of Tuscany.

Vernaccia di San Gimignano: One of the area’s few white wines, Vernaccia is typically from the medieval hill town of San Gimignano.

Vino Nobile di Montepulciano: Another famous historic red wine with a dry taste and floral scent from the southeast of Tuscany.

Vin Santo: This is a typical Tuscan dessert wine, made from dried grapes and generally golden in color. There is no specific town or area that produces Vin Santo, but I recommend the slightly expensive version from Carmignano. It is traditionally enjoyed with cantuccini, an almond cookie from Prato, that are similar to what we would call “biscotti.”

Clues to picking a good wine

A good starting point is to look for the acronyms, “DOC” (“Denominazione di origine controllata”) and “DOCG” (“Denominazione d’origine controllata e garantita”). These two classifiers are given to wine that comes from a protected area, and have a reputation for high quality and other particular characteristics.

“DOCG” is given to wines of even greater importance and quality. You’ll usually find “DOCG” written on the front of a bottle directly under the name, as it is almost as important as the name itself.

For a more in-depth explanation of these classifications, check out our previous article on Roman wine. Otherwise, just trust me and look out for affordable DOCG wines so you can spend less time reading labels and more time drinking!

How much should you spend?

Wine is like water here in Tuscany and seems to be produced everywhere you look. Rightfully then, it’s much cheaper to buy than in other parts of the world.

Even in the shops of the main tourist areas (for example in the center of Florence), you should only have to spend €5-10 for a good bottle. Wine can easily cost less than €5 (Tavernello, a watery boxed table wine may actually cost less than milk!), but the quality generally increases along with the price.

Obviously, it’s impossible to try every type of Tuscan wine and nearly as impossible to find a favorite. But you can try! Go ahead and start testing…

Your favorite Tuscan wine?

Do you have a favorite Tuscan wine? Share your wine recommendations with us in the comments section.

The post Tuscan Wines: A quick buyer’s guide appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

Now, before you ask “what were you thinking?” or say “that doesn’t sound particularly Cheapo, Pete,” let me explain further.

Yes, the villa we rented was admittedly off-the-charts decadent. It had seven large bedrooms, five bathrooms, a kitchen nearly as large as my current apartment, a billiard room, a dining room, a massive living room area, an in-ground pool whose gorgeousness was eclipsed only by its vineyard view, and—somewhat inexplicably—a separate, small chapel on the grounds. And just to round it off, there were also large stone lion statues adjacent to the front doors, greeting us upon our return from schlepping around the countryside.

But did we mention the entire week-long stay cost each person roughly $70 per night? Sure, you can beat the pants off that price at a number of our Editor’s Picks in Florence (while actually being in Florence rather than a 45-minute drive outside) but for everything that the villa had to offer, we felt the price was reasonable. And for the sheer experience of the endeavor we were willing to shell out a few extra euros.

Related: Our favorite affordable hotels in Tuscany

But looking back on our trip, there are a number of tips and recommendations that would have been helpful to know when we were planning our stay. Here are some things to consider when renting a villa in Tuscany:

1. Prepare to “hub” it.

If you’re planning to explore a particular region – rather than just one specific city – renting a villa makes sense. Our villa was located near the village of Traversa, making it easy to “hub it” and visit Florence, Pisa, Siena, Cinque Terre, Bologna, and even Venice during our trip. Which brings us to our next tip…

2. Get ready to drive.

Rent a car and plan on driving it a lot. This might seem obvious to most, but prior to our trip we didn’t really consider how frequently we’d be driving around the region. Fortunately we had several eager drivers among us who were particularly adept with manual transmissions. Otherwise, we likely wouldn’t have strayed too far from our residence. Which, again, brings us to our next tip…

3. Get cooking.

While most villa rental agencies offer decadent, home-cooked meals on the premises at an extra cost, part of what made our experience so special was handling all meals ourselves (plus it saved a whole lot of money). There was never any shortage of ingredients at local markets for our nightly dinners and we found that a large part of our daily routine revolved around dinner planning. And we loved it.

4. Get ready for some family time.

For our group, part of what made renting a villa so special was traveling as a big family. Sure, we experienced our fair share of “I think it’s your turn to do the dishes” moments, but we still frequently reflect and laugh about our hysterical experience of sleeping in the Tuscan castle.

When renting a villa in Tuscany might not make sense

1. You don’t like your in-laws. Just kidding. Promise.

2. You don’t like driving through twisty, turny, slightly nerve-wracking roads. If this is the case, you might be better off staying in a city rather than in the winding hills.

3. When the math doesn’t work out. Budget wisely and consider all the incidental expenses of renting a villa. While the per person price of accommodation itself can be similar to that of  2 and 3-star hotels, you’ll also pay for food, car rentals, gas, electricity, a cleaning fee, and any other incidentals that spring up.

Websites that specialize in renting villas in Tuscany and elsewhere

There are many helpful websites that provide reservation services for villa rental throughout Europe. Most offer large format, high quality photos that should stir up your excitement. Here are a few that we recommend checking out:

Parker Villas – Specializes in villas through Italy. Parker Villas was one of the first villa rental agencies we discovered when we started our search.

Tuscany Now – Large listing of villas for rent in Tuscany, Umbria, Lazio, Sicily, and other regions in Italy.

VRBO – While not technically a villa reservation agency, VRBO does feature many properties in Tuscany and beyond, plus the rates tend to be a bit more reasonable.

Cuendet – Offers villas in Croatia, Italy, France, and Spain (and was the website we used when booking ours).

Tell us: Have you ever rented a villa in Italy or elsewhere? Share your experience with other Cheapos by leaving a comment below.

The post How to rent a villa in Tuscany. Is it right for you? appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.