Finding the perfect accommodation for your holidays might be a tough experience, but this does not have to be the case when you travel to South Tyrol (or South Tirol), Italy. With more than 200 years of intensive tourism, the region is literally full of hotels and pensions. However, despite the same 200 years, most of these hotels and pensions do not appear on big sites such as Expedia. And those that do appear are, of course, mainly the big, expensive ones. Does this mean that tourists without local connections have no choice but to pay the price? Not really, provided that they get to know a few things about accommodations in South Tyrol, Italy. Here they are:
Tip 1: search on local sites, not on national or global ones
South Tyrol is not only a geographical region, but also, from administrative point of view, an autonomous province. This means that many things are handled locally and the best place to look for any information is a South Tyrol site rather than anything else. And once you know where to look, you’ll find plenty of information on any issue. So try the” South Tyrol tourism site for general information and the South Tyrol “accommodation finder for booking an accommodation.
If you plan to go to some specific events, search also on the site of the event. Usually they offer on their site a tool for searching and booking accommodations. However, keep in mind to book with a lot of time in advance for truly international events such as the World Championship in Biathlon. For such events it seems that there are never enough hotels and pensions and you might not be able to find something close even 1 or 2 months in advance!
Tip 2: call, not click
Don’t be afraid to make a phone call for securing your reservation. While many pensions and hotels in South Tyrol offer also an on-line form for requesting a reservation, many of them seem to simply ignore such forms. However, they promptly answer on the phone and guarantee your reservation if they are not fully booked. Most of them speak English at least at a basic level and all of them speak both German and Italian.
Tip 3: contact a tourism office
Almost in every little town in South Tyrol (some villages included) there is a tourism office. If you are still in doubt or don’t manage to find on-line the accommodation of your dreams, just contact