Back to my series on how to budget for your vacation, we’ve discussed several different forms of lodging. We started out with hostels, made our way to bed & breakfasts, talked about local vs. chain hotels, agriturismi, camping, and in my last post, we discussed apartments.

In this post, I’d like to talk a bit about Convents & Monasteries. This is an option that not many people tend to consider when thinking about lodging choices in their European travels. I can honestly say that I had never considered convents or monasteries as a viable form of lodging and had never even read about it until, while researching my first trip to Italy in 2004, I came across a guide to Lodging in Italy’s Monasteries by Eileen Barish. Armed with the information in this book, my travel buddy and I decided to stay at a convent in Florence. The rooms were spartan but clean and the price was very reasonable. Breakfast was included and dinner at the convent could be purchased separately. The convent was within walking distance of the Ponte Vecchio, the Uffuzi Gallery, the Boboli Gardens, and many other destinations.

To read more, please visit the Globe Diva blog.