Eight different Internet services are currently advertising the availability of short-term (like a week) apartment rentals in Rome, Italy. If you ever needed proof of the explosion in European apartment rentals, you have it here.

Note that far more than eight such Rome-renting companies are found on the Internet; these are simply the ones that advertise. The rents (usually about $150 a night for an apartment housing up to four persons) are somewhat higher than those of the many non-advertising websites simply found by using a search engine.

Eight, ad-placing, rental websites for Rome, Italy, are:

• RomePower.com (www.romepower.com)
• Under the Roman Sun (www.undertheromansun.com)
• Rental in Rome (www.rentalinrome.com)
• SleepingItaly (www.sleepingitaly.com)
• Romerenting.com (www.romerenting.com)
• BestRentRome.com (www.bestrentrome.com)
• The Smart Cactus.com (www.thesmartcactus.com)

If you are three or more persons traveling together, the rental of European apartments is the way to go. You not only spend less than at hotels of a similar quality, but you enjoy far more comfort and space, and the ability to prepare an occasional meal at low cost (spaghetti-and-meatballs, anybody?). Your only "disadvantage"? The need to spend at least a week per city, which is probably the smartest decision in any event for a trip to Rome, London, Paris, Madrid, Berlin, and the like.

Apartment-renting, in any event, is the way smart travelers are responding to the weakness of the dollar.

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Labels: accommodations, rome, western europe