We've been doing home exchanges for a few years now and have stayed in some of the most spectacular places: an apartment in the heart of Rome, a villa with a pool near Los Angeles, a house on the outskirts of London. And so much more. The concept is very simple: we stay in the homes of other people who are staying in ours, either simultaneously or not. You even have the possibility to add a car exchange, but we don't have any experience with that yet. So far, our home exchanges have always been a succes. In fact, we only see advantages:

• You get to meet new people.
• You get an entire house at your disposal so you have much more space than in a hotel.
• You have less of a tourist feeling, but feel like a real local for a few days.
• Apart from the annual membership fee for the home exchange site, this is completely free.

There are several websites where you can search for a home exchange. We've been using Homelink for several years and are very satisfied.
www.homelink.org