When Andrea Gibson and Jeff Smith bought Olympic hockey tickets this summer for their February honeymoon, they dreamed of spending a few nights in a luxurious hotel in the host city of Turin, Italy, then checking into some mountain resorts to catch the Games' skiing events.

But two months later, the couple can't find hotel rooms close to the Games, and so they're thinking of spending part of their trip five hours away -- in Venice. "It looks like we're having a very different kind of honeymoon," says Ms. Gibson, a 28-year-old sales manager from Santa Monica, Calif. "We can't find anything reasonable that's less than two hours away."

This year's Olympic challenge: scoring a decent hotel room. While tickets to the XX Winter Games remain plentiful, an expected audience of nearly three million people is battling for Turin's 15,000 hotel rooms for the events, which run from Feb. 10 to Feb. 26. The industrial city's three five-star hotels and its 14 four-star properties have been booked for months. Thinking of settling into a three-star room still available from a travel agency? It could cost $1,200 a night.

That has many travelers booking rooms far from the Olympic sites -- and finding a few perks while they're at it. Fanning out to the south and east, some fans are finding they'll be able to catch a few sports events, and also be in position for the summer fashion collections in Milan (the shows overlap the second week of the Games), or tasting Barolo nearby in Piedmont, one of Italy's major wine-producing regions. In Piedmont's Novi Ligure, there's still room at the four-star Relais Villa Pomela, starting at 195 euros ($235) a night -- with more than 130 designer-outlet stores nearby, including Bulgari, Dolce & Gabbana and Versace.

The room squeeze marks a turnaround from the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, where tickets were hard to come by but rooms plentiful. About three months before those Games, 98 percent of event tickets were sold out, according to official ticket distributor CoSport. But Salt Lake City's 17,400 hotel rooms never fully sold out, according to the Utah Hotel and Lodging Association. In Turin, however, 42 percent of the event tickets remain unsold. (Tickets are still available for 85 percent of events.)

One explanation why things are different in Turin: In Salt Lake City, Americans snapped up tickets for the 2002 Olympics before 9/11, but after the attacks, many ticket holders didn't come to Utah, says Adam Dailey, the president of Olympics specialist Ludus Tours. Meanwhile, 40 percent of 2002 event tickets were bought by Utah residents, many of whom didn't need hotels, according to the Salt Lake Organizing Committee. For Turin, on the other hand, Italians haven't been quick to snap up tickets: Its organizing committee has launched a national campaign to drum up demand.

The last-minute ticket surplus is presenting an opportunity for travelers who are willing to book farther from the action. Margaret Raney has her eye on the speed-skating and curling events in villages around Turin, but the 57-year-old from Elm Grove, Wis., is planning to spend much of her trip 200 miles south of the Games. She'll be in Lucca, a town in northern Tuscany, sampling the local cuisine and enjoying the countryside. "I think this is actually going to be more fun for us," says Ms. Raney.

Other travelers are going for the glitter. To be in Milan for women's fashion week, about 90 miles east of Turin, visitors can still book the city's Four Seasons hotel throughout February (double rooms start at 580 euros a night). At the Park Hyatt, doubles start at 520 euros but will jump to 600 euros once the fashion shows begin Feb. 18. Travelers to Venice Carnival (it's two weeks beginning Feb. 17) can sleep off the masquerade ball on the train; traveling to Turin takes 10 hours, round trip.

Then there's the wine: Cartan, an official Olympics travel agency, says some of its clients are combining luge and biathlon with its tours of the Piedmont region, which include Italian cooking classes and wine-tasting seminars featuring local Barolos, Barbarescos and Moscatos. (A typical price: $4,000 per person for a six-night all-inclusive tour from New York, event tickets not included.) Somewhere Tours, based in Piedmont, is renting out private apartments and four-star hotel rooms (starting at 260 euros a night) in Alba, an hour south of Turin. Its tour packages include trips to pasta, mozzarella and chocolate factories, including a chance to sample gianduja, the region's signature blend of cocoa and hazelnuts.

If there's one sport fans traipsing through Italy might want to put on their schedule, it's men's ice hockey. After the cancellation of the 2004/2005 National Hockey League season, the Olympics have become the sport's top event. Meanwhile, figure skater Michelle Kwan is expected to face tough competition from U.S. and international competitors. Skiing newcomers Julia Mancuso, who posted top-10 results in every skiing discipline in 2005, and Lindsey Kildow will join veterans Bode Miller and Sara Schleper.

For those determined to stay in Turin, the news isn't all bad: Hotel rooms may appear again at the last minute, some seasoned Olympics fans say. "Corporations reserve huge blocks of hotel rooms, but a lot of people just don't show," says David Gold, a 38-year-old business development executive in Manhattan who's been to seven Olympic Games. He says he's always managed to score four-star accommodations without advance reservations, though he's had to pay as much as 800 euros a night. Others are negotiating reserving rooms in tiny hotels in some villages around Turin, where hoteliers sometimes don't speak English. Apartments offer another solution -- but many, like some of those in Salbertrand (population: 500) require minimum stays of 17 days to a month, costing upwards of 4,000 euros.

Large groups hoping to save cash by piling into a single flat or hotel room, be warned: It's hard enough squeezing two people into a double room, let alone four or five. "We have to say no," says CoSport President Matt Bijur. "Italian hotel rooms are not terribly large."

Sporting Chances

Travelers can combine a trip to the Olympics with other memorable European attractions. Here are some hotels with rooms available earlier this week.

HOTEL/LOCATION: Locando del Sant' Uffizio Asti, Italy
NIGHTLY RATES: 230 euros (about $278)
COMMENTS: The renovated 17th-century monastery offers spacious suites, vineyard views and a full gym.

HOTEL/LOCATION: Park Hyatt, Milan
NIGHTLY RATES: 600 euros, without breakfast, for women's fashion week
COMMENTS: An hour from Turin, the hotel features powerful "rain showers" for bathing and a full spa.

HOTEL/LOCATION: Hotel Valerie Montgenevre, France
NIGHTLY RATES: 80 euros
COMMENTS: This 3-star hotel is a short walk from the ski lifts of the French resort, and less than an hour from the Olympic skiing events in Bardonecchia. The town's tourist board will be providing shuttle service to the games.

HOTEL/LOCATION: Hotel des Iles Borromees Stresa, Italy
NIGHTLY RATES: 250 euros
COMMENTS: This 5-star hotel on Lago Maggiore, 90 minutes by train from Turin, has plenty of rooms. But the hotel says it's low season for a reason -- it's freezing.

HOTEL/LOCATION: Hotel Gritti Palace, Venice
NIGHTLY RATES: 315 euros until Carnival, without breakfast
COMMENTS: It's a haul from Turin, but this former palace is right on the Grand Canal. After Carnival begins on Feb. 17, revelers may pay more than 1,000 euros per night.
(1)Rates are for least expensive double room. Breakfast included unless specified.