Where to stay in Rome

krooton said:
Spent 4 nights in Hotel Diocleziano, but looks like that is out of your budget.
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Same here back in 2009, we were happy with the location - near Termini station with a great restaurant just round the corner which was so good we went back there another night (something we pretty much never do on holiday).

That said while the hotel itself was decent it didn't blow me away, considering the Tripadvisor ratings (96% positive, top 20 out of well over 1000 hotels in Rome). I must be quite fussy because I don't rate the majority of hotels I've stayed in, it's one of those things where you definitely don't seem to get what you pay for.

One thing I would factor in is that for a capital city their metro system is pretty poor in terms of coverage, basically a big X. So be prepared to walk and perhaps choose your hotel location accordingly.
 
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Booked :) Staying at a Hotel near the Colosseum. Now I need to find cheap transportation from the Airport to the Hotel. Anyone used terravision.eu? Return ticket only costs 8 Euros to ROME TERMINI STATION. Also any suggestions on how I can fit in all the sights in the 3 days I'm there? My flight lands at 10am so we have a full day from day one to see things :)
 
Lovely, what hotel are you at?

Theres an absolutely amazing Bakery/Deli just down the road from the collesseum. Its off a side street just on the opposite side to the collesseum entrance.

I would make a list of the things you want to see and plan it on a map, the only thing i think we missed out on were the catacombs.

We just walked from the Station to our hotel which was quite close to yours. Its probably only about a 15/20 minute walk. Otherwise there is a metro station quite close.

Trams are a good way to get around, although we just wandered around a lot and came to places as we came accross them.

One day that we enjoyed was to get a tram up to the Vatican, have a walk around the vatican area (i wouldn't pay for a tour) Definately walk up to the top though, the views are excellent.
From there you can walk down the river through the Trastevre (i think) area and it takes you right down to the collesseum.

Bit like this

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The deli i mentioned is on one of the crossroads just under the Via Labicana to the right of the collesseum.
 
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Marvt74 said:
Lovely, what hotel are you at?

Theres an absolutely amazing Bakery/Deli just down the road from the collesseum. Its off a side street just on the opposite side to the collesseum entrance.

I would make a list of the things you want to see and plan it on a map, the only thing i think we missed out on were the catacombs.

We just walked from the Station to our hotel which was quite close to yours. Its probably only about a 15/20 minute walk. Otherwise there is a metro station quite close.

Trams are a good way to get around, although we just wandered around a lot and came to places as we came accross them.

One day that we enjoyed was to get a tram up to the Vatican, have a walk around the vatican area (i wouldn't pay for a tour) Definately walk up to the top though, the views are excellent.
From there you can walk down the river through the Trastevre (i think) area and it takes you right down to the collesseum.

Bit like this

The deli i mentioned is on one of the crossroads just under the Via Labicana to the right of the collesseum.
Click to expand...

I'm staying at Hotel Hiberia, would it better to plan the tours myself or pay for a guided tour?
 
I guess it depends on your preferences. My wife and i enjoy just walking around at our own pace so we just planned our days ourselves.

Quite a few places hand out ipod touches and headphones which give guidance while still going at your own pace. We did this for the Collesseum but not for anywhere else. It was good and offered little videos to help give insight. These are usually cheap enough and usually offer smaller queues that the completely independant one.
 
The time has almost come! Here is the list of things were planning on doing in order:

Day1

Colosseum - since our Hotel is close by
Basilica di Santa Maria
Roman Forum
Church of Sant'Ignazio di Loyola
Pantheon
Spanish Steps
Trevi Fountain

Day 2

National Roman Museum
Piazza Navona
Campo De Fiori

Day 3

The Vatican
Castel Sant'Angelo
St Peters Basillica

Day 4

Chill then leave for Airport.

How does that sound? Have I covered that is a must see in Rome?
 
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Also, my advice is to take the tour guide for the Vatican, there is SO much history in the place, obviously, but it is also so easy to overlook the significance of a painting, a statue or a space. Without the guide it would be just like walking around in a museum looking around without realising what you are looking at.
 
How is the travel from Rome to Naples/Pompeii, journey looks simple but the stations look like they could be a nightmare.. i'm going to be there at the end of a mini trip around Dec 6th-10th. Just chucked myself into a hostel near Termini.
 
Trains in Italy are brilliant, I flew to Rome then got the train to naples same day did pompeii etc stayed naples for two days then took the train to Florence which again I did two days then back down to Rome for three. Book your trains before you go and a few weeks in advance if not earlier you will pay half what you pay if you wait until you arrive!
 
Thanks Mat, it does seem a bit on the pricey side being 180 EUROS for both of us. But I suppose it will save a lot of time queue jumping.
 
Tip for day 1: buy your ticket for the Roman forum/Colosseum at the Roman forum entrance, the queue there is about 30 seconds compared to doing the Colosseum first where the queue can be hours long.

Glad to see you have Sant'Ignazio on your list, we stumbled upon it on our first day getting our bearings and ended up enjoying it more than the Vatican. I think it was much quieter and more reverential compared to the thousands of tourists crowding up the Vatican. You are also probably as well doing the Pantheon when you are there as it is literally just round the corner.
 
elrasho said:
Thanks Mat, it does seem a bit on the pricey side being 180 EUROS for both of us. But I suppose it will save a lot of time queue jumping.
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Simply put, you won't do it if you have to queue. The lines are MASSIVE for the Vatican. I'm pretty sure you can get guides cheaper, but it's hard to tell who is legit or not (there are loads of guides trying to offer you this stuff outside the places).

One thing you must do, which we nearly missed, is to go up the cupola on top of St Peter's Basilica. The view is immense, as is the leg burn of over 500 steps. Was barely any queue and it's just tucked round the side of the basilica as you walk up to the front doors.
 
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