Rome hotel advice

[Phil B]

Flying to Rome (Civitavecchia) in the middle of May to hook up on a 14 day mediterranean cruise to Malta, Tunisia, Egypt, Cyprus, Turkey and ending in Athens, Greece.
Friends say we should go three or four days early and spend a couple days seeing Rome and maybe Venice.
Not sure how to go about making reservations and finding a hotel (nothing fancy). They say it's easy to train to Venice and one day and night should be enough to get a feel of the city.
Does anyone have an idea of where to start? Our travel agent is very knowledgeable about cruises but not very familiar with Italy.
Any one have any suggestions?
Thanks,
Phil

[Jimster]

We just stayed at the Hotel Aberdeen. It is RIck Steves favorite hotel in Rome. Its not fancy but it is clean and safe and relatively near the train station. They also provide a daily breakfast. You should get a good guidebook and you should check out the slowtrav.com board for more information on Italy than you can possibly use.

[DianeG]

I would recommend including Venice in your pre-cruise days *only if* Venice is not already in your cruise itinerary.

Here are three more hotels in Rome you can consider:

Gea de Vulcano
Residenza Cellini
Domus Romana

I can also highly recommend the Context Rome walking excursions. We have already used them in the past and are booking them again in October.

[hibbeln]

When in Rome, look for a hotel near the Pantheon or the Piazza Navona. These are lovely areas, quaint winding cobblestoned streets, little cafes, you can walk to all the sights (from the Spanish Steps, to the Forum, to St. Peters...) and it is what you think of when you think "Rome". There are hotels that can be found for a deal in these areas. We've stayed in this area, and also stayed near the Train station (Termini), and had such a better experience when staying in the older more atmospheric area.

[isisdave]

If you can, I'd allow at least three full days for Rome, particularly if you're interested in the Roman times. One day for the Vatican, one for the forum and nearby sights, and another for either Ostia Antica, if you're into antiquity, or seeing the downtown modern sights if not.

For the Colosseum, buy your tickets across the street at the Palatine Hill, where there will be no line. The ticket covers that and the Colosseum. Probably the best five minutes of our trip was walking past the 600 people in line to buy tickets at the Colosseum, and that was in January. Oh, and don't fall for the "oh, we have an English tour starting in just five minutes" offers around the Colosseum.

Venice is a four-hour train ride, which makes a pretty long day. I'd agree with the suggestion that you do this only if your cruise isn't stopping there. We actually spent only about five hours, which allowed time only to see the palace and have lunch. Of course you may not linger in museums as much as DW

[m61376]

Stay in the heart of the city- IMHO it makes a big difference. We stayed on the Via Venezia and it was a great location- easy to walk places, easy to get to transportation. Personally, I think it wastes too much travel time and really detracts from enjoying the flavor of the city to stay on the outskirts.

Venice is a wonderful city all its own. A day trip from Rome is too much effort and will simply not do it justice. You could easily fill 3 days in Rome and will have a little time to sit back and relax. We like to explore on our own, but doing the half day city tour the first day was a wonderful way to see the Forum, Colisseum and Vatican and get an overview of the city so we were able to get our bearings.

[sstamm]

We stayed in a hotel at the top of the Spanish Steps and we could walk to many things. Price was reasonable at the time. Hotel Internazionale.
The Spanish Steps (like many piazzas) are a great place to just hang out and watch the goings on.

Have fun!!

[beachbarbie]

We stayed at the Forum Hotel which was literally right across the street from the Roman Forum(but not the entrance where you would have alot of ped.traffic) and a couple of blocks from the Coliseum. Also had a great rooftop open air restaurant and bar which had the most fantastic view of the Forum and Coliseum which were all lit up at night. I can't remember the price but was worth every penny for the location and view.
Some websites worth looking at:

www.venere.it
www.vrbo.com
www.eurocheapo.com

Have a great cruise!!

Barb

[GetawaysRus]

Rome is a wonderful city to visit. There is quite a lot to see, and it is one of the few cities in the world where you can spend the entire week and still feel that there would have been more to see. If you have only 3-4 days, what you choose to do will depend on the type of traveller you are.

If you prefer to take it slow and thoroughly visit the sites you select, then I would forget about a day trip to Venice. That would be tossing more into the mix than you might like.

You'd have to be a real go-go-go type of tourist to consider adding in Venice. I wouldn't recommend it.

With 3-4 days in Rome, I'd allow:
-one full day for the Colosseum and the Forum area
-another full day for the Vatican museum and St. Peters. Get to the Vatican very early, because the line gets very long.
-another full day for visiting the Pantheon, perhaps some churches in the nearby area, and walking over to the Trevi fountain. Even the minor churches in Rome are beautiful.
And you've still got lots more you could do in Rome if you have the time.

I thought the Rick Steves Rome guidebook was excellent. (I'm referring to the Rome book - there is an Italy book as well, but the Italy book has less Rome coverage.)

[Parkplace]

There are many, many economical hotels within walking distance of the Termini and bus station (which includes the city tour double decker buses). We stayed at one called San Remo and paid about $80 per night. It was clean, quiet, ensuite bathroom, included a decent breakfast but was definitely nothing fancy.

The only thing I would add to what everyone else has said is book your room from here through the internet. We asked for an extra night once we got there and paid DOUBLE what we arranged over the internet.

[dmharris]

We also stayed at the Aberdeen, about five city blocks from the main train station. You can walk almost anywhere to the historic sites from there except the Vatican. The breakfast was included and filling. Lovely people.

IMO Rome only needs two days, take a train to Siena. Lovely old city with the most magnificent Duomo. Wonderful true old world, small village feel to the oldest section of Siena. Or train to Florence. We stayed at the Atlantic Palace Hotel and it was lovely. My criteria are clean, 3 stars, breakfast included and an old world decor to the hotel. It fit it perfectly. The Aberdeen is more functional and not as sumptuous, but clean, clean, clean.

Here's another idea, go to the Amalfi coast and tour Pompei, Sorrento (we stayed at the Hotel Aminta) and take a bus day trip to Positano and Amalfi. It's easy to drive to Florence or Sorrento.

Ciao!