DennisA

We, family of 4, will be visiting Rome for 3 days in August (26-29). Will be reaching Rome by train from Florence on 26th morning. Since this is our first trip to Rome, would be glad to receive any suggestions for a suitable itinerary. Checked hotels near Termini and found to be too expensive. Can we stay somewhere near Termini and visit the main attractions in the available 3 days. Awaiting some help. Will fly out of Rome on 29th morning.

jamierin

What is your budget per night in Euro for a hotel? Would you consider an apartment? How old are the kids? And what are your interests? Food, cooking, ruins, art, etc.

If you can answer the above questions people on this board will be able to help direct you to find some good places to stay and things to do.

fmpden

We always stay in the Termini area because the hotels are very reasonable for a family of four and the area is the transit hub of Rome. What is your budget? Would you consider something like the Beehive?

Rastaguytoday

If airports by the termini are expensive, wait until you see the rest of Rome.

cruiseluv

What do you consider "too expensive"??

Regarding suggestions for a "suitable" itinerary, I don't mean to be rude but please, don't ask us to reinvent the wheel. Do a little research here in Fodors . MANY such itineraries have been posted. Also you can google and get something like this:
http://goitaly.about.com/od/romeitaly/ss/rome3day.htm

DennisA

Tks for your response. Our children are in 15-18 age group. Looking at a max budget of 100-125 Euro per night on accommodation. No specific interests ... Vatican, Colosseum any other historic sites, etc. Can we have a quick tour of all major tourist attractions in Rome within 2 days and cover Capri on the 3rd day ? Tks again.

cruiseluv

No to Capri on the 3rd day. Would almost be an impossibility to do as a day trip. If you have never been to Rome 3 days will allow you to only skim the surface. Very few hotels offer rooms for 4 people. I have heard of Albergo Santa Chiara (near Pantheon) , San Carlo and Mozart (near Spanish Steps), but I'm sure all these will be much higher than your budget. The other thing would be to get an apt. I've never rented in Rome but I'm sure others here can suggest apt rental companies.

DennisA

Tks Cruiseluv. Will skip Capri. I am confident of sorting out the accommodation issue, though with a slightly higher budget. However, what I would like to know is .... where to start on day 1, which places on day 2 and day 3 ... to make sure that we don't waste the limited time available. Also, if advance booking desirable for any attraction.

annhig

Hi Dennis,

to find suitably priced accommodation, i suggest that you start with Trip advisor, put in Rome, [obviously] your dates of travel, your room requirements, [presumably you are only wanting to book one room for 4 people if that's all you want to spend] and see what comes up.

you might also think about staying in a convent - they tend to be cheaper, and have multi-bedded rooms.

here's a link for you: http://www.santasusanna.org/comingToRome/convents.html

unfortunately they don't take internet bookings so that might prove a little difficult - so you might also try this one:

http://www.monasterystays.com/

and no, you can't do the major sights in two days and Capri on the third. to make the best use of your time, i suggest grouping the places you want to see together - ie a walking tour of the historic centre when you arrive on day 1, Colosseum, Forum, Capitoline museums, on day 2, St. Peter's, the Vatican museums [if you want to, I would suggest the palazzo doria pamphilji on Day 1 instead] , Trastevere on day 3.

annhig

PS - i just looked at that monastery stay website and they have availability for the time you are in Rome, starting from €47!

you may have to stay near the vatican, but for that price, who cares?

DennisA

Thanks Annhig for your valuable inputs. Will certainly consider your suggestions.

annhig

Dennis - no problem!

I ought to say that i have never stayed at a convent, but people who have who have posted here have generally spoken very highly of them.

the only snag I can think of is that some have curfews [not a silly times] which your kids [or you?] might find difficult.

jent103

As cruiseluv mentioned, you might be able to find an apartment for that budget, if that's something you'd be interested in and if the kids are OK sharing a room. Some have minimum stays (at least 5 nights or the like), but not all. I found ours on sleepinitaly.com last year (great experience working with them); we paid €120/night plus a cleaning fee for a two-bedroom apartment near Piazza Navona, which is very central, and they had other options in that range as well. However, you'll have a harder time finding an apartment that you need in just six weeks. Plus apartments obviously don't have amenities like 24-hour front desks and that sort of thing.

As far as an itinerary, I agree that you'll have absolutely no trouble filling three days in Rome itself. There are many trip reports and other threads here with itinerary ideas; that's where I often like to start, since I can get a sense of how long people spent at different places (and how their travel styles match mine). There's one from last year's trip if you click my name, but Italy is one of the most popular countries here so there's no shortage of others!

DennisA

Thanks all of you for your tremendous help.