Pat Wrona

I am just back from a great 9 day trip to Rome, and would be happy to answer any questions anyone has, since everyone was so helpful to me before the trip.

Jennifer

Hi Pat, <BR> <BR>I will be traveling to Rome over Christmas and would like some information about good (but affordable) places to stay. Could you give me information about what location is the best to stay in? <BR>Also, will we need reservations to go to midnight mass at the vatican? <BR> <BR>You can reply to my email if you would like. <BR> <BR>Thanks in advance for your help! <BR> <BR> <BR>

Dawn

I am glad that you had a good trip. My husband and I will be leaving for Rome in a few days and are very excited. Did you have to stand in lines? Are there as many crowds as were anticipated for the Jubilee 2000?

Annie

Hi Pat, <BR> <BR>Great timing. My boyfriend and I will be there mid November. Do you have a recommendation for a decent, charming but not 5 stars price hotel? Did you have any difficulty in using long distance services (we need to call home throughout the week)? <BR> <BR>Your help would be greatly appreciated! <BR> <BR>Annie

Susan

Hi, <BR>would like some advice on where to stay in Rome. We're looking for a hotel around $200-$250 per night. <BR> <BR>thanks! <BR> <BR>Also, any good restaurants would be appreciated too,

Caitlin H

We stayed in Rome for 6 nights in early October. (I may get around to doing a trip report - returned 2 days ago from Greece, Italy & Malta) <BR> <BR>We stayed in two hotels in Rome: the Coronet Hotel, and Hotel Erdarelli. We didn't prebook and for October - November I wouldn't bother. We simply went into hotels we saw and asked to see the rooms. That way we knew what we were getting was what we wanted. <BR> <BR>I would recommend Hotel Erdaralli. While the Coronet is recommended in the Frommors guide I think that we ended out with one of their lesser rooms - the window opened onto the main road which was incredibly noisy. The shared bathrooms were not very clean. I also found the staff less than helpful. It was ok though - and I think their nicer rooms looked good - I believe some open onto a nice inter courtyard. <BR> <BR>We found the Erdarelli unpretentious, but a warm family run place, with very helpful staff, and clean spacious rooms. I'm afraid I can't remember now how much the room was - I think around 170,000lr (without bath) While our room faced the street it was a much quieter side street so wasn't a problem. And while there was no antique furniture as in the Coronet I found the quality of the room and cleanliness more consistent. <BR> <BR>The grandmother served breakfast, and also to our delight did the pay-by-piece laundry which she returned to us in our room neatly folder on a cardboard gold platter! The shared bathrooms were good - and included baths which for someone who loves baths like me was a wonderful luxury. <BR> <BR>Both hotels were two star. While Coronet was a little closer to some of the sites, I found Erdarelli better as is was close to the Trevi Fountain, Spanish steps, and a very easy walk to the Metro, which opened up a lot more of the rest of Rome to you ( Colosseum, Vatican etc) <BR> <BR>The contact details are: <BR>Hotel Erdarelli via due Marcelli, 28 <BR>06 67 91 265, 06 67 84 010 (ph) <BR>06 67 90 705 (fax) <BR>email [email protected] <BR>http://www.italyhotel.com/roma/erdarelli/ <BR> <BR>We loved Rome - the Vatican especially – and would have loved to spend another day exploring more of the Vatican museum. I read a lot about having to queue for hours or turn up really early to get into the Vatican. I discovered this is not the case. We took an Enjoy Rome walking tour to the Vatican in the afternoon and walked straight in - no queue at all. I asked about this and was told the queuing was only in the mornings. So the afternoon is the way to go. The Enjoy Rome tour was very good – 3 hours for 30,000lr, the guide was informative, entertaining and quite happy to answer all our questions. We also discovered another group called Rome Adventures, by tagging along on a free promotional walking tour they give at the Roman Forum. The guide Ben was very amusing and showed great enthusiasm and theatricality. Unfortunately we didn't get time to go on one of their paying tours, and I don't have contact details for them. I strongly recommend taking these kind of walking tours over the bus tours though. We took one bus tour to the catacombs and it was a total waste of money. 75,000lr (from memory) and the tour guide was surly, and acted like he was reading from a script - would not pause long enough for questions. And we realised that the actual catacomb entry price included a museaum guide anyway, so if we'd taken the bus there we would have saved a lot of time and money. <BR> <BR>As for crouds for the Jubilee year - we did not find it too crouded. There are certainly a lot of nuns about though! <BR> <BR>Hope this is of help. <BR> <BR>Caitlin