A base in Rome
 

We will be visiting Rome for a week in July, I just wondered if anyone had any views as to which part of the city would be a good place to stay. I don't mind paying a bit extra if it buys convienence, and am not looking to do things on the cheap.

Is there any benefit in staying near a metro station for example?

This is our first visit and I know that there is so much to see that a week is not long enough, but can anyone suggest a list of must sees, in a logical doable order?

Thanks for your advice.

Peter

We stayed at the Monte Carlo. While it is not in the center of Rome, it worked out well for us.

It is a small hotel, rooms are about average size for Europe. The staff is great, very friendly. It is about 700 meters to termini and about 200 meters from the metro station. It is extremely safe, as there are two embassies in the area and the caribinari have 24 hour posts in front of each.

We found it to be a fairly quiet neighborhood and it was a snap to get almost anywhere from the hotel, by either using the metro or buses or walking.

The only negative I would say is that it is near an adult cinema, but that isn't a biggie. There is a great, small, pizza joint about 1/2 block away that has great food and is really cheap.
There is a supermarket about 3 blocks away.

Internet service is free, just bring a Cat5 cable. The cost is pretty good, we paid less than $100 per night, over Christmas.

When we planned our first trip to Italy, it was just dumb luck that allowed us to find the ideal location to explore Rome. The area near the Pantheon puts you almost dead central to all the locations. You could walk almost anywhere - if you're so inclined. We took the bus to the Borghese gardens and Vatican City but after the fact realized we could have walked it. I guess I'm so used to the US cities that are spread out into suburbia that I can't relate to a compact "centro storico".

We stayed near Termini several years ago and walked or caught public transport everywhere. We are going back in October and will stay more centrally - Pantheon, Campo di Fiori, Piazza Navona. But Rome is a very accessible city and easy to walk to most things.

We were in Rome for the first time in June 06 and stayed at exedra hotel at piazza della republica and it was fabulous.
We looked over the piazza and it was interesting at times just to watch the people passing by and the traffic.