brando

Although your may not "love" Rome, I think everyone should see Rome. Traveling in my opinion is about the experience not necessarily about enjoyment. However, hopefully they go hand in hand more times then not. Rome is truelly an assault on your senses, its alive and always moving. If you have a shread of history or art loving in you, rome is truely a must see.

LoveItaly

Ah dutyfree..what a wonderful description of Rome. I completely understand your feelings as they are mine also as well as my daughters. As my daughter has said more then once (the house that her husband owns in out of the historical center of Rome), she can just sit on the terrace and watch the world go by (non tourist), look at all the potted flowers, the street life that Rome offers..the day to day life. Beautiful, although of course the the governmental redtape is enough to make anyone pull their hair out, but somehow it all gets worked out.

dutyfree

LoveItaly-I loved your last line of your post about the Italian redtape.You are so lucky to have your daughter living there...what a great place to visit your loved ones.I must admit that Rome "drives me to cheap liquor" with some of its hassles but then one of the reasons I fly there so much is the great wine/seafood and pasta...........
I will say that Rome does not appear on my schedule in August as the heat does me in.So for those who have experienced Rome with the crowds and heat-give it another chance in off season as you will think that you are in a totally different city!

LoveItaly

Hello dutyfree, actually my daughter and SIL live in the city that I live in which is in N CA. But they have a house in Rome which is vacant except when they are in Rome as my SIL's father died last June and his mother is in a rest home in Rome.

The heat and humidty, oh yes. My SIL's house in Rome has such very thick walls but no a/c..so you can imagine how it is during the summer months. And the redtape..there is some work that needs to be done..but it will not happen until the Rome City officials give their approval. That will probably take two years, lol.

I ageee with you dutyfree, if travellers visited Rome at the times of the year when it was not so hot and humid and crowded with tourist I too think that they would enjoy Rome more.

Tulips

Make up your own mind. This is like trying to argue wether or not to like oysters if you have never even tried them.

Me, I love Rome; much prefer it to Paris.

MacSporran

Tips for Rome :
-Get a good hotel (if you can afford it), out of the tourist chaos around the Pantheon, Piazza Navona etc. The Aventine/Piazza Bocca dela Verita area is beautiful and it's fantastic to return to an air-conditioned hotel in a quiet tree-lined street at the end of the day.
-Do your 'must-sees' (Forum, Colisseum, Trevi Fountain, whatever) first thing in the morning...as early as possible...you'll enjoy them so much more then.
- Don't expect too much from the Trevi fountain and Spanish steps apart from tourist tat and 5 million American teenagers.
- stroll around the 'less popular' areas. We loved the Jewish ghetto and Trastevere. There are many other areas not so far from the centre where you'll avoid tour parties and hordes of tourists.
- take time for the parks. One of the highlights of our trip was a long picnic lunch on the Palantine hill, just staring over the Forum and sitting in the shade with our shoes off. Fabulous.
- It's hard to eat badly in Rome. If you're there for a few nights, have one night in a 'upscale' restaurant, and a couple in smaller pizzeria/trattoria. then you get the best of both worlds.
- Most of all....breathe it all in. Enjoy being in one of the world's great cities. Drink coffee at an outdoor table and watch the world go by. Listen to Italian and think what a fabulous language it is. Drink a prosecco in the Piazza Navona or Campo di Fiori before a late dinner and think how lucky, lucky you are to be doing this.

It's true what you say, the world is full of wonderful and amazing places...but Rome is certainly one of them.
I hope you do manage to visit, and fall in love with it...it's worth it !

CRAZY4TRAVEL

MacSporran...that is all very good advice. We enjoyed our first two trips to Rome by following some of those guidelines. I really enjoyed Palantine hill and Borghese park. We found Sunday morning was a wonderful and sleepy time in the city to see the sights. We had the Pantheon almost to ourselves and the Piazza's and squares were fairly deserted.

We tried to cram too much into our last one day marathon visit this past May...it was too hot...too crowded...and we ran around like idiots. This is not the formula to follow and is a good example of why some people hate Rome. My husband and I both said if this has been our one and only Rome experience, we would have hated it...and it would have been our own fault.

MacSporran

Thanks C4T...all you say is true as well.
What I forgot to post was...don't make the classic mistake of the 'guide book' tourist. Rome isn't just the Colisseum, Pantheon, Trevi fountain, St Peters square etc.
Rome is also the outlying districts, the churches out of the way, the small parks, the countless neighbourhood restaurants and cafés, the evening strolls through neighbourhood streets, the footbridge over the Tiber and a million other things that people more knowledgable than myself could add.
It's only my humble opinion, but to love the city you have to throw away the guidebook (but not your map , and just take the time to live it a little.
Even with only a few days there you should have plenty of time to do this.

Aaaah...I want to go back !

dutyfree

Macsporren-great thoughts on Rome ! I leave tomorrow for Rome and your tips have gotten me excited already so I will have a prosecco toast for you Weds. night around Piazza Navona.
LoveItaly-I have a great idea. Your SIL's house can now be the official "Fodors" timeshare house for regulars on Fodors.......Lucky you !I say lets start the bidding on EBAY now?

tcreath

I absolutely love Rome! To be honest I expected not to like it. When DH and I planned our first trip to Italy he wanted to go to Rome and I wanted to go to Florence. We went to Florence first and did not like it. I'm not even sure why, but I thought it felt claustrophobic, very noisy and it just didn't do it for us. I found Florence to be much more chaotic and crowded and noisy than Rome. Because of this we were quite nervous about going to Rome, but as soon as we got there it felt like a breath of fresh air. It was love at first sight! We've been three times over the last two years and I still have a list of places to visit. There is just something about it that feels like home to me.

Having said all of that, even if one dislikes cities I think it would be hard to plan a trip to Italy and not include Rome. The sites alone are worth at least a few days, even if one doesn't like the city.

We all have our own likes and dislikes. I'm probably in the minority for disliking Florence, which is fine. To each their own.

Tracy

tcreath

Sorry, I forgot to mention that we choose to travel to Rome during off season only, as we avoid the crowds and the heat. I have no desire to go to Rome in the summer!

And I agree with the poster above; if you take time to actually enjoy strolling around Rome, as opposed to running from one historic site to another, you will have a much better time.

Tracy

MaureenB

I think the weather could really kill a visit to Rome. If you're there when it's really hot and muggy, and then crowded with tourists to boot-- it wouldn't be much fun for me. We were lucky to be there in early May when the flowers were in bloom, not very crowded yet, gorgeous weather. It was everything I'd hoped.
Being there in late April should be beautiful, too.

CRAZY4TRAVEL

You are so right...heat and crowds play a very big part in your comfort level and ultimate experience. The first two times visited Rome in the fall and had a lovely time. This last time it was very hot and crowded. I can not imagine enjoying a visit in the summer months.

tcreath...if it is any consolation..I echo your sentiments of Florence. There are some wonderful treasures but I did not care for the city itself. It has a very different feel than Rome.

Madison

LoveItaly & others - At first, reading the posts of those not overjoyed with Rome, I was a little dismayed because I am going there next year, but now I am really looking forward to it and know that I will love it. I am leaving on April 17th and will be there for six days. Hopefully the crowds won't be in full force and the weather should be cool.

My question is do any of you have a preference for where you like to stay, Via Veneto area or around the historical sites.

SAnParis

I agree, it is probably not even one of my 5 favorite places in Italy, let alone on a larger scale. I much prefer Venice or Florence & I won't even get into the 'non-city' areas.

SAnParis

But..you should do it once, if you've not been there (+ it is the easiest place to get flights to...).

Eloise

Definitely in the historical center, defined roughly as within or just outside the triangle formed by the Pantheon, the Campo de Fiori and Piazza Navona. Almost anything you might want to see is within walking distance, and for the farthest points - St. Peter's and the Vatican Museums at one end and the Colosseum at the other - there are frequent busses. Exercise caution on the No. 64 to St. Peter's, familiarly known as the "pickpocket special" - although I've never had the slightest difficulty in numerous trips.

If you prefer something a little more out of the way, Trastevere near the Ponte Sisto, which is a pedestrian bridge that takes you to Campo de Fiori in about 10 minutes on foot.

There is nothing on the Via Veneto except overpriced shops and restaurants, and it is not convenient to anything.

LoveItaly

LOL dutyfree, I have been having the same thoughts regarding my SIL's house in Rome. I don't know if everyone here could "put up" with his relatives though..there are seven other residences on the so called compound. Aunts, uncles and cousins etc.

Also, his house is full of all of the family personal belongings. At some point it needs to be cleaned out..but it will be awhile before that happens. And what a job that will be. Take care!

annabelle2

MacSporran, your first post on this thread put in a nutshell the good advice I was trying to put into words for friends who are taking their first trip to Rome this...August, arghhh. Thanks, you said it well.