blondiepopo

I have an OCD personality
I really try and do my homework before travelling because except for China, I plan all my trips and we go by ourselves. We've never had a problem and I'm always afraid I've forgotten something or missed something in my research. I drive my son nuts before we go but he's always glad once we get there that there haven't been any screw ups.

Went to the SlowTravel website - awesome. Never heard of it before. Except for one apartment, found a review of everything I'm thinking of renting in Campo.

Apres_Londee

I don't mean to muddy the waters but in case you haven't already done so, I'd suggest sending an email to Tim Pearson at Real Rome. Tell him exactly what you need and he'll respond very quickly, probably within 24 hours.

website is realrome.com

I have an apartment booked and can say that Tim is wonderful to work with and the apartments are affordably priced.

Good luck!

Leely2

I have also used realrome in the past and they were excellent. I was looking for a bigger apartment on the upscale side for this next trip (bringing my mom and some other high rollers) so I chose rentalinrome this time because they had a place that could satisfy all parties. And that's a tall order.

I also dealt with Giulia at sleepintitaly. She was very helpful but then the owners of the apartment we were interested in decided to stay for the holdiays so...the hunt continued.

Good luck, blondiepopo. Rome is incredible and I'm sure your family will have a great time.

SusanP

I think your choice of Vicolo Montevecchio (where I just stayed last month) and Coppelle would be a good combination. They really aren't very far apart and both are in a much better location than the ones at Piazza Rovere. Close to dozens of good restaurants, close to both the Piazza Navona and the Pantheon, and also much closer to Campo de' Fiori. Also close to good bus connections.

I have used Sleep in Italy for an apartment on 5 of my 6 trips to Italy and have never had a problem. Great communication and service, and the apartments were always as advertised.

cathies

I was very nearly pickpocketed on the No 64 in May this year. It's fine as long as you keep your wits about you. You may want to catch it to The Vatican (I think it goes that far).

Vttraveler

I was also warned about pickpockets on Bus #64 which we took once in Rome. It was crowded w lots of tourists but I think would be ok for your kids if they are careful.
We took the #23 bus from the Vatican area south to Trastevere several times (it goes north on the other side of the Tiber) and it was much less crowded than the #64. Your kids could take the #23 bus down to Ponte Sisto and cross the Tiber there to the Plaza Farnese/Campo de' Fiori area or explore Trastevere which is also quite lively in the evenings.

One warning about buses is that it is important to get a one day or multi-day pass or buy individual 1 euro tickets at the tobacconists or news stands. Don't rely on the ticket machines at the major stops which are often broken. You have to have a ticket when you board and get it validated in the machine on the bus.

If you decide to look for other apartments, I agree that Tim Pearson at realrome.com is great to work with.

blondiepopo

I am down to 2 apartments which apparently are available. They both have satellite TV but when I read the reviews of them on SlowTrav, the reviewer complained that one of them did not. I rarely watch TV (except for HBO type movies) at home but on vacation I watch CNN to get the news or maybe for something to do at night. I don't speak one word of Italian. But it's to the point that I will go ahead and rent it anyway because the longer I wait the more I'm finding everything I want booked. What would have helped me on my multi-day search, was for the websites to have more advanced searches. Many of them asked for number of persons - that didn't tell me how many bedrooms they had. I found when it says sleeps 8 - 6 of those people were in the living room with one bathroom. I have also contacted RealRome for help just to make sure I don't miss anything.