My husband and I are taking a 12 day Mediterranean cruise out of Civitavecchia in Sept-Oct 07 for our 7th anniversary. This is our dream vacation and we want to get the most out of it, but don't have an unlimited budget. We are planning to add a few days in Rome before the cruise (9/21-9/24).

I've been searching hotels for over a month and can't decide on one that is affordable ($150-$200/night), nice, and of course within walking distance of the big attractions. I was looking around Termini because we want to avoid taking taxis and that looks like the easiest area to get public transportation to anywhere. However, most of the reviews say the area is a little seedy and the restaurants leave a lot to be desired.

I think I've found one that meets all my criteria - the Hotel Galatea. According to Expedia, it is less than a quarter mile from Termini, Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish steps, and less than a half a mile to the Pantheon and the Coliseum. That seems close enough to get to Termini easily while being able to go the other direction for nicer shopping and restaurants.

The problem is I've only found 2 reviews on this hotel. Expedia and Trip Advisor did not have any. The 2 I did find both gave it 10 out of 10, but I'd like a few more opinions.

Has anyone stayed at this hotel? If not this one, another in the same area/price range?

Sorry for the long post but I usually see people having to go back and give more detail so I just put everything.

Thanks!

The Hotel Galatea is on the third floor of the via genova 24. On the 4th and 5th floors of the same building, there is an affitacamere: Soggiorno Europa:

http://www.soggiornoeuropa.com/

I don't find any reviews for that place either.

I think "less than 1/4 mile" to Trevi Fountain, and Spanish Steps is a bit of an under estimate - maybe 2/3 and 3/4 mile more like it.

Here is the website for Hotel Galatea:
http://www.hotelgalatearoma.com/index.html

Lovisa is right. According to mappy.com, it's a 1 km walk (6/10 of a mile) to the Trevi fountain (Piazza di Trevi), and a 1 km walk to the Spanish Steps (Piazza di Spagna). I think the area is okay, just maybe not so close as you hoped. Some sites say they measure distance "as the crow flies" - I'm not sure if Expedia does or not.

Mappy also says that would be a 15-min. walk (to Trevi)... doesn't sound bad to me...

The other hotel is
http://www.soggiornoeuropa.it/index_en.php
but nothing on Tripadvisor..
maybe these two are newly opened/renovated...?

Thanks everyone. I had been relying on Expedia's distances but I guess those are "as the crow flies" and I don't have wings so that doesn't help me. I'll now be using mappy.com to help with my search.

Another mapping feature you can use is Viamichelin's: www.viamichelin.com
Pick "Hotels" from the menu bar at the top. Then you can put in an address or a sight like scalineta di spagna or fontana di trevi and it will search for the closest hotels from that point. This is a different database from the Michelin recommended hotels in the Michelin guide (for those chose "Tourism" from the top bar, and then the "MICHELIN Guide&quot. So it gives you a lot of choices and you know exactly where they are located. You could also put in via genova 24, the address for Galatea, and see what other hotels are close.