Hotels -- Piazza Barberini or Spanish Steps
 

I am looking for a hotel in Rome and have narrowed down my choices to two hotels. One is the Hotel Barberini, near the Piazza Barberini and the other is the Hotel Piazza di Spagna near the Spanich Steps. <BR><BR>The Hotel Barberini seems nicer, but I am not sure about the area. My wife would like to be close to shopping. I also like to be in the center of things, with lots of people-watching, activities at night, etc... We are going in February so we don't want to have to trek very far in the cold weather?<BR><BR>Is there decent shopping in Piazza Barberini area? How is it at night? Please compare to the Spanish Steps area.<BR><BR>Thanks.

Paul, The Piazza Barberini is really only a couple of minutes away from the Spanish Steps (literally up the hill) and is a great location. I stayed at the Hotel Barocco across from the Piazza Barberini and couldn't have been more pleased. You're close to a lot of transportation options (cabs, buses or metro), plenty of shopping places, restaurants and, again, very close to the Spanish Steps. Hope this helps.

Piazza Barberini is where Via veneto starts ( or ends). It's also where the historic quarter ends, and not really appealing from my point of view. Busy, with a traffic mess. If the Piazza di Spagna is what I think it is, at Via Mario dei Fiori, it was refurbished recently, since they were working on it during my stay in Rome, in June, 2001.<BR>Via Mario dei Fiori, as location, is much better, and a recently refurbished hotel is a plus, I think, although I don't know the new standards. Before, it was OK, not a really nice hotel, but not bad either.<BR><BR>Regards,<BR><BR>S

Hi Paul. Julie's right, Piazza Barberini is relatively close to the Spanish Steps, and I liked the area, but I would agree with Surlok that the location of the Hotel Piazza di Spagna, on Via Mario dei Fiori, is better. <BR><BR>The Via Mario dei Fiori is part of a network of (generally) pedestrian streets near the Spanish Steps and, as such, is a delight for walking. Also, arguably, the best shopping in the city is in that area. <BR><BR>We stayed very close by, on the Via della Croce, for four nights this spring and loved it. <BR><BR>

Do the Piazza di Spagna - a little snooty at times but the location is great. Actually you could toss a rock at the Barberini if you think about it from there as well. We had a friend who broke an ankle when we were staying at the Piazza di Spagna and you would have thought my friend was someone famous for all the nice things they helped u sto deal with.