Rome apartment: San Giovanni vs. Esquilino?
 

I am trying to determine where we will stay in Rome and I'm hoping some of you pros can help me...

We are looking at two apartments. One is in Esquilino and is exactly halfway between Termini and the Colosseum if you drew a straight line between the two. Very close to Santa Maria Maggiore. The second one is right next to San Giovanni Laterano. Almost on top of it, actually. My husband likes the Esquilino one better as he is convinced it's just that much closer to the sights. I prefer the San Giovanni location (which looks like it's about ten blocks further out) because it has a balcony, a nice view of the church, and is on the fifth floor. The Esquilino apartment is at ground level which makes me nervous. Both have good Metro proximity and with three kids, we'll probably be riding that a bit, anyway.

Does anyone have constructive feedback for me? Thanks in advance!

karen :)

PS-traveling April 1-5, 2010, two adults and children 5, 3, and 1. The rates on both are about 120 euros through cross-pollinate.

I am not making this up okay. I am only trying to help.
Just before I left Rome, I heard on the radio that some bambino in San Giovanni had H1N1. Since you are traveling in April, you should be immunized by then.
I really liked the Spanish Steps area. If you can find a place near that, that would be awesome as you could take the metro A line to other places and to termini.

Good grief WithKidsTraveling - at last you have something nice to say "I really liked the Spanish Steps area'. Why didn't you put that in your horrible other post headed 'Attention Americans traveling to Italy?'

I would take the Esquilino based on ease of taking the metro, which should be pretty close. San Giovanni is a fine area,although a bit farther away, like you said about 10 blocks. It's really a nice working class neighborhood with some good local restaurants and shopping. If this is your first time in Rome, you will be traveling alot to get to the sights, would this bother you? There are two great churches up there to see, and of course the old wall, but other than that I don't think much.
Esquilion will also have good places to eat and shop but will be more convenient for the metro. You will be able to return easily to the apartment during the day if you wish.

I too love a balcony, but in Europe many balconies would not be safe for small children, that would make me nervous. Have you seen a picture? I would only take it with a cement balcony, your children are very young. I would not trust an iron balcony, I'd be afraid they could squeeze though, ground floor sounds better with kids to me.

I would always choose one that's closer to the center, but since you haven't booked anything yet, consider looking further for something more central. The Piazza Navona/Pantheon/Campo de' Fiori area is close to a lot, dozens of restaurants to choose from, good bus connections (the metro doesn't go to a lot of places, because every time they try to add a new line, they run into archeological finds and have to stop).

www.sleepinitaly.com has lots of apartments in these areas. I've used them six times with good results.

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone! We did book the apartment in Esquilino already, but did so knowing that the deposit was refunded. I have been looking for an apartment closer to the historic center, but as it is Easter many people are marking their prices up and we are trying to stay on budget somewhat.

This is not our first time to Rome, so we're not bent on seeing every sight--mostly this is a fun place to sleep off jet lag for a few days before continuing on our way.

And...my neighbor's kid has H1N1. So we won't even have to travel all the way to San Giovanni to catch it. ;)

Eton, would you mind posting links to the apartments? I am helping my sister-in-law find an apartment for her family with 3 kids. Her parents are coming too so if anyone has recommendations for larger 3 bedrooms in Rome that would be great.

Sally, I found these two at cross-pollinate.com, which is recommended by Rick Steves (not that there aren't good booking services elsewhere, but his endorsement is what sent me to them). I was told that children under 3 are generally free if they don't occupy a bed, so if there are any children in her group under that age, don't include them in the total pax. Just make sure you do note them in the section for additional info when you book.

best of luck,
Karen (ETonmymind)

I've never rented an apartment with children, but I definitely wouldn't assume children under 3 are free.

I don't understand "if they don't occupy a bed". Not trying to sound dense but wouln't each child need a bed to sleep in?

SusanP, I'm making no such assumption. In the previous post, I'm referring to cross-pollinate's properties only, and what their staff told me (children under 3 are generally free). However, I have yet to find a single apartment, hotel, or agriturismo in my searching that charges for a child under 3. Some don't even charge for children up to age 12, which really benefits our family, as you can imagine.

LoveItaly-Good question. :) Well, for example, our 1-year old daughter sleeps in a crib, which we travel with (we have an awesome portable crib that folds up tiny and weighs just 6 pounds). So she doesn't "occupy a bed" in the sense that she won't be using one of the beds belonging to the apartment. And some children sleep in their parents' bed for many years--especially common in much of Europe. So the owner of one of the flats I was looking at said we didn't need to pay for our 3-year old, either, if he slept with us. However, we will be getting him a bed for the sanity of all of us. :) End result= 5 people, 4 occupying beds, 4 total that we will pay for at the per person rate. Hope this helps.

Susan, I just reread my last post and I didn't mean to sound so short in the first paragraph. Sorry about that! Not enough sleep last night.

karen :)

Here's a great travel sleeper for babies and toddlers that my wife and I have used for our baby when traveling.

It's called the "Pea Pod" - different sizes for differents kids and has self-inflating air pad. folds up into a round shape about 30-35cm(13") around and 12cm/5" thick. About 2 lbs/1kg.

http://www.kidco.com/main.taf?p=4,5

];')

Don't worry, I didn't take it that way! I'm just surprised that you don't have to include a child in the number of people. I don't remember reading that before.

Thanks, Kugellager. I recall investigating the Pea Pod. I can't remember why I didn't choose it, but I think it's because of the height maximum--my daughter is Ethiopian and quite tall for her age. We figured we'd get longer use out of the Phil and Teds Traveller: http://www.philandteds.com/traveller_index.htm. It is quite expensive but there are many new ones on ebay through discounters--we paid 150.00 shipped. We have used it on two trips so far and are extremely satisfied.

I'm mostly posting this in case it may help someone else in the future!

best, karen