Rome: Apartment, walking, and guide question
 

My family (two adults, two teenagers) has been talking about spending Christmas in Rome. My husband's parents, who are in their 80s, heard about this and have decided that they want to come, too. They're very excited about the trip.

Our plan was to rent an apartment, but I'm a little concerned about my mother-in-law, who doesn't walk as well as she used to. She's a trooper, but I don't want her to wind up stuck in an apartment out of sheer exhaustion.

So, we could bite the bullet and stay at a hotel, with cabs and concierges and all those amenities. Or, we could try to find an apartment that's as centrally located as possible -- would the Pantheon/Navona area be best for someone who walks limited distances and may want to find a cab from time to time? Any recommendations would be appreciated.

I'm also wondering if anyone knows of an English-speaking guide with a car. My in-laws might like to get an overview of the city, and maybe transportation to more out of the way spots, for a day or two.

Thank you in advance for your help.

These apartments might work for you. They are quite near Piazza Navona and also near main streets for access to buses and taxis. Plus here are a number of apartments so you might opt for grandma and grandpa to have their own place separate from the family but in the same building:

http://www.palazzo-olivia.it/

For a guide, Francesca Caruso gets good reviews (she's also a guide for Rick Steves). I'm not sure if she does driving tours, but can probably suggest someone if she doesn't.
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...rome-tours.cfm

Those are great suggestions. Thanks so much. I do sort of like the idea of a separate apartment. . . Francesca sounds great, worth looking up regardless of the car situation.

In addition to the Piazza Navona area, I was thinking about an aparment that I saw in the Piazza Popolo area. I read that there's a taxi stand at the Piazza Popolo, as well as a tourist bus stop so my inlaws could "hop" on and off. (All right, they won't exactly "hop.") It looks like there's a pretty close metro stop. Any thoughts on this location?

I would much prefer the Piazza Navona area, as it's more central than Popolo. There is a taxi stand at the northern end of the piazza, it's close to a lot, dozens of good restaurants close by. I've spent a lot of time in Rome, including over Christmas, and it's my favorite area.

If you want to read more about Rome at Christmas, here is my report from that trip:
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...limoncello.cfm

Here's a list of taxi stands in Rome:
http://www.unicataxi.cgil.it/roma/posteggi.html

From that list, here's a list of those in the center:
p. Barberini
p. Poli
v. S. Maria in Via
p. S. Silvestro
p. Chiesa Nuova
p. Pasquale Paoli
p. della Rotonda
p. Zanardelli

everyone has their own opinion about this, but we feel much freer and more comfortable in an apartment than in a hotel - with a kitchen, comfortable places to sit, etc.

We have enjoyed a number or rentals in rome most recently in the Caelio, which is very near the colliseum and has excellent links and a prosperous small town feel, with a small street market, local neighborhood stores and restaurants, without the crowds of the centro. The apartment was lived in but comfortable (our two college aged daughters returned to bunk beds for the stay) http://www.vrbo.com/86246

Re transport, Our apartment owner (like many) provided a massive info packet to us, including the phone numbers of taxi companies. Its not that hard to call a taxi, even with limited Italian. There is also a taxi rank over by the Colliseum and the tram stop but with all the buses, trams and Metro nearby (as well as reliable shank's mare) we didnt need to utilize.

Wow. People are so nice -- or, at least, Fodorites are so nice. Thank you for your help.

The apartment that jjkbrook rented is already booked for Christmas -- other families had the same idea, and are more organized than we are! The suggestion did give me the idea of looking at other apartments in the area. Some of the larger apartments in the Navona area have been booked, but there are still options there as well.

Thank you for the list of taxi stands, ellenm. Sounds like we'll be able to get around.

I hope that we have SusanP's luck with weather over Christmas -- but not the luggage and trip problems! Your trip report is a gold mine, and I'll go back to it closer to the time for specific suggestions.

This time, I'll try to submit a trip report. We received a lot of help a few years ago, planning for a long trip to Europe, and the trip report never quite got done -- it always seemed like a large, daunting task. But this trip will be short and doable.

Thanks again to all, and if anybody else has suggestions, we're still in the planning stage --