<BR>I've found out that the hotel that my family and I are to stay in is roughly i.5 miles from the Vatican. Is that far away from other things to see and do in Rome? <BR> <BR>The web site for our hotel (http://www.massimiparkhotel.it/) shows gardens and nice rooms, but not a map of it's location. Any advice? I still have time to change a few of our days there to someplace else.

It really depends on which direction from the Vatican. Since they seem to be vague about its exact location, I've a gut feeling it's away from the central area where you'd want to be. And further, if it's away from the "action," one key concern is public transportation to where you want to go in Rome. (Driving a car, by the way, is not a valid solution. First, you put your life in your hands driving in Rome. Second, parking spaces are at a premium everywhere. <BR>

The hotel is located on Largo Vincenzo Ambrosio, 9, which is about 2.5 km northwest of the Vaticano (straight line). In other words, it's off the Vatican in the "wrong" direction. Though there's a bus stop close to the hotel, it could take you about an hour to reach the Vatican by public transportation (you'd certainly have to change buses along the way and it would be faster going on foot). Since I estimate that it would take over an hour to reach Piazza di Spagna by public transportation, I guess you'll have no other way out than relying on taxis. <BR>One of the pleasures in Rome is IMO dining out ... specially in Trastevere. I guess you'll want to relax a bit and take a shower before going out for dinner, after a day's worth of sightseeing ... this means another two taxi rides. It appears, therefore, that you'll need 4 relatively long taxi rides each day ... It's your call! <BR>Paulo <BR> <BR>

Thank you both for your suggestions. It looks like I'll be looking for another hotel. Any suggestions?

Hi Ernie <BR> <BR>I found a lot of places that look okay on www.venere.it. I'm going to Rome for the first time in late Feb-Mar. If you are going after I return, I can let you know how my hotel was. <BR>

Thanks, Monique. I's appreciate hearing from you. I'm traveling with my family (five people total) and I think they're going to book the hotel this week, but I 'd be interested in hearing about your adventure in Rome. <BR> <BR>Feel free to email me directly, if you'd like.

Someone on the forum posted www.initaly.com as a great site to plan from and I've saved it as a "favorite" They provide pretty good locational info about their hotels/apartments and you may want to check out the responses they get from folks who've used them! Looks like there are some good suggestions for Rome. (I'm using this site to plan my 25th anniversary trip to Italy!)

I used RomanHomes. They had a good site on the web and it showed the various apts for rent as well as the district they were located in. We rented a flat for less that we could have had two rooms at a hotel for our family of four. Might think about trying a rental vs a hotel. (It worked for us.)