Rome questions
 

I will be flying into Rome for a few days before heading out to Palermo. I have a few questions as it has been years since I have been in Rome.
Last time I stayed near Termini. While the hotel was wonderful and I didn't have any trouble, I would like to be around a different area this time. I would like to find a safe area with lots of cafes. (Safe meaning I can wander around in the evening to enjoy the city). Also, what is the best way to travel from the airport. Last time, I booked a shuttle as it was my first time travelling solo. Thanks for any advice.

Take the Train (Metro or Urban railway)
I found St Pietro or Vaticano was good for me.
https://www.rome.net/transportation

I like the Piazza Navona area. Right in the center, lots of restaurants (don't necessarily eat right on the piazza), lots of good bus connections. I go back there every night after dinner to have a Limoncello and watch the people and the fountains.

If you don't want to take the train from the airport, airportshuttle.it is good. I see their prices have gone up some, like everything, but I have used them many times and they are always reliable.

Thanks so much. May I ask where you stayed?

Thanks so much.

Agree that the area around Piazza Navona is a good location. We’ve stayed at Navona Queen twice in the last two years. It is about a 5 minute walk from Piazza Navona and quiet even though it is on Vittorio Emanuele. 15 minute walk to St. Peter’s and 7 to Campo de Fiori. Good breakfast and nice mother and son owners.

You need to figure out where you're staying before picking transport. You also need to think about budget.

The express train goes to Termini. There are also buses going to Termini.

The FL1 regional train makes various stops which might be more convient.

One of the buses stops near the Vatican.

If you're going somewhere else a cab or car service might make more sense.

Good thinking about finding a new area. Staying away from Termini is always a good idea.
I've been curious about how safe rome feels.... with the exception of some places near there.

taxi prices from the airport is regulated to be EUR50 and will take up to an hour.

So this is my advice on location
Finding a hotel near something is only useful for the one day that you want to start or finish near that something. For all the other days it's actually a cursing than a blessing and if nothing else that cursing is noise.

Advice 1.
Get a taxi to where you want to start each day and walk from there then taxi back to the hotel

Advice 2
Consider a quiet location. We stayed at the hilton garden inn rome claridge. Great quiet location

Advice 3.
If you prefer to be in the city centre near stuff and don't care about noise then stay close close close to either the Spanish steps or the trevi fountain.

this last piece of advice will give you the best chance at the best photo ops at both of those locations since they are not far from each other.

The biggest tourist mistake is to visit free things in the day. Visit them at 6am when no one is there then go back to your hotel for free breakfast and still make it in time to be the first person into some of the paid sites.... or catch a cab to be the first to see the sistene chspel etc

Be the last into the Colosseum or at least the last to leave

Using a taxi in many Italian cities especially when the public transport is so is good is a bit weird.

Rome is slightly different as the building of new city trains and trams is restricted by the massive amount of archeology every spadeful turns over. Even so the map of Rome's public transport is easy to find and the prices are below silly. Where trains and trams cannot go the buses are not bad.

As a general rule I always travel with as little stuff as possible.

Hope that helps.

I'd choose a general area you want to stay and then look at google maps for the little stops that are indicated.

If you stay in a fairly central location, walking may be your best means of transportation. I find the former Jewish Ghetto area to be ideal for walking. Most of the major attractions of Rome are within half an hour's walk from there, and the walks are always very interesting.

Public transportation is also very easy to use. A 100-minute ticket for bus/tram/metro is only €1.50. It's good for unlimited bus or tram trips, and one entrance into the metro system. Google maps will tell you what bus to take and how to get to the nearest bus stop.

You can buy your ticket on the bus or at the metro entrance by tapping your phone, card, or watch. If you still have time on your ticket, the system will recognize that. If you have a paper ticket, stick it in the little machine on the bus, or in the metro turnstile.

On first misreading, I thought you wanted to stay in a safe area with lots of cats, so, obviously, Torre Argentina. The Barrett B&B was comfortable, with eclectic decor, up some stairs if that matters. Close to Campo di Fiori, Pantheon and Piazza Navona

A different happy stay was in Monti, which has an even higher concentration of restaurants and is handy to the Colosseum, Domus Aurea and some good churches. That was the Inn Urbe Colosseo, also upstairs.

Not bothered by noise in either location.

I would not stay near Spanish Steps unless you want to do a lot of shopping.

Piazza Navona or Monti would be my own picks.

[QUOTE=bhuty;17549469]Good thinking about finding a new area. Staying away from Termini is always a good idea.
I've been curious about how safe rome feels.... with the exception of some places near there.

taxi prices from the airport is regulated to be EUR50 and will take up to an hour.

In my many times in Rome, it has never taken an hour to get to the center from the airport, more like 1/2 hour. A shuttle will be cheaper than a taxi and will be waiting for you when you come out of baggage pickup.

Advice 1.
Get a taxi to where you want to start each day and walk from there then taxi back to the hotel

This could get expensive. Once at your hotel, the bus system is very good.

Advice 2
Consider a quiet location. We stayed at the hilton garden inn rome claridge. Great quiet location.
I have to strongly disagree with this location. It's a long way from anything (except Gallerie Borghese, which is great).

Welcome, kelsey22! I don't know what your budget is but if you want to splurge, the Raphael next to Piazza Navona might work.

Scroll down to March 17 for the start of the Rome portion:

https://www.fodors.com/community/eur...nd-bus-769131/

The hotel called a taxi for the airport.

TD..I'm interested that you stayed at the Raphael. I've not stayed there but did have a tour of a few rooms; we just walked in and asked to look around and they were lovely to us...that is a wonderful location and now the I read that you recommend, I will put this hotel on my list for next time in Rome...thank you!!

I generally take a taxi from the airport as I live in California and tend to arrive thoroughly exhausted.

These days I prefer to stay right outside of the heavily touristed center, choosing hotels on the perimeter or at least on quiet/peaceful blocks that don't have big tour groups marching through or those folks selling day-glo things that are thrown into the air. I wouldn't concern myself with safety in central Rome, though. Just be sensible, of course.

I have stayed in quite a few neighbourhoods in Rome.
In 2022 we stayed in Monti at NH Collection Roma Fori Imperiali which was fantastic, loved the hotel, loved the location, loved the view from our room looking over the Forum. We walked everywhere from this location.
In November I stayed at the Sofitel near the villa Borghese and while I absolutely loved the hotel, you are a walk up a hefty hill away from the sights. We took taxis when tired and we enjoyed the very local restaurants but next time I would stay in Monti again.
I have stayed at the Hotel Raphael, but it was in 2010, it was very nice but the Piazza Navona is not my favourite area of Rome. Trastevere is an interesting, lively place to stay and we also once stayed at the top of the Janiculum hill - the property was very nice but the narrow crazy street leading to it was a death trap so I would never recommend this place.

What is your budget? The Raphael looks lovely, but I put in random dates for September, and it was $649 per night. Way out of my budget! 😄

As mentioned above, a taxi from the airport is usually not the best choice. You have to do find a taxi queue and drag your luggage there. The drivers have their preferred destinations, those that involve little traffic and a good chance of picking up a new fare. (I've seen them bicker over prized fares and foist other passengers off on the drivers with less experience.) There are even fake taxis that will solicit you inside the airport and rip you off royally.

There are several private shuttle services that cost about the same as, or sometimes less than, a taxi. Two that I know to be trustworthy are romeshuttlelimousine.com and rometaxi.com. Another service was mentioned above, which I've never used so I can't recommend it personally.

The two I mention will wait for you outside immigration, holding a sign with your name on it, and they'll take your luggage to their car. They ask for your flight information, and they'll track the flight, so that even if it's early or late, they'll be there. They tell you in advance exactly what the price will be, and take your credit card information, but they won't charge you before arrival at the destination, unless you're a no-show. (I don't know what the procedure is if you miss the flight, but I'm sure they have a way for you to inform them so you won't be charged.)

The car services have all bumped up their fares. It's not hugely more but it's more than a cab.

Thanks for the update. I just did a trial request for a transfer. Rometaxi.com quoted me €65 for a transfer from Fiumicino to central Rome. Romeshuttlelimousine offered me a "discounted" fare of €51, which I assume everyone gets, because they didn't ask me the date or time of day.

The standard official taxi costs €50.

€51 would basically be equal the cab fare. So that's not bad.

The cost for airportshuttle.it is E44 for two people, so that is cheaper than a taxi, as well as far more convenient. As I noted above, they also will be there when you come out, no going somewhere to find a taxi.

You're getting all sorts of advice here so probably more confusing then ever.

here is some more confusion

Getting through the rome airport was super simple for us. One of the first things you'll see is big big signs pointing to the taxi stand. We used many taxis while in Rome (although not from the airport as we picked up a rental car) and they were all good, clean, new. A taxi will have the regulated fixed price for transfers to the city centre on the side of the car (car door). It's a large sign with large print so you can clearly see what the cost will be. You can therefore take the taxi with confidence on the price and also that it is licensed. As per a previous post don't even look at anyone approaching you to see if you'd like a taxi.... just talk to the taxi stand clearly identifiable. It's super easy and safe.
We also found most drivers had some English ability.

Train is good
shuttle bus is good
taxi is good
private transfer is good

Go with how you like to travel..... it's all good

One more tip which I think you'll love
You can use UBER to choose between a private black car (so this would typically be a Mercedes Benz and many times the driver was wearing a suit) or a taxi cab. The cost of the black car is only marginally more than a taxi cab and the uber app will show you so you know what to expect.
uber is new to Italy so not every taxi driver is using it. But I used uber for taxis every time i used a taxi and I never waited very long.

One last point to clarify a previous point about transport.
My previous post said it would take up to an hour to get to the city..... I may have been more correct to say that it'll usually take between 35 to 60 minutes to get into the city centre depending on traffic conditions. I don't know why being more correct is important to some people on this forum but there you go. Hopefully this 25 minute range of times will not send anyone into a mental rage and can be a guideline to help you plan

The key thing with that guideline is that whichever way you go that general time frame will apply. Of course, any form of transport that is shared will cost less but take more time so that's something to consider too depending on your priorities.


Also, you asked about where to stay.....
When I did my research I kept reading about how this place or that is only a half hour walk to all the sites blah blah blah.
when I mapped it all out i found that if your plan is to walk everywhere then regardless of where you stay you'll walk a lot. You can walk a mile or 2 just in any single main site..... then walking to the next site etc it all adds up. Our biggest day was 12 MILES. We never did a day less than 5 and that's because we either did a small relaxing day or used taxis.
in my mind there are 4 main areas to focus your walking tour of Rome.... or 5 if you don't include the Jewish quarter into one or more of those 4 areas. From that perspective you can locate in the middle of any 2 of those areas but only 2.... which means either long walks to the others or taking a taxi or some other means.
buses and trams are excellent options..... i just prefer to spend the money and taxi it.

All suggestions offered to you so far are excellent. I agree with them all.
the only reason why I suggest a focus on the Spanish steps and the trevi fountain is because of my personality type. I prefer to see these iconic sites and to photograph them without people. I like having things to myself or close to it. So my advice is to go to the trevi fountain in the early dawn light or even before when it's still dark then go to the Spanish steps... spend time up and down the steps mostly by yourself and capture the sunlight as it first touches the top of the steps. It's peaceful and beautiful. Then to by taxi.... and I mean by taxi.... to be first in line to enter into either the basilica or the Sistine chapel..... go straight to one of those two places and then go back through to see the rest of the galleries after....
NOTE the basilica is closed Wednesday mornings.
the Sistine chapel is NOT terrible when it's crowded as you have to look up anyway so no one is in your way BUT within the first half hour or so it's still kind of peaceful. Later in the day it's noisy .... still wonderful to see but not peaceful if that's important to you. Oh.... the crowds are long so being the first in is worth it just for time management purposes. You'll see more of Rome in less days if you take this advice

absolutely not in my budget 🔨

I will soon be in Rome for the first time in a few years. I was shocked at the increase in hotel prices.