What area in Rome should we stay?
 

I found some good priced package deals to Rome for Christmas. Now I?m trying to figure out which hotel to pick from their offerings. I was searching for one in the Piazza Navona/Pantheon/Campo de Fiori area but can?t find one. What other areas would be good for a first time visitor? We would like to be somewhere where we could walk to a lot of attractions.

Thanks
Terri

TerriJ, This spring my wife and I highly enjoyed 4 nights at the Hotel Santa Maria in the very cool, historic and well situated Trastevere neighborhood, sort of like the Left Bank area of Paris. We were able to walk easily to all the sites. The hotel's staff spoke English and were very helpful with itineraries.

With time on my hands, I've looked up the locations of the hotels you mentioned in your earlier post.

Purely from the point of view of location, I would suggest the Hotel Bolivar. It's quite central, in a reasonably good neighborhood, seems to be on a quiet street. There are restaurants in the area, and quite a few points of interest are within walkiing distance.

The Hotel Torino is near Roma Termin i station; some parts of the Termini area are a little iffy, and I don't know them well enough to tell whether the Hotel Torino is on a "good" street or a "bad" street.

The Grand Olympic is in Prati, a good neighborhood, but on the far -- St. Peter's -- side of the Tiber. With the exception of, probably, St. Peter's, the Vatican Museums and Castel Sant'Angelo, you'd have to bus almost everywhere. It's also not a neighborhood with many restaurants.

The Hotel Borromeo is on the via Cavour, a very busy street without much atmosphere, and it's not very central.

The testaccio neighborhood is very local if you'd like a taste of that. Access to busses and subway very convenient and not far from Coliseum. Tree-lined. Wake up and go to the local farmer's market a couple of days a week. Contact [email protected] for a room (around 75E night for two) right on the Tiber River. My son and I stayed there. Maurizio Corvino was a gracious host. Rooms were comfortable and safe.

A couple of summers ago my family of 13-all ages- stayed at The Visconti Palace. Good location we were able to walk to all sites and it is resonably priced.

I should have mentioned that the four hotels I describe are "possibles"; the rest of the hotels on your list, in my judgment, should be classed as "impossibles."