My wife and I will be in Rome for 3.5 days arriving by Trenitalia June 27th and departing the morning of July 1. We want to see all of the main attractions like the Colosseum, Vatican, Roman Forum, St. Peter's Square, Pantheon and Trevi Fountain.

I was wondering where you would suggest that I look for a place that is centrally located and close to the metro for ease of transportation. We are going to be looking for places on airbnb instead of looking at hotels, so that will give us a bit more flexibility.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

How healthy/mobile are you? We stayed near the Piazza Navona/Campo dei Fiori area and walked to EVERYthing - no metro at all. The metro kind of skirts the historic center, so if you stay within it, the metro isn't that important for a tourist visit. The buses seem more useful from what I've read, but we prefer walking so never used them. Regardless, we really liked that area - we stayed in an apartment via sleepinitaly.com.

When it comes to any question about Rome, I will refer you to RonInRome.com. He has the best travel site about this great city, including where and who to stay with.

See if his recommendations for rooms are close to AirBnB in price.

My best suggestion is to figure out how to navigate the bus system of Rome. They can get you all over town promptly, and cheaply. Otherwise, you can walk your legs off. Taxi's get expensive.

You might have reason, but it is not clear why you framed two items like these:

<u>close to the metro for ease of transportation.</u> Metro in Rome go around, not through, the historic center. Very different from Paris or London. I found metro useful to getting to the edge of the city, and not within.

<u>airbnb instead of looking at hotels, so that will give us a bit more flexibility.</u> Rentals do come in wide range of sizes. However, they also come with annoying to punitive cancellation policies. Rentals offer different value propositions than hotels. Neither offer unconditional "flexibilities."

The area around Piazza Navona, Pantheon, Campo dei Fiori are geographical centers with easy waling and with access to buses, especially the electric bus #116 connecting east-west. For north-south travels, there are numerous buses on Corso to the Colloseum.

I am looking at a place here. Would you recommend this location?

https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Via...70d61ce0143018

In fact, hotels are usually much more flexible than apartments, which tend to have rigid arrival times, rigid cancellation policies, lack of payment options, and no on-site support.

Ron in Rome is getting rather outdated. If you read his home page, you'll see why. For hotels, he mostly refers you to www.booking.com and www.venere.com , which you can visit directly. I myself mostly use www.booking.com .

I would not consider Via Gallia A convenient location. The location is not walkable to the majority of your interests. Even the closest sight, the Colosseum, if probably 10-15 minutes walk. I prefer to stay more centrally to the sights I hope to visit. Mark your sights on a map and search for options somewhere in the middle of all of them. The metro in Rome is not really that convenient as others have said.

We walked to everything on your list while staying at the Hotel Adriano( Piazza Navona area) Farthest was the Colosseum @ 22,000 Fitbit steps.2nd the RoninRome recommendation for tips on Vatican visits, easy way to by tickets to sites etc.

http://www.roninrome.com/

I find the Piazza Navona are the most convenient to all attractions.

I agree with ellenem. That location is not good.

Try to find something in Campo de Fiore, Piazza Navona, Pantheon areas.

Even close to the Colosseum is ok, as there is a Metro station at the Colosseum. The metro is best to get to places like Santa Maria del Popolo, the Spanish Steps, Termini.

Normally, we'd all tell you that most of these places are walkable from central Rome. But with 3 days, a transportation option is good. Buses go everywhere. Here is a link to a trans options. Look for the Bus Map Central Rome, to the right. http://www.rometoolkit.com/transport/rome_bus.htm

You might also consider a Roma Pass. It includes two free entries for certain sites, then discounts thereafter. It also includes free transportation up to midnight of the 3rd day that you use it. http://www.romapass.it/?l=en

Buon viaggio! (You will SO wish you'd stayed longer in Rome!)

i have to agree with all the above. Particularly for a first visit you want to stay as close to the centre as you reasonably can, which will make visiting the places you have listed, and generally exploring the centre of Rome that everyone imagines themselves seeing, as easy as possible.

Staying outside the centre, though it may be economically popular, leads to the spending of more money on buses/taxis etc., but perhaps more importantly than that, requires an expenditure of time going backwards and forwards to your accommodation that in 3-4 days, you really don't have.

I am telling you from my own experience. On our first trip to Rome we stayed in a non-central area. It wasn't too bad but it was not the most convenient location. Over the six days that we spent there, I realized that we could've seen/done the same in five days or less, instead of six, had we stayed in a more convenient location. You not only save time and money on the commute, but you also save energy and enjoy the whole experience a lot more. We decided that, if the cost is an issue, it is better to book a hotel for a day less in the most convenient location than longer in an inconvenient location. Just my two cents.

Also, if your hotel is centrally located, you can drop in for a quick rest or change of clothes between sightseeing/dinner if necessary.

I found a place very close to Piazza Navona, approx 1-2km. What do you think of this location?

https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Via...0f4f9cc16f419a

I wouldn't call that very close! It's about a half hour walk to Navona. That said, the neighborhood is called Monti, and I loved staying there. It will be close walking distance to the Colosseum or the Metro for visiting Vatican City. It's less convenient (though still walkable) for parts of the historic center.

Nightfawl,

our first apartment in Rome was in the via Dei Serpenti, just round the corner from the apartment you have posted.

although not right in the centre, it's pretty close and you can get around using the buses that go along the via nazionale or the metro from Cavour. It's a lovely neighbourhood and with the right apartment [we had one with a terrace that had view down the street to the colosseum] you should have a great time. There are lots of "local" restaurants and shops too.

you are a bit far from the piazza navona area but the buses are frequent enough for that not to matter.

do you want to post a link to the apartment itself?

Thank you all so much! We ended up booking the apartment in Monti through airbnb. It's a great spot very close to Colosseum and still walking distance to Trevi Fountain and Pantheon.

We actually ended up booking our flats in Barcelona, Venice, Florence and Sorrento on airbnb as well and for a GREAT price. I would highly recommend using it for anyone planning to travel in Europe. Forget about expensive hotels!

It's a great spot very close to Colosseum and still walking distance to Trevi Fountain and Pantheon.>>

mmmmm - I agree about being able to walk to the colosseum and back, and walking to the Trevi Fountian and the Pantheon, but not so sure about walking back. Beware Roman foot - it's very tempting just to keep walking and not realise how far you've gone until your feet give out. Better perhaps to get the bus there and walk back or vice versa. [see above - we too stayed in Monti. I know whereof I speak].

I hope you have a wonderful holiday. Please come back to the forum after your trip to tell us how it went.

Will do! I'm happy the logistics are taken care of but I'm sure I will have more questions for the forum re: tour operators, sights, advance ticket purchases etc. But you guys have been extremely helpful in the planning of my trip. Unfortunately, now I have to wait 3 months...