Rome for a weekend

J

juke

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So things have been a tough financially for while - however, ever optimistic coupled with the need to have something to look forward to.....and it being a somewhat momentous birthday......I'm thinking Rome for the October bank holiday weekend.
I won't necessarily want to copy Roman Holiday.... But I might try.

Never been. No idea of ideal locations for hotel/restaurants/sightseeing ......any recommendations welcome. Have started googl'ing

Top criteria for hotel would be:
walking distance to bars/restaurants from hotel
Would be nice if it were near main sights
good food
no night clubs (or gyms, or pools for that matter - it's a holiday)

Oh - and is the Vatican a must see...?

Thanks,

J
 
See "Places to stay in Rome" by R. Flan, which is currently a few posts down from this one.
 
juke said:
Never been. No idea of ideal locations for hotel/restaurants/sightseeing ......any recommendations welcome.
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Firstly, buy a copy of the DK Rome guide book (maybe €15 in Eason). If you can get a hotel somewhere near the Pantheon you'll be in the middle of everything with the longest walks being the Vatican 25 minutes one direction and the Colosseum 20 minutes the other. I used Rome-shuttle-taxi to get between the Airport and my hotel and they were spot on. If you're going to go into the Colosseum then pay for and print you tickets online so you won't have to queue.
 
Just back from Rome yesterday. Stayed in the Hotel Querinale in Via Nazional which is only a 15 minute walk from the train station. I would have no hesitation in recommending it if you want a quiet place, don't know how expensive it is however as the trip was a birthday pressies from Mrs Sox

Plenty of good restaurants in the area, we went back to one as we couldn't believe the prices, 2 courses and a bottle of house wine for €40 between us (not each), house wine was only €8 a bottle and very drinkable.

Rome in general is a very good town for walking in, albeit the cobbles in some places can be hard on the feet and be careful crossing the road, they drive like loonies

Vatican is good but beware you will need to queue and the vatican museums are closed most Sundays and one day a month so check before you go.

2 favourite things were the Colleseum and the climb up on the dome on the Vatican. If you do the latter, get the lift to the roof firstly (otherwise it is 500+ steps) and then the climb to the dome top is 320 narrow steps with no real place to stop and the roof of the doom means there is little headroom, therefore you need to be fit and not claustropobic, but wortth it once you get to the top.
 
and I would recommend that you hire the services of a tour guide for at least one of the days of your trip. I spent a couple of days with the family ( wife + kids aged 7 & 8) in Rome last July and used the following tour company www.realrometours.com on one of the days. We had a great day around ancient rome with them and the kids found it really interesting too. Our only regret was in not booking a tour with them for the second day. Found them on in the Top 10 list of things to do in Rome
 
Some great tips, guys, thanks

michaelm said:
If you're going to go into the Colosseum then pay for and print you tickets online so you won't have to queue.
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These sort of timesavers are great to know.

Mpsox said:
Vatican is good but beware you will need to queue and the vatican museums are closed most Sundays and one day a month so check before you go.
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Would never even have considered that they would be closed on Sunday - would have thought that would be the busiest day - after Mass of course!

kerrybiffo said:
and I would recommend that you hire the services of a tour guide
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Was a tour guide myself in a previous life - and local knowledge is often far greater than the best guide book, so I'll definately check that out.

Plenty to go on for research so far. Thanks
 
I'm down on guided tours myself, I prefer to wander around at my own pace. There's often little or no queue for the Vatican museums if you go early afternoon (everyone else goes early). I arrived there around 14:30 on a Saturday afternoon last June and was in in five minutes. When you get to the Sistine Chapel there are two exits at the far end. The one to the right says 'Tours only' and is a quick way into St. Peters, I (we) briefly blended into a Tour and went that way rather than continue through the museum.
 
We went recently and rented an apartment. it was fantastic. Right beside the Pantheon (really you could see it from the front door)
It suited us as there was 4 of us but you could easily find a 1 bed or studio one. When we were looking originally i found the hotels very expensive and the apt seemed to be better value and right in the centre of things.
 
Vatican is a must see (and I'm not holy). I didn't spend much time in the museums but did spend a while in St. Peters and the Sistine Chapel. Queues on last Sunday of the month for Vatican are long. Its good to have tour guide for Colloseum and Roman forum - you'll even skip the queue faster than booking tickets online. Some things you just can't get from a book or audio guide! You will be approached at each tourist destination anyways about joining a tour.

Pantheon is fab too and Piazza Novono (sorry if mispelt) is great just to people watch and enjoy some fab Italian food, wine and icecream! Spanish steps are the same. Its lovely just to sit and relax there for a while! Not too far to wander to Trevi Fountain from there either or the main shopping streets are right be Spanish Steps.

Its a great city! There are loads of tour buses (with hop on, hop off) and they usually stop at vatican for 20 mins if you just wanted to hop out and see St. Peters Square and not go in. Found the public transport to be very easy to use too.

Villa Bourgaise (sorry about spelling again) is lovely too just to wander around. Museum there needs to be booked in advance and all bags/cameras/phones have to be put in cloakroom. Remember alot of museums are closed in Rome on Mondays.
 
Guys - the response is great. Thanks

jt_dublin said:
Hi Juke,

http://www.allarampa.it/home.php?language=English


JT.
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Looks lovely. On the list.

Staysure said:
Lived in Rome 10 years.

If you're only going for a weekend it is NOT ENOUGH time to do very much at all.
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Got that impressions myself. Looking at min. 3 full days together with 2 separate travel days. We'll see, It'll come down to budget/flights in the end :mad:. Roll on the new boom.

How much time time should I factor in for the Catacombes?

g1g said:
Vatican is a must see (and I'm not holy). I didn't spend much time in the museums but did spend a while in St. Peters and the Sistine Chapel.
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Suspect I'll be dragging my OH there! Myself - really want to do the Sistine.

Been reading that afternoons in the Vatican (In particular a letter posted on kerrybiffo's link for tourguides - but also mentioned elsewhere) = little if no queues. Anybody else any thoughts?
 
We did a tour called a scavi tour which take you under the vatican, it is very cheap but they only take a small group but it was the high light of our trip. It gets you in to the vatican after without any queue. Google it on trip advisor and on google to get an idea of what it is about. We felt it was a well worth while tour.
 
hi does anyone have any other restAurant reccomendations - nothing too pricey!
 
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