Dawggss

Planning a week trip to Rome in April. Am interested in opinions on
the district or area of Rome that would be the most practical and / or
efficient for sight seeing, relaxing, getting around (foot, bus,
metro) and eating. For example, which side of the river - Vatican
side or Colosseum side? Thanks in advance.

Paul O

We spent two weeks (August this year) in the apartment below. Brilliant
area, right on a bus route, walking distance to just about everything. It'd
be hard to beat! Personally I'd recommend the area around the Pantheon;
Piazza Navona, Campo de Fiori.



......................apartment located in the core of Rome a few
minute walking from the famous piazza Navona and just behind the
caracteristic piazza Farnese and Campo de' Fiori. A real unique chance to
combine money saving with an uncomparable location, between typical
restaurants and astonishing artistic beauties.
Check it out, ask for availability, make a reservation and ask me any
question on my web site:

www.renthomeinrome.com


"Dawggss" <> wrote in message
news:...
    > Planning a week trip to Rome in April. Am interested in opinions on
    > the district or area of Rome that would be the most practical and / or
    > efficient for sight seeing, relaxing, getting around (foot, bus,
    > metro) and eating. For example, which side of the river - Vatican
    > side or Colosseum side? Thanks in advance.

B Vaughan

On 30 Nov 2003 21:34:36 -0800, (Dawggss) wrote:

    >Planning a week trip to Rome in April. Am interested in opinions on
    >the district or area of Rome that would be the most practical and / or
    >efficient for sight seeing, relaxing, getting around (foot, bus,
    >metro) and eating. For example, which side of the river - Vatican
    >side or Colosseum side? Thanks in advance.

I would not suggest the Vatican area for two reasons. It isn't very
central and it has a very poor selection of restaurants.

The "Colosseum side", as you say, is much larger in area. I would
suggest the Centro Storico, specifically the areas of Piazza Navona,
the Pantheon, the former Jewish ghetto, and Campo de'Fiori. This area
is very central and within walking distance of most tourist sites,
including the Vatican. The Colosseum itself is already a bit off to
one side.

-----------
Barbara Vaughan
My email address is my first initial followed by my surname at libero dot it
I answer travel questions only in the newsgroup

Jenn

In article <>,
(Dawggss) wrote:

    > Planning a week trip to Rome in April. Am interested in opinions on
    > the district or area of Rome that would be the most practical and / or
    > efficient for sight seeing, relaxing, getting around (foot, bus,
    > metro) and eating. For example, which side of the river - Vatican
    > side or Colosseum side? Thanks in advance.



for a first timer, I would definately go with Piazza Navonna area --
good base -- easy walk almost anywhere you want to go

Cb

No disrespect but I think you may have contradicted yourself on your post.
On one hand you claim that the Vatican "isn't very central" and on the other
you claim that all those other places are "within walking distance of most
tourist sites, including the Vatican." So if those other locations are
within walking distance of the Vatican, the Vatican is within walking
distance of those locations. I have stayed in the Vatican area and it is a
mere 10 or 15 minute walk to Piazza Navona going through Castel Santangelo,
not a bad walk if you ask me. I just don't see the logic of being across the
street from restaurants unless you plan to eat more than 3 times a day. I
personally think the Vatican area is fine. I stayed at the Olympic Hotel in
the Vatican area once and had no complaints. It was quiet since it was not
close to the noise and din of central locations and it was somewhat cheaper
than centrally located hotels. Beside waking up in the morning, walking a
few blocks and seeing St Peters Square is quite nice. Besides there are
buses that can take you anywhere you want to go within minutes.

"B Vaughan" <> wrote in message
news:...
    > On 30 Nov 2003 21:34:36 -0800, (Dawggss) wrote:
    > >Planning a week trip to Rome in April. Am interested in opinions on
    > >the district or area of Rome that would be the most practical and / or
    > >efficient for sight seeing, relaxing, getting around (foot, bus,
    > >metro) and eating. For example, which side of the river - Vatican
    > >side or Colosseum side? Thanks in advance.
    > I would not suggest the Vatican area for two reasons. It isn't very
    > central and it has a very poor selection of restaurants.
    > The "Colosseum side", as you say, is much larger in area. I would
    > suggest the Centro Storico, specifically the areas of Piazza Navona,
    > the Pantheon, the former Jewish ghetto, and Campo de'Fiori. This area
    > is very central and within walking distance of most tourist sites,
    > including the Vatican. The Colosseum itself is already a bit off to
    > one side.
    > -----------
    > Barbara Vaughan
    > My email address is my first initial followed by my surname at libero dot
it
    > I answer travel questions only in the newsgroup

Ken Blake

In news:,
Dawggss <> typed:

    > Planning a week trip to Rome in April. Am interested in
opinions on
    > the district or area of Rome that would be the most practical
and / or
    > efficient for sight seeing, relaxing, getting around (foot,
bus,
    > metro) and eating. For example, which side of the river -
Vatican
    > side or Colosseum side? Thanks in advance.


In my view, the Colosseum side is by far the better choice. With
the exception of the Vatican and the Castel Sant'Angelo, almost
everything that a tourist wants to see and do is on the Colosseum
side.

I recommend the areas around the Campo de' Fiori and the Piazza
Navona. On our most recent trip to Rome (we got back two weeks
ago), we stayed for four weeks in an apartment three short blocks
west of the Piazza Navona, and I thought it was almost ideally
located for everything.

Olivers

Jenn muttered....

    > In article <>,
    > (Dawggss) wrote:
    >
    >> Planning a week trip to Rome in April. Am interested in opinions on
    >> the district or area of Rome that would be the most practical and / or
    >> efficient for sight seeing, relaxing, getting around (foot, bus,
    >> metro) and eating. For example, which side of the river - Vatican
    >> side or Colosseum side? Thanks in advance.
    >
    >
    >
    > for a first timer, I would definately go with Piazza Navonna area --
    > good base -- easy walk almost anywhere you want to go
    >

....depending on your rate range, November, 130Eu, we recently statyed at
the Regno, on the Corso, easy walk to Piazza Navona or the Campo Fiori,
convenient busses to Vatican, not a bad (and certainly great window
shopping) stroll to the Spanish Steps, plenty of security due to the
proximity of government buildings, but inconvenient/impoossible for cars.

I can say nothing but good about the hotel, both physically and in the
attitude or the staff. The Regno has a similar sister hotel, close to the
upper end of the Via Veneto and not as convenient (except for parking a
rental car).

TMO

Jenn

In article <nfJyb.9823$>,
"cb" <> wrote:

    > No disrespect but I think you may have contradicted yourself on your post.
    > On one hand you claim that the Vatican "isn't very central" and on the other
    > you claim that all those other places are "within walking distance of most
    > tourist sites, including the Vatican." So if those other locations are
    > within walking distance of the Vatican, the Vatican is within walking
    > distance of those locations. I have stayed in the Vatican area and it is a
    > mere 10 or 15 minute walk to Piazza Navona going through Castel Santangelo,
    > not a bad walk if you ask me. I just don't see the logic of being across the
    > street from restaurants unless you plan to eat more than 3 times a day. I
    > personally think the Vatican area is fine. I stayed at the Olympic Hotel in
    > the Vatican area once and had no complaints. It was quiet since it was not
    > close to the noise and din of central locations and it was somewhat cheaper
    > than centrally located hotels. Beside waking up in the morning, walking a
    > few blocks and seeing St Peters Square is quite nice. Besides there are
    > buses that can take you anywhere you want to go within minutes.

while the Vatican is within walking distance of the main historic areas,
many of us like to have a hotel more central where we can drop stuff
off, rest, prepare a snack etc many times during the day. The Vatican
is a fairly stiff hike for most people from the historic center --

Thomas Peel

Dawggss schrieb:
    >
    > Planning a week trip to Rome in April. Am interested in opinions on
    > the district or area of Rome that would be the most practical and / or
    > efficient for sight seeing, relaxing, getting around (foot, bus,
    > metro) and eating. For example, which side of the river - Vatican
    > side or Colosseum side? Thanks in advance.

We stayed in the Aventino area- very pleasant residential area, big
villas, quiet leafy streets.
So who needs to be central, you can walk all over Rome.

T.

B Vaughan

On Mon, 01 Dec 2003 15:37:55 GMT, "cb" <> wrote:

    >No disrespect but I think you may have contradicted yourself on your post.
    >On one hand you claim that the Vatican "isn't very central" and on the other
    >you claim that all those other places are "within walking distance of most
    >tourist sites, including the Vatican." So if those other locations are
    >within walking distance of the Vatican, the Vatican is within walking
    >distance of those locations. I have stayed in the Vatican area and it is a
    >mere 10 or 15 minute walk to Piazza Navona going through Castel Santangelo,
    >not a bad walk if you ask me.

There is no contradiction in what I said. The Piazza Navona is in the
center of an area. The Vatican is about a 20 minute walk to the west
of the Piazza Navona and the Roman Forum (and the Colosseum) is about
a 20 minute walk in the other direction from the Piazza Navona.
However, the Roman Forum would be a 40 minute walk from the Vatican.

It's simple geometry.

-----------
Barbara Vaughan
My email address is my first initial followed by my surname at libero dot it
I answer travel questions only in the newsgroup