Rome Travel Answers

We stayed in what I guess was the left side of the river near Vatican City and either walked, took the bus or the underground and got around very quickly and easily. I'm sure near the central part you will have quicker and easier access, but you really need to determine what you will be doing each day and how much convenience you require to what you will be visiting.

"Left side of the river" covers a very large area! We stayed in the Prati on our 2005 trip - which is left side of the river but just a bridge across the river from Piazza Del Popolo and Villa Borghese and not really a long walk from anything in the center at all. And the Vatican is on the west side of the Tiber but considered 'center' of the city. Then there are areas on the 'left side" that are much farther out indeed. It might help if you give us a better idea of the location (Names? Addresses?) of the hotels you're looking at?

Public transportation is quite good in Rome...if you accept the fact that the farther out you are, the longer it will take you to get places. Buses (which run everyone) simply take a while to get to the center than the Metro; however, the Metro doesn't run everywhere. And note that there are some hotels with pools that are really far from the center. There are hotels along the Via Aurelia with pools, and these are connected to the Cornelia bus stop by frequent buses, so maybe not so bad. The same maybe be true of hotels along the Via Tuscolana ( if any with pools). But as the others said, it depends...tell us what places you have in mind... Bill

I'd always opt for a more central accomm, personally, and especially for Rome. The historical centres of European cities are always pretty compact and generally where all the sights/sites you will want to see are located. But it does very much depend where the hotels are. It's not essential to be near a Metro station, although it does help. Rome's public transport system is excellent. Another factor to consider is whether there is a good choice of eating places near to the hotel. If it's well outside the centre this may not be the case: residential areas always have fewer eating places than those which are mixed business and residential. But we do need to know roughly where the hotels are in order to advise in more detail.

"the Cornelia bus stop"...er, Cornelia Metro stop (I guess this didn't make sense at first ;-) )... Bill

Do not worry about public transportation in Rome. The locals need it badly,... if they all had cars it would be a huge traffic jam. So you will be joining them going into Rome, and in the afternoon you can go back and have a swim and cool off. Good luck, Dave

I agree with Painterdave, if you want to enjoy a pool, you only have to determine if it is worth the 20 minutes worst case it takes to take a bus into Rome central. Since you are going in August prepare for being hot and humid with an occasional rain storm. We rarely use public transportation in Rome as around every corner is another cool thing to look at or place to in to, who wants to get on a bus or a metro? Karl

Alex, It sounds to me like you have a pretty good feel for the downside of staying outside the center of the city. My only advice is to jump in with gusto and learn to use the bus to get you into the center. At first the bus system can seem a bit wild but if I can manage it you should be fine. I have found that the buses run pretty much on time and were a good value. They can save you A LOT of walking and allow you to spend more time strolling through the places you really want to see. I must admit that I do like staying in the center when possible because it makes for a more relaxed trip. So if you really love to swim just bite the bullet and make it work. I think you can have a great trip. Happy Trails, Randy