Bernini Bristol Hotel, Rome

Advantages: History, lots of things too see and so, food, amazing museums, Gelato
Disadvantages: Too much to see, crowded around major sight, fear of being pickpocketed

...invited to a wedding in London. Planning the trip Our initial plan was to fly from Stavanger to London to take part in a wedding and then use Ryanair to get to Rome and just book a hotel on the web. But after our trip to Japan we checked out Expedia options again. We ended up with a package deal from www.expedia.co.uk. As always it is tricky to know which area of the city to stay in when you don't know the place. We posted in different forums and also read the Eyewitness guidebook that we bought from www.amazon.co.uk. Many of the hotels that we looked at were located in the Termini area…and the feedback from others was that this area was a bit seedy. But we took a chance anyway and booked a room at Bettoja Hotel Nord Nuova Roma. The Expedia package included the flights from London to Rome (and back of course) and 5 nights at the hotel... Read review

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Advantages: History, breath-taking artwork, pizzas and icecreams
Disadvantages: Precious few WCs, more choice for veggies.

...last minute. This time we booked the flight with ebooker.com and the hotel – Hotel della Muse – direct. We just missed our booking for a direct flight to Rome so had break our journey at Venice. This sounds more fun than it is. We ended up wandering around Venice airport for a couple of hours. Both flights were with Air Italia and we were delighted to find ourselves on scheduled rather than chartered flights on two out of the three journeys. (More leg room and slightly bigger more comfortable chairs with enough room for two people to use the arm-rests.) We had checked with the airline about my vegetarian meal, always a good policy, and it duly arrived. When we went out this was a breakfast and on return a lunch. Unfortunately, the Italian idea of what constitutes a vegetarian meal – a dish of vegetables and a bread roll... Read review

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Advantages: A lifetime of sights to see, excellent transport, amazing ice cream
Disadvantages: Very busy

...I visited here with two student friends in 2003, on a mission to soak up a lot of culture, have a great time and not spend much money, and we did pretty well on all counts. After sitting through years of torturous Latin lessons at school, I had high hopes for the city. We managed to find possibly the strangest hotel in Rome to stay in, the Hotel Giarda, near Stazione Termini, where they monitored our every movements through strategically placed security cameras, and the chamber maids had a good daily rifle through our luggage, but other than that it was well situated for exploring. Here are my top Roma sights (in no particular order): Vatican City: Even though this is slap bang in the middle of Rome, the Vatican is technically an independent state, with the Pope as sovereign, its own post office and legal system, and definitely... Read review

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