Recently the boyfriend and I decided, continuing with our resolution from last year to travel more, that we needed a little break, so we scoured the website for some cheap flights and plumped on Rome as the destination. Next task, find a hotel. We were only going out for four days so we needed somewhere central which would be convenient for getting to all the sights and, hopefully, not too expensive. Neither of us had been to Rome before, so we had no idea of the best area to stay in, what the standards would be like, the cost; we were clueless! So with the help of the boyfriend's parents, who are travel agents and have also been to Rome before, we were recommended to stay at Hotel Cicerone .

The hotel offers Superior rooms, Deluxe rooms and Suites. The hotel also offers rooms suitable for disabled persons but what this actually means I have no idea. We thought we had just booked a Superior room but when compared to the hotel photos it seems we may have been given a Deluxe room, which is larger than the Superior rooms. The room was spotless, with gorgeous, crisp bed linen (apparently designer, but I wouldn't be able to tell you which designer!), interactive television, wireless internet access, a wardrobe with a safe inside, minibar, desk and two chairs, air conditioning and an ashtray. Yes, you can smoke here, much to my boyfriend's delight, although I made him hang out of the window whenever he did feel the need for a ciggie. They also provided a magazine about Rome which was mostly full of adverts but did provide a lot of helpful information about where to go in Rome. We had bought a guide beforehand so we didn't use the magazine, but it's a good idea to provide this for other guests who may not have any ideas for places to visit, eat at, etc. The hotel has a concierge service that will help with making any restaurant reservations or booking excursions for example. It's worth pointing out that I did not see any children during our stay, I think this hotel is more suited for couples or business travellers, rather than families.

Every day when the room was made up the shampoo and bath & shower gel supplies were replenished and two new bars of soap appeared, whether they were needed or not. By the end of our stay we had a little mountain of soaps in the bathroom! Six fresh towels were provided every day - two large bath towels and four small towels - along with a fresh small bath mat, two new toilet rolls and a box of facial tissues. I can't help thinking that it wasn't very environmentally friendly to keep replacing the rolls of toilet tissue when they were not even finished yet though... The bed was also made up with fresh linen every single day and one morning we walked past another room with an open door to see that

Pictures of Cicerone Hotel, Rome

Entrance

Breakfast is served each morning between 6.30am and 10.30am and the cost was included in our booking. Upon entering the room you are greeted with another friendly smile and a cheerful, "buon giorno" before being guided to a table and asked if you would like tea or coffee. A freshly brewed pot of your choice is brought over to your table and then the breakfast is a buffet style with plenty of choice which is constantly being replenished - croissants, Danish pastries, toast, eggs, bacon, hams, cheeses, yogurts, cereal, jam, honey, biscuits, bread rolls, dried and tinned fruit, juice and water. Some mornings we were down to breakfast later than others but always found that there was plenty of fresh food. My only gripe, and it is a little one, is that it would have been very nice to have some fresh fruit as I really am not a fan of tinned fruit. We noticed a few other guests making special requests to the staff such as requesting a cappucino and requesting reduced fat milk; the staff seemed only too happy to meet their requirements. There are also a selection of newspapers from varying countries for guests to help themselves too. You can also request that breakfast is brought to your room each day but it is at extra cost.

When we made our hotel reservation, a friend of ours looked at the map and said we had picked a really good location as we were quite close to Vatican City. It was only when we were there on our second day in Rome, having got to grips with the map and finding our way around, that we realised we were actually able to walk to many of the main sights. We were coming out of the Vatican and checking the map to see which way to the Sistine Chapel when I spotted a road name on the map which looked very familiar, and realised that we were a 15 minute walk away from the hotel. Hotel Cicerone, we discovered, is within walking distance of the Vatican, Piazza del Popolo, the Spanish Steps, Castel Sant'Angelo and San Pietro. Even Trevi Fountain and Pantheon could be reached by foot, it was only the Colloseum and Roman Forum that really warranted a journey on the metro and even that took minutes to reach. This hotel really is in a prime location for sight seeing in Rome so if you are planning a trip you should definitely consider this hotel. If we go back to Rome, we will certainly stay at this hotel again.