Pineta Palace, Rome

...what we got from the Pineta Palace.

The Pineta Palace is situated in the north west of Rome, has 200 rooms, is about 5km from the city centre, has a restaurant, an indoor bar, an outdoor bar and a business conference centre. For a one night stay, a room costs around 40 euros, but if you're staying for a week there's quite a good discount.

Getting There
The hotel is about a 25 minute taxi drive from Rome's main ...
...20 euros on the way there. The taxi on the way back at the end of our holiday, however, which we booked from the hotel, ended up setting us back 50 euros, so it's definitely a good idea to book your taxis in advance.
Getting around Rome from the hotel was really easy. The hotel has a shuttle bus service which runs a service into the centre of Rome with a bus leaving approximately every half hour (from approx 7am to 6pm). Tickets are about ... more

I stayed at this hotel for a week last summer. My friend and I were looking for a cheap, but comfortable hotel that would be a good base from which to see Rome. That's exactly what we got from the Pineta Palace.

The Pineta Palace is situated in the north west of Rome, has 200 rooms, is about 5km from the city centre, has a restaurant, an indoor bar, an outdoor bar and a business conference centre. For a one night stay, a room costs around 40 euros, but if you're staying for a week there's quite a good discount.

Getting There
The hotel is about a 25 minute taxi drive from Rome's main airport. We had pre-booked a taxi which cost about 20 euros on the way there. The taxi on the way back at the end of our holiday, however, which we booked from the hotel, ended up setting us back 50 euros, so it's definitely a good idea to book your taxis in advance.
Getting around Rome from the hotel was really easy. The hotel has a shuttle bus service which runs a service into the centre of Rome with a bus leaving approximately every half hour (from approx 7am to 6pm). Tickets are about 2 euros for a day pass. The pick up points in the city are designed to suit tourists - one of the stops is right next to the Vatican City. It was a pity that the shuttle didn't run in the evenings though, as it would have been nice to be able to travel into the city in the evening without having to fork out for a taxi or struggle with language problems on the local bus system.
The hotel has links with a bus tour company. The bus tour people will come and pick you up from the hotel for free and take you direct to where the bus tours starts from. This was really handy - there was no issue of getting lost trying to find the tour start point and not having to get a taxi saved the purse strings. Tours offered included Pompeii, various trips around Rome itself and the countryside surrounding Rome.

Food
There is a wide choice of food on offer at the self-service breakfast, although, it has to be said, there aren't many healthy options. Even the croissants are coated in a thick layer of sugar.
We ate at the hotel's restaurant in the evening a couple of times during the week. The food was good (healthy portion sizes and plenty of choice) but a bit more expensive than I would have expected (many main courses cost around 20 euros, which seems a lot when you're only paying 40 euros a night to stay at the hotel).
If you get bored of eating in the hotel, there are two restaurants a stone's throw away from the hotel. Both of these were cheaper than the hotel and were frequented by locals as well as those staying in the hotel. The restaurants were really convenient as it meant not having to travel into the city in the evening. As well as the restaurants there is a supermarket about a two minute walk from the hotel.

Staff
Most of the staff have the usual brusque Italian exterior, but once you get used to the abruptness they are actually quite friendly. The shuttle bus driver insisted on attempting to make conversation with us every day, despite it being blatantly obvious that we couldn't understand a single word he was saying! In fact, the limited English skills of quite a few of the staff gave us quite a lot of entertainment throughout the week!

Rooms/Cleanliness
Rooms were small, but relatively comfortable, and pretty much what you'd expect from a hotel in this price range. My room had a satellite TV installed, but unfortunately it didn't work.
Cleanliness, however, is one area on which the hotel could improve. I know that different countries have different standards, but the toilets did leave a bit to be desired (see if you can guess why we nicknamed the hotel the "P" Palace!). That said, it's definitely not the dirtiest hotel I've seen in Italy.

Clientele
The majority of people staying in the hotel were part of large groups on bus tours of Europe, most of whom were of a certain age. Because most of the residents were part of tour groups, it meant that there wasn't much going on in the hotel in the evenings. The bars were nice, although slightly on the expensive side, but were deserted after ten pm every evening.

Overall, "Palace" probably isn't the most appropriate name for the hotel but it's got a really nice atmosphere and offered great value for money. I would highly recommend it to anyone who's looking for a cheap and cheerful place to stay in Rome.
 

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