Advantages: Well known for celebrity viewing Disadvantages: Tables close together
Myself, my partner and my teenage son paid a visit to this restaurant for my partner's birthday. It was relatively easy to get a table (although I did book 3 months in advance!). I needed to extend the booking to include my son and they were very pleased to do so.
Upon arrival we were shown to our table, which was at the far end of the restaurant but afforded a good view of the entrance (with many personalised plates adorning the cars!) and the ... ...the crispy duck was indeed crispy - bordering on rock hard!
The main courses were mouth watering (although they do not come with vegetables and we were not asked if we wanted them at the time of ordering!)
The desserts were out of this world (honeycomb ice cream to die for!) and my partner's dessert arrived with 'happy birthday' beautifully piped on the plate.
Good value for money, people watching paradise and well worth a visit! ...
Advantages: Comfortable hotel - handy for the metro Disadvantages: Characterless - can be expensive
...booking the Sheraton.
The Sheraton isn't in central Rome, it's in the EUR district. This presented no significant problem however. It's a breeze to find - take junction 26 on the ring road and head for central Rome. Go through the EUR district almost to the very end and turn left at the sign that says 'Sheraton Hotel' (you can see it from the road anyway). It's a big, modern(ish) hotel with absolutely no redeeming features architecturally but all ... ...what you'd expect in a Sheraton - glitzy and shiny with lots of leather sofas dotted around for those little tete-a-tetes, a large area to go online (or as they say ' the Link@Sheraton experienced with Microsoft'), and a large piano bar just off to the side. There's also a small shopping mall with four or five outlets offering gifts, jewellery and tobacco etc.
Having sorted that all out, I went to park the car. The hotel does have (unguarded) free ...
I stayed in the Hotel Michelangelo while on a work trip to Rome in December 2007 and i can't fault the hotel. We were holding a conference in their meeting rooms and they were nothing short of amazing in terms of helping us plan the event.
As a place to stay, the hotel was perfect. The bedrooms were really large. I had a twin room to myself and it was massive. i'm not sure how much we paid for the rooms, but as a charity, i know it wouldn't have ... ...value for money and helped make our conference such a success. The breakfasts were brilliant and plentiful and the buffet lunch we had was great.
The hotel is in the perfect spot for sightseeing in Rome. We arrived late at night, but headed straight out to explore the city - easy to do with such a perfect location right next to St Peter's - i could see the dome from my bedroom!!
I can't fault the hotel at all - i'd definitely recommend it for either ...
Advantages: The location and price Disadvantages: Everything else - service, attitude, plumbing....
...and came up with this hotel – Albergo Serena. At 28 Euros / night for a city center location, it sounded perfect. The website even had a pretty picture of its gardens, and it figured in more than one guide book to the region as being an ok place to stay. I arrived late at night so grabbed a taxi to the hotel. The driver knew exactly where it was without needing the address – always a good sign. I was greeted by a well lit entrance way ... ...being that the hotel was deserted. I eventually found a bell (after, I admit it, attempting to ring the ornamental one on display there) and following the shrill squeal, a very old man appeared. I wasn’t sure if he lived there or owned the place, because the building looked like it was a home as well as a hotel, but it turned out to be his place. He was not only the proprietor, but the receptionist, book keeper and porter (yeah, right), and ...
Advantages: Comfortable, clean, pleasant staff Disadvantages: Mix up at check-in, restaurant v. expensive,
...have never stayed in a Crowne Plaza before (but have stayed in a Holiday Inn, which is the same chain of hotels) and we thought it looked nice.
We got a taxi from the airport (Ciampino) which took about 30 minutes. We booked the taxi before we left England, to pick us up from the airport and it was charged to our bill. ~ On Arrival ~
Upon arriving at the hotel, it looked nice and clean. We walked into the reception with our luggage and joined the ... ...around £70 per night.
Crowne Plaza is located 3km from Rome centre, there was a courtesy bus to take guests from the hotel to Vatican City or Rome Centre, several times a day. We found this was a cheap (obviously!) convenient way to travel to the city. We did get a taxi back on a few occasions, which cost £6-£7 depending whereabouts in the city you got picked up. We did travel in the courtesy bus as much as possible but sometimes we wanted to travel ...
Fast, new Perpendicular Technology, very quiet, fair price (*)
