Where to stay in Rome & what to eat

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I’m not the only one to love this Italian city.
Rome gets 12 million visitors every single year.
Last year, this year, next year, all the years until eternity…

But where to stay in Rome not to pay over your budget and what and where to eat?
I share some of our favorites here!

Tons of people are queueing to see the interiors of Basilica di San Pietro and even the Pantheon is busy these days.
Visitors wishing to return to Rome throw coins into Fontana di Trevi enough to feed a small village every single day.
Yet this eternal city is still worth visiting, so join the crowd.
Bring a pair of good shoes to walk and a bagful of patience.

Eternal Rome – My Eternal Love

I was lucky to visit Rome for the first time more than twenty years ago and was able to see all those fantastic churches, museums, and archeological sites without too much of a hassle. – Yes, crowded, but not so overly packed as today.

But it’s still possible to find awesome spots and almost to keep them just for yourself.
If you don’t want to queue for hours in the burning heat, try someplace less known.

The Municipality of Rome has so much to offer that some of the wonderful places have almost no visitors (at least compared to most famous ones) just because they are located half an hour away from the city center.

One of these places is Ostia Antica, a well-preserved harbor city of Ancient Rome.
– If it was anywhere else it would get zillions of visitors.

It’s also very easy to get there:
Take a subway (metro as we Europeans call it) to Piramide/Ostiense station and change to a local train in the direction of Lido Porta San Paolo.

Get off at the station called Ostia Antica, where else?
And it costs only 1,50 €. (Which is 1,65 USD as of Jan. 28th, 2019.)

What to Eat in Rome

The food is as important in Rome as it is all around Italy.
Roman cuisine has its roots in the cucina povera, a poor peasant cooking, meaning that very simple dishes are the thing here. Especially talking about pasta.

These are the most common ones you should try:

• I Cacio e Pepe
• II Gricia
• III Amatriciana
• IV Carbonara

Italians usually eat pasta as the first course and after that a main course often including meat or fish. But do not overly stress about it, it’s also perfectly okay to have only pasta.

Or that pizza you are lusting for.
Btw, briefly: Roman pizza is thin and crunchy compared to its Neapolitan big brother.

There are plenty of other delicious foods to taste too: veal, lamb, artichokes, seafood…

Avoid restaurants near the main attractions of Rome

The only problem is that it is not easy to recommend restaurants (ristorantes, trattorias, osterias) to eat in Rome.
If I’d give you a few names, the next summer their quality would be gone with masses lining up behind their doors.

Everywhere else it is easy to follow a basic rule of only eating in those places favored by locals, but not in Rome.
It is pretty hard to find a restaurant with only locals gathering in this city of millions of visitors. Sadly, in many places, they don’t care how their food is as they will get new customers coming every night.

My only advice is to try to avoid restaurants near the major sights.
Especially those near Piazza Navona, though there are pretty good ones too!

But certainly, you’ll find great food in Rome, just go around the corner.
After all, even the great Anthony Bourdain himself said:

”If I’m in Rome for only 48 hours, I would consider it a sin against God to not eat cacio e pepe, the most uniquely Roman pastas, in some crummy little joint where Romans eat. I’d much rather do that than go to the Vatican. That’s Rome to me”.

Just remember that good restaurants won’t need anyone in front of them handing out fliers.

Few hotels I like aka where to stay in Rome

…that I am not sure if I should share with you as you are going to snap them in front of me and I’ll never get to stay in them anymore, but I’ll take the risk as I love you guys reading my blog.

It isn’t too easy to find an affordable hotel to stay in Rome.

As a last-minute booker, it took me more than a decade to get in the best spots in Rome as I can’t afford the high-end prices.
Eventually, I managed to book in the best areas of Rome without ruining my budget. Not super cheap compared to other cities in Southern Europe, but pretty good deals for Rome.

Here we go!

*Relais Arco della Pace

This small hotel is situated just a few steps from the famous Piazza Navona.
You couldn’t find a better spot to stay in the Rome city center.

With only a few rooms and three rooftop terraces you can have a lot of privacy.
Though not as much privacy as having a private balcony, so better to wear something appropriate when hitting up there.

We actually ended up buying a bottle of wine and spending an evening up on the rooftop instead of going out enjoying the nightlife of Rome.
Which would’ve been a very easy thing to do as there are plenty of nice bars and restaurants around. Just take an elevator down, slam the door behind, and step on the street. (Do not slam literally, there are people living there.)

For some reason, we got upgraded for the room in the attic and had a jacuzzi in our bathroom!
This happened even twice as we returned here a few weeks later.

The roofs inside the room were low, as usual in attic rooms, but at least our room and bathroom would’ve been big enough even if you are not used to European measures.
Actually, the bathroom was huge by European standards.
Yeah, I’ve heard many travelers complain about the sizes of European hotel rooms, especially those tiny bathrooms.
Sorry, we were quite small-sized and living with less stuff at the time our buildings were constructed.

The views over the roofs of the Basilica San Pietro are amazing and worth climbing. There aren’t too many steps anyway, by European standards they are non-existent.

Note:

Reception is located in another building a few blocks away, so read carefully the instructions you receive via email. The address for the reception is Via dei Gabrielli 92.

As there are some steps to climb up there, also for the rooms, this isn’t a good option for people with limited walking ability.
Please note that the hotel is located in the pedestrian area of the Rome city center, which means that the closest spot to get there by taxi is a few hundred meters away.

But wherever you stay, you will certainly walk to Piazza Navona, and staying here you are already around the corner, literally.

Price: starting from ~ 50 €

*Roma Resort Trevi

If you prefer to stay near Piazza di Spagna (The famous Spanish Steps) this could be an option.
Or if my first recommendation is fully booked. Which it often is.

Rooms (at least our’s) came with a balcony. The rooms are quite small, yet clean and beautiful.
It is a very short walk from the hotel to Fontana di Trevi and 2 min from the Piazza Barberini subway/metro/tube station.

I’ve stayed in this area a few times and the location really is good, if you’ll miss your chance to book near Piazza Navona.

Plus there is no subway station as close to Navona as here, so this would be a good option for travelers wanting to get around a bit more.
And for therefore, it’s, of course, easy to get there from the airport by public transportation.

Price: starting from ~ 40 €

*Aran Blu

Have you realized Rome has a beach?
Lido di Ostia is popular amongst Romans and this hotel is located just by the beach.

If you’re planning to visit Ostia Antica (again, you should!) and spend time on the beach only half an hour’s train ride from the Rome city center in a four-star hotel with a very minimalistic interior, but rooms bigger than usual – do book this!

We got there a bit accidentally some years ago when visiting my friend living in Ostia, with whom our paths didn’t cross that time as planned.

We ended up staying in this hotel sunbathing and dining just in front of it by the Mediterranean Sea.
This would definitely be the place to book a whole holiday!

Price: starting from ~ 70 €

Note: seashore is for every sunbather

Some of the hotels in Ostia have access to their private beach for their customers, but even if your hotel is not providing this it doesn’t mean you couldn’t swim in the milk-warm Mediterranean Sea.
The local law says you are allowed to go to the beachline anytime without a fee.

If you want to have a sunbed and a parasol you’ll be asked to pay something like 10 € a day, but if you are fine sunbathing on your towel (yes, your own, do not steal it from the hotel) you can just walk through these beach bars to the beach line and find your spot to stay for the day.

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