Hotels

Italian hotels are categorized from 1-star (basic) to 5-star (deluxe), based largely on the amenities offered rather than location. At 3 stars and above, all rooms have at least private bathroom, TV and telephone.

Rental Rooms

The tourist office has a list of these invariably cheap options which can range from a lovely room with semi-private access or a cramped spare bedroom in someone’s modern apartment. Amount of contact with the family varies, but it can be a great way to meet locals.

Apartments

The best sources to help you find an apartment (for a week, a month, or a year) are the English-language twice-monthly Wanted in Rome (www.wantedinrome.com) and the twice-weekly Porta Portese (www.porta-portese.it) want-ad magazine. People also post apartment notices on message boards at English-language bookshops and Trastevere’s Pasquino cinema.

Residences

These self-catering apartments, with limited maid service, are popular with long-term tourists (two weeks or more) and those who prefer more privacy. Rome’s official website (www.romaturismo.com) lists several residential options.

Camping and Caravaning

Rome has several camp sites (campeggi) ringed around the periphery, including Camping Flaminio, Seven Hills, Camping Tiber and Roma Camping. Italians tend to eschew tents for camper vans. You end up paying almost as much as for a cheap hotel: a fee per person and for the camp site itself.

Flaminio Village

• via Flaminia Nuova 821

• 06 333 2604

• www.villageflaminio.com

Seven Hills

• Via Cassia 1216

• 06 3031 0826

• www.sevenhills.it

Camping Tiber

• Via Tiberina km 1400

• 06 3361 0733

• www.campingtiber.com

Roma Camping

• Via Aurelia 831

• 06 662 3018

• www.ecvacanze.it

Hostels

Cheap beds in single-sex, shared dorms cost about €18 per night. They are full of students, and usually impose a curfew of midnight. The official IYH hostel is in the bleak Foro Italico. There are better, private hostels listed at www.hostels.com and www.europeanhostels.com.

IYH hostel

• Viale delle Olimpiadi 61

• 06 323 6267

Bed-and-Breakfast

The newest category of Italian lodging falls somewhere between rental rooms and hotels, a sort of reincarnation of the old pensione, offering a handful of rooms along with breakfast and, usually, a friendly family reception.

Should You Reserve?

Reserving the first and last nights of a trip is always wise. The best-known hotels can fill up months in advance, so book ahead. Rome tends to be very crowded in May and June, but you should have no problem finding a room when you arrive, either calling around from the train station payphone or asking the tourist office.

Booking Services

The HR hotel consortium at Fiumicino airport and Termini railway station will book you rooms for free, as will the private agency Enjoy Rome (see Tours and Specialist Holidays). As yet, internet booking services have highly erratic stables of hotels in their databases.

Hidden Charges

Rooms with private bath, a view or for stays less than three days are more costly. An extra bed is usually 30–35 per cent more. Breakfast may not be included, parking almost always extra, and prices on minibar items and phone calls shockingly high.