When in Rome....

For August bank holiday 2017 I visited Rome for a 3 night stay. I travelled with my Mom, her best friend and her daughter. This was a special trip as both my Mom and her best friend Gail have both turned 60 this year and they had always wanted to visit the city together, so Laura and I joined them for the trip.

This was my first time in Rome and I must say it is now probably my favourite city in Europe. Everywhere you looked the buildings were just amazing, and I could not believe how they created such amazing buildings all those years ago. There is so much to see in Rome that I would recommend a four to five night stay, we only stayed three nights and although we did get to see the main things we wanted to see, an extra night or two would have been ideal.

On Arrival

We flew into Fiumicino airport and I had pre-arranged a private taxi transfer to take us to our hotel. I would highly recommend this as the journey is approximately 45 minutes depending on traffic and it was quick, easy and stress free having a driver waiting for us on arrival. Alternatively, there are local buses or an express train that will take you the Termini station for just 14 Euros each and this takes approximately 30 minutes.

Our accommodation

We stayed at a property called the Trevi Palace Luxury Apartments. Our room was not an apartment more like the usual hotel room you would expect. The rooms were very nicely decorated and above all else the location was just perfect, as we were less than a five minute walk away from the Trevi fountain and surrounded by lovely restaurants and cafes.

Sightseeing

Of course no trip to Rome would be complete without a visit to the amazing Vatican City. We took a group tour which took around two hours. We visited around 3pm and this seemed to be a good time to visit as it was much quieter. We also visited the Spanish steps and the Colosseum,

The Colosseum was the highlight of the trip for me as it really is an amazing sight. Again, here we did a group tour. We used the hop on hop off tour bus to mainly get around. I always use these in cities as they are cost effective way to get around any city plus they have the audio headsets so you know what buildings you are passing and it is a great way to find out more

Eating out -

Italian food is my absolute favourite, so I was always torn between what to have wherever we ate. Cost wise, a pasta dish varies between 10 -15 euros and for a pizza it was around 8 - 12 euros, Steaks were between 15 - 25 euros and one night we did treat ourselves to Chateaubriand, which was 70 euros (two sharing), there are so many gorgeous restaurants you will be spoilt for choice but I would highly recommend a visit to Piazza Navona which is lovely place to eat of an evening.

Top tip -

Near the Trevi fountain is a hotel called the Relais Fontana di Trevi, they have a gorgeous little roof top bar which has a lovely view over the Trevi Fountains well worth visiting for a glass of wine and we never found it to be overly busy so always managed to get a seat.

Another lovely rooftop bar to visit is on top of the 5 star Raphael hotel, you do have to pre book even to have a drink but the view is spectacular and we watched the sunset over the Vatican, beautiful.

If you would like to hear more about my trip or I can help plan a visit please do get in touch I would love to tell you more!