Where to Stay in Rome: A Complete Guide (for First Timers)

Trastevere is hands down our number one recommendation. In fact, we’ve literally stayed in Trastevere every single time we’ve been to Rome (until these last two trips when Matt was there solo).

To us, it feels like one the most authentic areas of the city – with winding cobblestone streets opening up onto vibrant piazzas filled with markets and locals going about their day.

Sure, there are definitely tourists (I mean, it’s Rome), but it’s far less tourist-centric than an area like the Centro Storico or Monti. 

The neighborhood is about a 30 minute walk to all of the main attractions, so the location is plenty convenient for exploring the main sights of Rome. 

However the neighborhood is an attraction in itself with little shops and markets and beautiful churches that you will have seemingly all to yourself.

It’s just far enough off of the beaten path to avoid the throngs of tourists (although it is certainly getting more busy by the day).

Here you will be among the locals as they go by their daily lives. Which makes it the best place to stay if you really want to immerse yourself in the true culture and lifestyle of the Eternal City.

Personally, this is our favorite neighborhood in Rome, and it offers a little bit of everything. 

Pros and Cons of Staying in Trastevere

Here are the pros and cons of using Trastevere as a home base for exploring Rome as we see them.

Pros of Staying in Trastevere

• All of the charm. Cobblestone streets. Greenery. Bars and restaurants with people spilling out into the streets after dark. Trastevere is as charming as it gets, in our opinion.
  
   
• Great nightlife. Trastevere is great during the day, but it really comes alive when the sun goes down and people settle into the numerous terraces and piazzas for dinner and drinks, which can last until the early morning hours. 

Cons of Staying in Trastevere

• It’s not particularly central. While you’ll be able to walk to the Centro Storico (particularly the southern end, around Piazza Navona), it’s not walkable to much of the northeastern side of the city (think Spanish Steps and Villa Borghese). 
  
  
• There’s no easy connection from Termini (Rome’s main train station). It’s just not that easy to get there from Termini – we had to take a taxi. 

Recommended Places to Stay in Trastevere

Here are a few places to stay in Trastevere that stand out to us that would make a great home base for your trip to Rome.

Horti 14 Borgo (Boutique – $$$): We’ve stayed here and loved it. It’s on the northern edge of Trastevere, about a 10 minute walk outside of the center of the neighborhood.

It’s a small hotel with just 17 beautifully furnished rooms with modern touches and floor-to-ceiling windows that bring in plenty of natural light.

They also have a terrace on the top floor, where you can enjoy breakfast in the morning or aperitivo in the afternoon.

Another surprise, at least to us, was the incredible spread for breakfast, which is included in the room rate. 

Niki’s Collection (Mid-Range – $$): This place is right in the heart of all the action, in the part of the neighborhood where we’ve seen the most nightlife, which might not be for everyone.

However, it is worth noting that we read tons of reviews to see how many people mentioned noise, and found that we actually saw more people remarking on how quiet it is versus the opposite, which was unexpected to us.

Great location, then, especially if it’s not loud at night!

They also have a nice rooftop where you can enjoy breakfast or a glass of wine with a view out over the city.

Ripagrande a Trastevere (Affordable Guesthouse – $/$$): This is a small, four room guesthouse in Trastevere, but we really like the location here because it is a little removed from the busiest part of the neighborhood (read: loudest), and is right on the river on the eastern edge of the little peninsula that juts out into the river.

Like we said, just four rooms, which means it’s going to be hard to get a room here in the peak months – you’ll need to book well in advance (which is one of our top tips for visiting Rome for first timers).

If you do manage to snag a room here, you’re in for a treat because small guesthouses mean great service!

Numa Trastevere (Aparthotel – $$): If you’re looking for a place to stay with a group in Trastevere that doesn’t involve booking a single hotel room with two double beds (cramped) or two separate rooms (pricey), then your options are fairly limited.

Numa’s location in Trastevere is a great option if you want an aparthotel with the benefits of staying in a hotel – a front desk and things like luggage storage – combined with the benefits of a vacation rental like kitchen facilities and more space.

For what it’s worth, we’ve stayed at Numa locations before (in Spain, for example) and have had positive experiences with them.

They have a second location around the corner – Numa Verso – that would also be an excellent choice. Same idea, same value, just a different building.

The Centro Storico: The Best Area for First Timers

When the sun went down on my first day in Rome almost a decade ago (I’m getting old!) I found myself wandering the narrow streets near Piazza Navona in Rome’s Historic Center during blue hour, that glorious period just after sunset where it’s almost dark, but not completely. 

As I followed the sometimes narrow streets in this part of the city, the streetlights started to come on, and the first thing I noticed was that they are designed to look like torches, invoking the feeling that you’re experiencing the Eternal City in the heyday of Ancient Rome. 

A soft golden light washes over the streets of the Centro Storico, transporting you thousands of years into the past. It’s SUPER romantic. 

Not in a “let’s kiss under the mistletoe” way, more in the sense that you’ll feel immersed in the rich history and culture that Rome has cultivated over the course of many, many years. 

Until, of course, a drunk tourist stumbles out of a bar on Campo de’ Fiori and ruins your vibe, which is a distinct possibility, unfortunately. 

Still, if you’re looking to be immersed in that Rome feeling, then this is the place for you.

Previous iterations of this guide combined the area around Piazza Navona and the Pantheon with the area around Piazza di Spagna and Trevi Fountain, but after this latest stint in Rome I decided that these two areas are actually pretty different, and deserve to be separated. 

We think the Centro Storico is the best area for first time visitors because of the central location, good selection of hotels (some of Rome’s best hotels are here), and, for lack of a better word, the vibes.

And, to be honest, the area around Piazza Navona is our favorite part of the historic center, and it’s not particularly close. 

One of our favorite things to do in Rome – and a staple of our 4 day Rome itinerary – is a walking tour that takes you from one end to the other. 

Here’s a map of what that might look like. 

In addition to some of Rome’s main attractions, there are squares and fountains tucked away within the narrow, lamp-lit streets. It’s one of the best places to wander and get a little lost. 

However, generally speaking (though there are some exceptions, especially the places below), we’d recommend eating elsewhere, because there are a LOT of places with great locations serving very mediocre food at very high prices in this part of the city. 

Pros and Cons of Staying in the Centro Storico

Here are the pros and cons of using Rome’s Centro Storico as a home base for exploring the city as we see them.

Pros of Staying in the Centro Storico

• It doesn’t get more central. You’ll be right in the heart of Rome, walking distance to pretty much anything you want to see. 
  
  
• The most romantic version of Rome. Cobblestone streets. Torchlight ambiance. This is one of the more romantic places to stay. 

Cons of Staying in the Centro Storico

• Where are the locals? If you’re looking for a slice of local life, this ain’t it. You’ll be surrounded by tourists, and you’re probably going to hear the majority of words spoken in languages other than Italian. 
  
  
• It’s pricey. You’re going to pay for the convenience of staying in one of the most central parts of the city. If you’re able to pay for it, it’s a worthy splurge to be able to walk out your front door to the Pantheon or the Spanish Steps. 
  
  
• It can be loud and boisterous. Thousands of tourists pass through each and every day. Especially near the southern end of the neighborhood, namely Campo de’ Fiori, it can be particularly loud and rowdy after dark as many of the bars cater to tourists. 

Recommended Places to Stay in the Centro Storico

Here are a few places to stay near Piazza Navona that stand out to us that would make a great home base for your (first) trip to Rome.

Rome as You Feel Grotta Pinta (Serviced Apartments – $$): We used this place as a home base for part of a trip to Rome, and we could not have been happier with the location, amenities, and basically everything else about these apartments. 

The apartments are tucked away in an old building with a slow elevator (classic) on a quiet street within walking distance of the entire Centro Storico, but Piazza Navona and Campo de’ Fiori in particular are literally a few blocks away. 

The apartments are surprisingly spacious, and they have a range of layouts that can accommodate between one and six people. 

The kitchen, which is part of the reason we look for apartments when we travel, was perfect, and the view from the windows over the rooftops of Rome was a very pleasant scene to look at as I made my morning coffee. 

CitizenM Isola Tiburina (Mid-Range – $$): Look, we LOVE CitizenM hotels, and we have stayed with them all over the world (at the time of writing, in London, Amsterdam, Boston, and Seattle).

Their new hotel in a great location in Rome is no different, and offers one of the best values in the entire city.

Their whole thing is the fact that they have super comfortable bedrooms thoughtfully designed so that you get a great night’s sleep, and inviting common areas where you can work, read, or lounge when you’re not sleeping.

The other thing we like is that all the rooms are the same – no trying to decide between “deluxe” and “super perfect” rooms here.

The location in Rome is great – right on the Tiber, across from Trastevere – and will put you a 5-10 minute walk to two of our favorite parts of the city. The best part? It’s surprisingly affordable.

One note – because the rooms are small and the bathrooms are right in the middle of the room, it’s not a great option for people traveling together who aren’t a couple (or who aren’t very close).

Little Queen Pantheon (Boutique Hotel – $$): A small, charming guesthouse (or bed & breakfast) that is, as you might have guessed from the name, a couple of minutes away from the Pantheon. 

It straddles the budget and mid-range categories, and generally offers a really good value for the location and amenities it offers.

It’s another restored historic building that has been renovated to make the interior more modern and contemporary. 

Choose from standard hotel rooms, which are about average in terms of size at 160 square feet, and junior suites, which have a little more room but are still relatively compact.

Rooms are modern and colorful, and have amenities like Netflix access, A/C, and more.

Monti: Hip, Central, and Walkable

Prior to my (Matt here!) latest trip to Rome this year, we weren’t quite sure how we felt about Monti.

We had spent an evening in Monti eating, drinking, and wandering the cobblestone streets and piazzas packed with people, but we didn’t have a sense for what the neighborhood is all about. 

So, on this latest trip, I decided to spend my time staying in Monti to get a sense of what it would be like to use it as a home base for exploring Rome. 

Turns out, it has just about everything we love in a neighborhood. It’s a great location (more on that in a second) with good transit connections (for Rome, at least) and a cornucopia of places to eat, drink, and shop in a relatively small section of the city. 

We still slightly prefer Trastevere, which scores higher on places to eat, drink, and shop for us, but Monti is a somewhat more convenient location for most people, which might be a consideration for shorter trips. 

Monti is a little slice of the city that forms a triangle, bordered by Piazza Venezia at the western end, the Colosseum and Forum on the southern end, and Termini Station on its northern edge.

It’s hard to argue against the location – when I stayed here on this trip, I walked just about everywhere (including to Termini to catch the Leonardo Express to and from the airport). 

And when something was just a little too far to walk – like the Vatican for my early morning Pristine Sistine tour with Walks of Italy – I was within walking distance of the bus or metro.

Pros and Cons of Staying in Monti

Here are the pros and cons of using Monti as a home base for exploring Rome as we see them.

Pros of Staying in Monti

• It’s central. If you choose to stay in Monti, you’ll be well positioned between the main train station (Termini), the Centro Storico, and the Colosseum and Forum. It’s a convenient location, and it’s well connected via the metro if you need to go elsewhere. 
  
  
• Restaurants and bars galore. Monti, which has made the transition from up-and-coming / hipster to flat out trendy over the past decade, is full of bars and restaurants of all kinds. In particular, look around the Chiesa di Santa Maria ai Monti along via Urbana and the surrounding area for some of the best food and drinks in Rome. 

Cons of Staying in Monti

• It’s pricey. This is a sought-after district, which means there’s plenty of demand to call for higher prices. You’ll be in a hip, convenient location, so be prepared to pay for it. Probably not the best place to stay for budget travelers. 
  
  
• Lots of tourists. Given its proximity to the Colosseum, Forum, and train station, there are going to be a lot of people here. Which is fine, but it’s something you should know going in. 

Recommended Places to Stay in Monti

Here are a few places to stay in Monti that caught our eye (including a place that we stayed at and loved).

Salotto Monti (Mid-Range – $$): This hotel is on the third floor of a nondescript office (ish) building right on Via Nazionale, across the street from the heart of Monti, so it’s a bit removed from the action, but within a five minutes walk of it. Which is exactly where we like to be (we value our sleep).

From the hotel, you’re a 10-15 minute walk from… almost everything. You can walk to the Colosseum and Roman Forum, Piazza Venezia, Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps, and Termini Station. 

And the buses that run down Via Nazionale right in front of the hotel will whisk you off to wherever else you need to go (there’s also a metro stop within a 10 minute walk of the front door). 

The hotel basically takes up most of one floor in the building, and they’ve expanded to include some of the apartments on the lower floors, which is where I stayed.

The best part is probably the rooftop terrace, which overlooks the beautiful Banca d’Italia building across the street, where you can have breakfast in the morning (it does cost extra, though).

I also just hung out on the terrace a couple of times during my trip because it’s a lovely, sunny patio. 

Overall, given the excellent location in the very middle of just about everything you’re going to want to see in Rome, I think this is a great choice.

Condominio Monti (Mid-Range – $$): I stayed here for a night on my most recent trip because, after staying in Monti almost exactly one year prior, I think Monti is an excellent, central location that puts you within walking distance of just about everything in Rome (with the exception of the Vatican, which is a bit far). 

They have a mix of hotel-style rooms that mostly feature a double bed and some variation of seating areas, with rooms ranging from small to spacious, along with single, triple, and quadruple rooms to fit larger groups. 

The most unique part of the hotel is the family rooms, which are bigger rooms with a kitchenette (including a stovetop) and a well-thought out layout to accommodate groups of four. 

Another great aspect is the breakfast, which is served on the terrace on the fifth floor and features a dazzling spread of pastries, fruit, and other breakfast items (it’s served buffet-style). 

They even were nice enough to bring me a basket of gluten free items (from Schar) when I told them I was Celiac and would just be having a banana and espresso (which I happily added nutella and bread to). 

Overall, a good value in a great location in the heart of Monti, though my room on the third floor was plenty quiet and I got a great night of sleep. 

Fifteen Keys (Boutique Hotel – $$$): 15 tastefully designed rooms make this charming hotel a lovely place to base yourself in Monti. 

Unlike the mega hotels that are found just a few blocks away, you’ll get personalized service here, which will make your trip more pleasant by giving you the insider knowledge you can only get from a local that actually cares about your experience in Rome. 

The hotel is located inside a renovated five story building in the heart of Monti.

Rooms are thoughtfully laid out, with everything you’ll need for your trip including a desk (nice to have somewhere to sit other than the bed), USB charging ports, and a kettle for hot water for coffee or tea. 

Breakfast is served in their aptly-named “breakfast room” with floor-to-ceiling windows looking out onto their internal courtyard, or in the courtyard itself when the weather is cooperating (it will be in the summer!).

Prati: A Quieter Alternative Near the Vatican

First of all, when Alysha lived in Rome for six months, she lived in Prati. Prati is the area immediately northeast of Vatican City – which is NOT a part of Rome, it’s a separate country – which makes it a convenient home base for a trip to the Vatican Museums and St. Peter’s Basilica. 

However, that’s not the only thing that Prati has going for it.

It’s a more residential area, and as soon as you get a few blocks from the Vatican you’ll find yourself walking down streets lined with five story high apartment buildings.

While the main street – Cola di Rienzo – is full of stores and commercial real estate, once you get deeper into the neighborhood it gets quieter. 

There are also some great places to eat and drink in Prati, from Venezuelan street food to traditional Italian trattorias.

Pros and Cons of Staying in Prati

Here are the pros and cons of using Prati as a home base for exploring Rome as we see them.

Pros of Staying in Prati

• It’s super convenient for Vatican City. You’ll be within walking distance of the Vatican, so you’ll be able to walk to your early morning Pristine Sistine Tour with Take Walks (a company we love and recommend).
  
  
• It’s connected to Termini with the Metro. Rome’s metro doesn’t go a whole lot of places, but one place it does go is between Termini (Rome’s main station, where you’ll arrive by train from other cities or the airport) and Prati. However, you do have to connect at Termini to get to the Colosseum on the metro. 

Cons of Staying in Prati

• It’s a little out of the way. Similar to Trastevere, which is on the southwestern end of the main city center of Rome, Prati is up on the northwest edge. It’s plenty close to the Centro Storico, but it’s a little bit of a journey down to the Colosseum and Termini (though Termini is connected via the Rome Metro).
  
   
• There aren’t many places to stay. Because it gets a little more residential here, there aren’t nearly as many hotel options. And the proximity to the Vatican means that the ones that do exist are going to be a little pricier than they probably should be.  

Recommended Places to Stay in Prati

Here are some places to stay in Prati that caught our eye. 

Hotel Paolo II (Boutique Hotel – $$): While it isn’t located in the heart of Prati, which is on the northern side of Vatican City, it is in a nice location just off of the southern end of Piazza San Pietro.

The upside is that it’s going to be a little quieter, the downside of the location is that it’s a little further from some of the bars, restaurants, and shopping elsewhere in Prati. 

Rooms here are simple, modern, and relatively compact. You’re not going to have a big seating area and room to spread out, but you will have a nice place to sleep with air-conditioning and comfortable beds. 

Side note: I do enjoy the wall of greenery in their Superior Rooms, and am curious whether or not they’re real plants or not. 

This is a solid mid-range hotel with modern rooms at an affordable price. If you’re okay with a little bit of an extra walk, it would be a great home base for exploring Rome. 

Saint Peter’s Keys (Bed & Breakfast – $/$$): This is a small bed and breakfast on the eastern end of Prati close to the Tiber River. And we do mean small – there are only three rooms here.

Which is generally a good thing, because it’s correlated (in our experience) with better, more personalized service. 

Rooms are about average in terms of size, and there are a couple of common areas, including a dining room with a communal fridge and toaster. A self-service breakfast is included in the room price, as is coffee. 

Rooms are simple and comfortable, and it’s a great value given the central location in Prati (equidistant between the Vatican and the Centro Storico, roughly).

It’s also a couple of blocks from the metro station, which connects you to Termini for your arrival and departure.  

Hotel La Rovere (Mid-Range – $$): This charming hotel is also on the south end of Piazza San Pietro and the Vatican, which, as we explained above, has its pros and cons (quieter, but further out).

We like the location here because it’ll take the same amount of time to walk to either the Vatican, Trastevere, or the Centro Storico. 

It’s a 27 room hotel that has been completely renovated from top to bottom, and the result is an elegant, modern hotel in the heart of one of the city’s oldest areas. 

They have a few different room types, including the deluxe rooms (which, as far as I can tell, are the lowest on the totem pole of room types), rooms with a city view, and rooms that have a private terrace (which would be a perfect place for an afternoon glass of prosecco).

For all of their rooms, you can choose between one double bed, or two twins.

Where to Stay if You’re On a Budget

Look, it’s no secret that hotels around the world have gotten significantly more expensive over the past five years or so.

And Rome was already an expensive city to visit (relative to other Italian cities), so that rise in prices means that prices for hotels can feel a little ridiculous. 

We wanted to put in a dedicated section for our approach to finding places to stay on a tight budget because we don’t think travel should be restricted to only people who can afford luxury hotel prices. 

If you’re on a tight budget, we think you have two high-level approaches to choose from (think of it as a “choose your own adventure” situation); either find a budget option in one of the neighborhoods we’ve outlined, or expand your search to neighborhoods that are a little further out, but have more reasonably priced accommodations. 

Generally, if you take the second approach, you’re trading walkability and convenience for more reasonable prices. Whether that’s worth it to you and your group is a calculation only you can make. 

There are a couple of good budget-friendly options in Trastevere itself, especially if you expand your search just outside the main center of the neighborhood to the south along the river.

Borgo Ripa is a hostel right on the river (but within the main footprint of Trastevere) that has private rooms (with ensuite bathrooms) along with dorms and all the social aspects of hostels like spacious common areas and an onsite bar. 

Lighthouse Suites is another good budget-friendly option that is a 5-10 minute walk south of the main stretch in Trastevere. 

As far as other neighborhoods in Rome to consider, there are two that stand out to us as good budget-friendly options. 

First is the area around Termini. It’s definitely not the sexiest part of town (the area around the main train station in a capital city rarely is), but the thing it has going for it is that there are four excellent boutique hostels nearby. 

Boutique hostels combine the social aspects that we like about staying a hostel – nice common areas and a shared kitchen – with the private rooms of a hotel (we don’t do dorms anymore). 

There are four budget-friendly hostels around Termini, and all would make for a nice home base for exploring Rome on a budget. 

We’ve actually stayed at Rome Hello, a nice hostel a five minute walk from Termini towards Monti, and we would recommend it. Quiet (private) room, lovely communal courtyard, and nice facilities in general. 

The one we’d choose today is the Blue Hostel, which is actually in a pretty nice area near the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore just outside the border of Monti. Nice, spacious rooms (they even have an apartment in the building) and they get stellar reviews. 

The two other options – the Yellow Square (definitely more of a party vibe here) and the Beehive – are on the north side of Termini, which is fine, but nothing exciting. 

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