Hi Planning our first visit to Rome in Jan. 2003. Would appreciate recommendations
regarding a good quality map of Rome and environs.

We prefer lodging away from the main tourist areas and using public transportation.
This works well for places like London and Paris--How is the public transportation in
Rome? Aware that time of day is a factor, is a 1-2 mile bus trip into and out of the
city center reasonable or a commute nightmare?

Thanks much for any input.

Any recommendations for specific hotels or locations for two 50-60 year olds who love
to walk would also be greatly appreciated.

Public transport in Rome is pretty good and getting better. The tube service only has limited lines but is clean, reliable and air-conditioned.

Getting into Rome by anything other than public transport is just about impossible. Tour buses are all but banned from central Rome - and the few they allow in have to book a permit in advance.

Hi:

We just got back from a trip to Rome and the bus/metro system is great. Our hotel was
not real far out of town but not close to anything as far as restaurants, stores,
etc. so we used them several times. You buy your tickets (for us it was at the hotel
but usually at tobacco shops) for .77 euro . They are good for 70 minutes. You can
get on and off all you want for 70 minutes except only one metro ride. When you get
on the bus, you stamp your ticket at a machine. The meter starts then. However, we
noticed the majority of people did not stamp their tickets and looked at us as if we
were stupid to do so. I can't believe they were all "transferring." We never were
sure if we should have stamped our tickets when we transferred busses. Apparently
every once and a while a "bus police" gets on and checks if your ticket is stamped.
If it isn't, then a fine. For 77 cents, I'm not going to deal with Roman justice. The
schedules were easy to understand.

Tucker in Texas

george a irwin wrote:

    > Hi Planning our first visit to Rome in Jan. 2003. Would appreciate recommendations
    > regarding a good quality map of Rome and environs.
    >
    > We prefer lodging away from the main tourist areas and using public transportation.
    > This works well for places like London and Paris--How is the public transportation
    > in Rome? Aware that time of day is a factor, is a 1-2 mile bus trip into and out of
    > the city center reasonable or a commute nightmare?
    >
    > Thanks much for any input.
    >
    > Any recommendations for specific hotels or locations for two 50-60 year olds who
    > love to walk would also be greatly appreciated.

I was in Rome during the 4th of July week, for the first time I might add, and their
public transportation was great, both the underground and the bus system. I
personally preferred to travel by bus because you get to see a lot more compared to
the metro where all you see are underground tunnels and billboards.

As for the ticket, I bought a weekly pass valid for all buses and metros in Rome and
it cost about 12Euro. I had to validate it once, the first time I used it and did not
have to worry about it after that, just making sure that I carried it all the time.
As people have mentioned, it's mostly an "honor system", though you have to pay a
fine of I believe 50Euro if you get caught by the ticket-control folks. In my whole
week in Rome, I never got checked once nor did I see anyone get checked.

By the way, I get a kick out of these people who are so determined to get every
penny's worth that they try to calculate if they will get their money's worth if
they buy a weekly pass. I payed 12Euro for the weekly pass and maybe I only used say
10 Euros worth. Are we gonna be concerned about 2Euros? Are we travelling to all
these exotic destinations only to "penny pinch". Wait till you get home to watch
every penny.

Anyway, the weekly pass is called Carta Integrata Settimanale and can be bought in
any tobacco shop. If you're gonna be there for a week, I think this is the way to go
regardless of how many times you think you will use public transport. Just the
convenience of validating once when you first use it and not having to worry after
that is great. One less thing to worry about.

As for hotel, I booked one via www.expedia.com. Hotel Olympic in the Prati/Vatican
area. It's about 6 blocks from St Peters Square and 15 minutes walk to Piazza Navona.
I got it for $70 per night for a single. The hotel is isolated enough and on a quiet
street, but close enough to all the sites and to public transport. It included
breakfast and the room was clean, though on the smallish side.

Have a great time in Rome.

"george a irwin" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > Hi Planning our first visit to Rome in Jan. 2003. Would appreciate recommendations
    > regarding a good quality map of Rome and environs.
    >
    > We prefer lodging away from the main tourist areas and using public transportation.
    > This works well for places like London and Paris--How is the public transportation
    > in Rome? Aware that time of day is a factor,
is
    > a 1-2 mile bus trip into and out of the city center reasonable or a
commute
    > nightmare?
    >
    > Thanks much for any input.
    >
    > Any recommendations for specific hotels or locations for two 50-60 year
olds
    > who love to walk would also be greatly appreciated.

george a irwin <[email protected]> wrote:

    > Planning our first visit to Rome in Jan. 2003. Would
appreciate
    > recommendations regarding a good quality map of Rome and
environs.

There are excellent maps available at every news stand. Ask for "una nuova pianta di
Roma." These are usually large (roughly 2 ft. sq.) maps that fold into a small
pocket-sized bundle. Because of the constant folding and unfolding, I find these
never last long, and I buy a new one on almost every trip (I've been there about a
dozen times).

I think it will be much harder to find a good one before you get there.

    > We prefer lodging away from the main tourist areas and using
public
    > transportation. This works well for places like London and
Paris--

That's exactly the opposite of my preference, whether it's London, Paris, Rome, or
anywhere else. If I have small amount of time on vacation to spend in a place like
Rome, I don't want to waste any of it commuting. I don't say that to attempt to talk
you out of your preferences, but to explain why I will be of no help regarding things
like hotel recommendations.

    > How is the public transportation in Rome? Aware that time of
day is
    > a factor, is a 1-2 mile bus trip into and out of the city
center
    > reasonable or a commute nightmare?

Traffic in Rome can be very heavy. You might prefer to be somewhere close to one of
the subway lines and use that for commuting.

--
Ken Blake Please reply to the newsgroup

    > Thanks much for any input.
    >
    > Any recommendations for specific hotels or locations for two
50-60
    > year olds who love to walk would also be greatly appreciated.

Richard Whitlock wrote:
    >
... When you get on the bus, you stamp your ticket at a
    > machine. The meter starts then. However, we noticed the majority of people did not
    > stamp their tickets and looked at us as if we were stupid to do so. I can't believe
    > they were all "transferring." We never were sure if we should have stamped our
    > tickets when we transferred busses. Apparently every once and a while a "bus
    > police" gets on and checks if your ticket is stamped. If it isn't, then a fine. For
    > 77 cents, I'm not going to deal with Roman justice.

The majority of Romans have transport passes which don't need to be stamped. Tickets
only need to be stamped when they are first used, and are good for 75 minutes. Many
tourists buy a daily ticket, which looks like an ordinary ticket, but only needs to
be stamped the first time you use it. If you will make more than four trips a day
(two round trips), a daily ticket will save you money. There is also a weekly ticket
which costs the same as four daily tickets. This also is stamped only the first time
you use it.

With the normal ticket, whether or not you transfer is irrelevant. The normal ticket
is good for either the bus or metro. You can make as many trips as you want in any
direction within the 75-minute limit. The daily and weekly tickets are also good for
the commuter trains.

So probably the people you saw who weren't stamping tickets were people who either
had commuter passes, who had a daily or weekly ticket, or who had a normal ticket
they had already stamped.

Barbara

On Mon, 22 Jul 2002 09:26:52 -0500, Richard Whitlock <[email protected]> wrote:

    >Hi:
    >
    >We just got back from a trip to Rome and the bus/metro system is great. Our hotel
    >was not real far out of town but not close to anything as far as restaurants,
    >stores, etc. so we used them several times. You buy your tickets (for us it was at
    >the hotel but usually at tobacco shops) for .77 euro .

snip

The
    >schedules were easy to understand.
    >
Where did you obtain the schedules? Are bus maps available also and where?

I spent a very few days in Rome some years ago, and since we changed out plans
midroute, deciding to go to Rome rather than Venice on that trip, I did not have
guide book pages for Rome. Therefore I did not know where one bought bus tickets.
After much frustration, my granddaughter and I finally boarded a bus that very, very
crowded and wanted to pay on board. We could not even move, so we just stayed on the
bus until we reached the area we wanted and got off without paying. I would not want
to repeat this Next trip I do want to be able to use the buses, but need to know
where they are going.

In article <[email protected]>, "CB" <[email protected]> wrote:

    > I was in Rome during the 4th of July week, for the first time I might add, and
    > their public transportation was great, both the underground and the bus system. I
    > personally preferred to travel by bus because you get to see a lot more compared to
    > the metro where all you see are underground tunnels and billboards.
    >
    > As for the ticket, I bought a weekly pass valid for all buses and metros in Rome
    > and it cost about 12Euro. I had to validate it once, the first time I used it and
    > did not have to worry about it after that, just making sure that I carried it all
    > the time. As people have mentioned, it's mostly an "honor system", though you have
    > to pay a fine of I believe 50Euro if you get caught by the ticket-control folks. In
    > my whole week in Rome, I never got checked once nor did I see anyone get checked.

in our week in Rome in May we saw ticket checks 3 times in Rome and once on the
Circumvesuviana [which we used 4 times]
    >
    > By the way, I get a kick out of these people who are so determined to get every
    > penny's worth that they try to calculate if they will get their money's worth if
    > they buy a weekly pass. I payed 12Euro for the weekly pass and maybe I only used
    > say 10 Euros worth. Are we gonna be concerned about 2Euros? Are we travelling to
    > all these exotic destinations only to "penny pinch". Wait till you get home to
    > watch every penny.
    >
    > Anyway, the weekly pass is called Carta Integrata Settimanale and can be bought in
    > any tobacco shop. If you're gonna be there for a week, I think this is the way to
    > go regardless of how many times you think you will use public transport. Just the
    > convenience of validating once when you first use it and not having to worry after
    > that is great. One less thing to worry about.
    >
    > As for hotel, I booked one via www.expedia.com. Hotel Olympic in the Prati/Vatican
    > area. It's about 6 blocks from St Peters Square and 15 minutes walk to Piazza
    > Navona. I got it for $70 per night for a single. The hotel is isolated enough and
    > on a quiet street, but close enough to all the sites and to public transport. It
    > included breakfast and the room was clean, though on the smallish side.
    >
    > Have a great time in Rome.
    >
    >
    > "george a irwin" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    > news:[email protected]...
    > > Hi Planning our first visit to Rome in Jan. 2003. Would appreciate
    > > recommendations regarding a good quality map of Rome and environs.
    > >
    > > We prefer lodging away from the main tourist areas and using public
    > > transportation. This works well for places like London and Paris--How is the
    > > public transportation in Rome? Aware that time of day is a factor,
    > is
    > > a 1-2 mile bus trip into and out of the city center reasonable or a
    > commute
    > > nightmare?
    > >
    > > Thanks much for any input.
    > >
    > > Any recommendations for specific hotels or locations for two 50-60 year
    > olds
    > > who love to walk would also be greatly appreciated.
    > >
    > >

In article <[email protected]>, Rita
<[email protected]> wrote:

    > On Mon, 22 Jul 2002 09:26:52 -0500, Richard Whitlock <[email protected]> wrote:
    >
    > >Hi:
    > >
    > >We just got back from a trip to Rome and the bus/metro system is great. Our hotel
    > >was not real far out of town but not close to anything as far as restaurants,
    > >stores, etc. so we used them several times. You buy your tickets (for us it was at
    > >the hotel but usually at tobacco shops) for .77 euro .
    >
    > snip
    >
    > The
    > >schedules were easy to understand.
    > >
    > Where did you obtain the schedules? Are bus maps available also and where?

bus maps are available at the main bus kiosk at Termini

tickets are of course available at Tabak shops
    >
    > I spent a very few days in Rome some years ago, and since we changed out plans
    > midroute, deciding to go to Rome rather than Venice on that trip, I did not have
    > guide book pages for Rome. Therefore I did not know where one bought bus tickets.

I am sort of stunned that this is the sort of thing a traveler couldn't find out in
about 10 minutes

After
    > much frustration, my granddaughter and I finally boarded a bus that very, very
    > crowded and wanted to pay on board. We could not even move, so we just stayed on
    > the bus until we reached the area we wanted and got off without paying. I would not
    > want to repeat this Next trip I do want to be able to use the buses, but need to
    > know where they are going.

we didn't have a map but simply found out by asking about main buses near our
apartment and their routes

george a irwin <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > Hi Planning our first visit to Rome in Jan. 2003. Would appreciate recommendations
    > regarding a good quality map of Rome and environs.
    >
    > We prefer lodging away from the main tourist areas and using public transportation.
    > This works well for places like London and Paris--How is the public transportation
    > in Rome? Aware that time of day is a factor,
is
    > a 1-2 mile bus trip into and out of the city center reasonable or a
commute
    > nightmare?
    >
    > Thanks much for any input.
    >
    > Any recommendations for specific hotels or locations for two 50-60 year
olds
    > who love to walk would also be greatly appreciated.
    >
The Freedmans at their Travelzine site recommend the Hotel delle Muse which could
meet your requirements. You can see their comments at
http://www.thetravelzine.com/rome0301_1.htm . There's a link to the hotel's site
there too. I don't have any personal knowledge of the hotel, but know the
neighborhood to be very nice. Having said that, I would really recommend staying in
central Rome somewhere near the Piazza Navona or Campo de'Fiori. Public
transportation is fine, but walking is much more interesting. Buon viaggio! GG

Consider http://www.htlsantamaria.com/ Used it in March 2002 and found in
comfortable, reasonably priced, in a nice area, lots of restaurants, 30 minutes walk
to the Coliseum/Forum, slightly more over the hill behind to the Vatican (nice views
en route).

Thanks Richard, A follow-up, if you were going to Rome next week in what area would
you stay? Thanks

Richard Whitlock <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:4D40AFC9BE471B2D.14CE3171B8EA40...lp.airnews.net...
    > Hi:
    >
    > We just got back from a trip to Rome and the bus/metro system is great.
Our
    > hotel was not real far out of town but not close to anything as far as restaurants,
    > stores, etc. so we used them several times. You buy your
tickets

On Mon, 22 Jul 2002 18:15:43 GMT, "GG" <[email protected]> wrote:

    >Having said that, I would really recommend staying in central Rome somewhere near
    >the Piazza Navona or Campo de'Fiori. Public transportation is fine, but walking is
    >much more interesting. Buon viaggio! GG
    >
If one stayed in the Termini area -- where the less expensive hotels are located, is
there good and quick public transport to areas such as you mention above?

I know some areas around the station are considered not too safe, but there is an
area I stayed in years ago that is said to be greatly improved, even gentrified a
bit, and I had a perfectly acceptable hotel there at the time. But I was not in Rome
long enough that time around to figure out transport options, other than the Metro to
the Vatican. I am rethinking visiting Rome again at a more leisurely pace. I walked a
bit in this area three years ago when I had several hours to kill in Rome waiting for
a night train to Paris. It is the area north/west of Termini.

george a irwin <[email protected]> wrote:

    > Thanks Richard, A follow-up, if you were going to Rome next week in what area
would
    > you stay?

I'm not Richard, but I'll throw in my two cents. I like staying around the
Campo de Fiori.

--
Ken Blake Please reply to the newsgroup

On Mon, 22 Jul 2002 08:33:02 -0400, "george a irwin" <[email protected]> wrote:

    >Hi Planning our first visit to Rome in Jan. 2003. Would appreciate recommendations
    >regarding a good quality map of Rome and environs.

You'll have no trouble getting one in a bookstore downtown once you're there. I don't
remember the brand name, but look for one that shows all the streets and has an
alphabetical index of them all.

    >We prefer lodging away from the main tourist areas and using public transportation.

Then you should get a map that shows all the metro stops and, more importantly, the
bus routes (Rome buses are ATAC and the metro [subway] is ACOTRAL).

You could try looking at the maps and other information (in Italian) on this site,
though I think you'll find better maps on paper when you get to Rome:

http://www.atac.roma.it/

    > This works well for places like London and Paris--How is the public transportation
    > in Rome?

I found the buses fine.

    > Aware that time of day is a factor, is a 1-2 mile bus trip into and out of the
    > city center reasonable or a commute nightmare?

Probably reasonable, though I can't be held responsible for any particularly
nightmarish rush-hour traffic. I will say that I stayed twice right in the heart of
the Centro Storico (Via Arenula near Largo Argentina one time, Piazza Pantaleo right
off Piazza Navona another) and found that the buses moved throughout the day,
including during rush hour, and weren't stuck in motionless traffic. I guess it's
conceivable (though dubious) that I was just lucky.

Michael

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