I guess it mainly depends on your budget.

You should probably make sure that you will have a hotel close to a bus or train station. Good areas to stay in include:

Piazza di Spagna (central location)

Termini (a little farther away, you will have to take public transport)

What kind of hotel are you looking for? 

Hi Amy

I saw your post....I wouldn't worry about staying by Termini rail station. It is not as bad as it sounds. Especially if you are there with another person. The reason is that it is so convenient to everything.

But you can also stay in other parts of town like Piazza Spagna, Piazza Navona.

A little further away, you can stay by the Vatican, or Trastevere has some nice hotels.

Check out my article on Rome, posted on this site

http://www.opentravelinfo.com/travel_guide/europe/italy/rome_a_recommended_3_day_itinerary

If you have any questions, just reply back to this thread.

Thanks
Larry

In my experience you can find cheap hotels in Rome around Termini but also closer towards the historical center. I have stayed at the king hotel once. This is a three-star hotel, with roof terrace for breakfast, 1 minute fromt the Spanish Steps. The hotel is very clean and acceptable in price, I went their around easter two years ago and that's the high season in the capital of Italy. I did spent far less a 100 Euro for a double sharing with my Ex-girl friend. Within 7 days of our vacation and sightseeing we did not use the Metro once, from Piazza to Piazza if felt like 20 min walk to the Piazza Navona, the Vatican City and S. Pietro Cathedral . Have a read on tourist attractions in Rome and find your hotel next to those that are important to you. It is priceless to have the opportunity to go home to your hotel room for short break or nap and then carry on with your sightseeing tours.

Enjoy your stay!

Tom

Hi,

 When I went to rome, we didn't actually stay in the city we stayed right outside because we were mostly women and felt safer staying on the outskirts of the city. I guess it depends on how many people you will be traveling with and if they are male or female, from what I understand your traveling with one male? Also it is very expensive to stay in the city so i'm not sure what your budget is. Good Luck and I hope I was of some help.

I stayed a couple of blocks away from the train station itself.  That was long ago, before I became a budget traveler, so it wasn't cheap.  What I remember is that it was incredibly convenient.  I didn't walk around much at night, because I was alone.  The clerk at the front desk sent me to a family style restaurant in the basement of a building across the circle.  It was cheap, and I ate there every night before collapsing in my room from all the walking I did.

The lack of cheap hotels in Rome

Hi Cindy,

I appreciate you comment very much because it shows one more time that terminology is one thing and the interpretation of that same term another. Based on your personal experiences and perspectives a cheap hotel for one traveller might not be a cheap hotel for another even lower budget traveller. So what does CHEAP mean, well it means something different for different people.

I def. agree that the area around Termini is not that cheap in supply of hotel accommodation neither, nor the rest of the central city. But the selection around Termini might be a bit higher because there are no monuments around taking lots of space etc. So its not that cheap but the probabililty finding a little cheaper place to stay or a so called "budget hotel" is higher than in the imenent historical centre

- refered as to "centro historico".

enjoy your Rome trip - Tom

I like the term "affordable". Cheap sounds really, well cheap. Affordable sounds like a deal.

I usually try to find a good deal. Sometimes I don't mind paying more for a hotel, especially if I am planning to stay a few days. If I am on the road and just looking for some place to stay between midnight and 8am I usually don't give a damn about the hotel and I go for cheap. 

Andre

Travel Photos 

Cheap.  I like the term cheap, because 'affordable' can mean hundreds of dollars a night.  Or eighty.  On two of my last three trips to Europe, I stayed in dorm rooms in hostels, along with all the American college kids.  I will give up a lot to have money to spend on other things.  I'm usually asleep or in the shower when I'm in my room, so I don't care much about what it is like.

I couldn't agree more, but I absolutely do require clean sheets and a clean bathroom. I don't care about anything else, but the room needs to be clean. 

Well, I've stayed in some grubby places when the price differential was huge.  I've always been given clean sheets (or sheet - top sheets aren't common in some places) and even in the grubby places, the parts I actually touch are clean.  It's just the corners and the fact that everything is worn.

 Ususally what I'm giving up to be cheap are what I think of as amenities.  Air-conditioning, cable, TV, phone, top sheets, towels, soap, daily cleaning, furniture in addition to the bed, hot showers when the low for the night is 84F (30C), or the privace of my own bathroom and even my own room. 

http://twincities.altervista.org

well i'm francesco nice to meet you men!

i totally agree with the book about not to stay near by termini in rome unless you dont walk back home late at night. it is a very central in rome but there're very many different kind of people as there're in every big city.

So try to go near by Saint Paul Basilica or the Vatican area that are really good even Vatican is about expensive though it is worht it.

...personally i wont pay that much for 2,3 or more days when a vatican tour last just one morning.

see the above web site if there is something interesting for you guy!

hi from Rome

Hi there,

I am sort of an expert in cheap hotels and hostels in Rome. I have lived and worked in four of the 24 hostels in Rome. And there is 100 and something budget hotels and bed and breakfast private rooms etc ... I have the top hostels on one site www.cheaphotelsinrome.com and several budget hotels, from 50 to 100 Euros a night. I have been staying or friends have been staying in most of them over the two years I lived there in Rome.

If you need more infos just ask me.

Tom