Best area to stay in Rome and Florence?

Question

My boyfriend and I, 20 yrs old, will be traveling through Rome and Florence and would like to know where the best area is to stay in. I have heard a lot of Termini being a bit seedy and not having any charm. I don't know anything about either places and for Rome I have a list of areas from the Tripadvisor.com website. Could someone give me an order of best places to be close to everything. Thank you so much. The places are: Apia Antica, EUR, Garbatella, Historic Center, Lido de Ostia, Monte Mario, Ostiense, Nomentano, Parioli/Pinciano, Prati/Trionfale, Prenestina, Roma Tuscolano, Tor di Quinto, Tor san Giovanni, Trastevere/Aventine, Vatican City. Thanks so much because I am completely lost as to where to stay. And if I do stay somewhere not in the center to save money, is the metro fairly inexpensive like the rest of Europe?

Answer 1

In Roma, near Vatican City is nice... with good links to the rest of the city, but expensive. The metro is cheap, but there are only two lines.

Personally I'd suggest you stay at either the Alice in Wonderland b & b, or the Funny Palace Hostel () or the Gulliver's House-Globtrotters. All three are right in the historical center of Rome, and highly rated, very comfortable, and clean places, tho for a couple, perhaps Alice In Wonderland b & b is best all round. It's located in the historical center on the stunning Via Appia near the San Giovanni Cathedral and just a short stroll from the Colosseum and all major historical monuments

In Florence, I stayed at Ostello Gallo D'Oro (best I've ever stayed at and I've stayed in hostels all over the world - and it's just because of the wonderful people who run it, Sylvie and Massimo) and that was 5 minutes walk from the Duomo, and 2 minutes walk from the Academia (where Michelangelo's masterwork, David is)

When in Florence, I highly recommend a Walking Tour tour of the city's renaissance heritage... it was brilliant and well worth it.

Also, if you can, take a day trip by car or train to Siena, it's worth it believe me - the Duomo is far better than the one in Florence (on the inside at least)

In Roma, I recommend a tour by Romerevealed.com or enjoyrome.com of the Vatican City Museums, and St Peters Basilica to get the most out of what you're looking at...

Happy Trails

Philip

Answer 2

I think you have already received some good advice. But what i would add is that you should compare the hostel prices and the hotels side by side.

Hostels are usually per person [ check the listings below on the provided links ], hotels usually have added facilities and are better located saving you time and money. You may then find there is little in it.

You can sort the options by price, location, star rating, last minute or year round here, with images, photos and maps to help you.

Rome:http://www.cheaperthanhotels.com/Italy/R...

Florence:http://www.cheaperthanhotels.com/Italy/F...

Italian Site:

Rome:http://www.cheaperthanhotels.com/Italy/R...

Florence:http://www.hotelsitaliano.com/Italy/Flor...

The City area is best for Florence and the Spanish Steps:

http://www.cheaperthanhotels.com/Italy/R...

http://www.hotelsitaliano.com/Italy/Rome...

is a great tourist area to be in Rome, close to most of the features you mention. Hope this helps