Rome and the Vatican

Loads of suggestions and recommendations on this board about places to stay. Peruse the To The Boot section as well as the search engine. Why have you chosen to go to Rome? Only to see the Vatican. Provide a little more insight and you'll get a wider range of responses.

mostly to see the Vatican but have allotted 4 days for the area

We stayed at the River Palace Hotel in Rome, in August, 2011. It was a great hotel and convenient to many sites. The hotel even made arrangements for a taxi to pick us up and return us to the airport. We could walk to the Fountain of Trevi, the Spanish Steps, the Victor Emanuel Monument, the Pantheon, etc. The hotel has a front lobby where you can use their two free computers. Otherwise you can sit in the larger regular lobby in the hotel. Our breakfast was included in our price. We booked direcftly with the hotel website.

olivetreehill.com is the #1 rated bed and breakfast in Rome area, but it's 30 minutes south by train. If you want to be in the center of things, look into B&B Heroics in Rick Steve's Graffiti section. Some names should show up. Great websites for Roman rooms are BBPlanet.com, AirBnB.com, Booking.com and Venere.com. Big European cities are relatively expensive places to stay. You could stay in the Rome area 2 weeks and never run out of things to see and do. Many say a 4 night minimum stay is needed to hit the high points. ROME SIGHTS: The Pantheon The Vatican--colonnades of St. Peter's Square, St. Peter's Basilica, and Michelangelo's Sistine Ceiling. The Colosseum Piazza Navona--Fountain of the Four Rivers and Borromini's super-theatrical Sant'Agnese Roman Forum The Campidoglio Trevi Fountain The Spanish Steps Castel Sant'Angelo
Trastevere oldest church of Rome--Santa Maria