Hi - I was lucky enough to secure family rooms/suites for 7 nights for my family of 4 (2 adults, 2 teenage daughters) for both the Hotel Smeraldo and the Relais le Clarisse in Trastevere from Dec 29 - Jan 5. Does any one have recommendations on which might be better for this age group and time of year. Any advice from folks who have stayed in these room types or during this time of year would be greatly appreciated,
Thank you!
I can’t comment on your type of room. I can say I really enjoyed the location of Hotel Smeraldo.
We've stayed at Hotel Smeraldo and found the location to be very convenient for getting everywhere in Rome by foot and there are lots of good places to eat in the neighborhood. It's our favorite hotel in Rome, and the staff is helpful and friendly.
In addition to Hotel Smerlado's central location, and how DELIGHTFUL the staff, I think it will be easier to deal with over NYE than getting into and out of Trastevere. Rome will be jammed, I mean really, really crowded. Advanced planning on what you want to see, places to eat nearby, etc. would be a good idea. And the hotel arranged a car pickup service, which cost very little more than a regular taxi.
We stayed there over NYE 2024, there are a few nearby restaurants in my TR here. As well as some smaller, less crowded but delightful museums. https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/rome-was-jammed-over-ny-but-still-fun. Have a great trip!
My wife & both of our early 20's children stayed there last September. Great location. We were able to walk to numerous attractions within minutes. There is a great little bakery/food shop directly across the street from hotel which was excellent.
We all enjoyed our 2 day stay there before heading to Manarola in Cinque Terre.
Enjoy!!
We stayed at Relais le Clarisse in Trastevere in 2019 and enjoyed it enough to rebook for our upcoming stay in October later this year. We liked the location in Trastevere but also the proximity to cross the Tiber and tour in the city with a short walk. We also really enjoyed Trastevere itself with it's many shops, restaurants, bars and just overall vitality. The hotel itself is quite simple and I think it will depend on how many amenities you are expecting. We enjoyed the simplicity of the check-in, the courtyard open for all to enjoy and the really dependable breakfast option to get our day off to a good start. If your teenage daughters are young teens it may not have the right ''vibe'' but if they are older, they would probably love the ''vibe'' of Trastevere. We are an older couple so that wasn't so important for us, but as our generation would say, 'it is a happenin' place'. At Le Clarisse, you might want to read up on the room availability and try to book in the main building. I seem to recall issues for some folks who booked in the 'annex.' I cannot comment on Hotel Smeraldo.
Hotel Smeraldo has a great breakfast so your kids can go down on their own. And it is right in the middle of a whole bunch of cute shops and gelato stores. I loved it when I stayed there. Also excellent service!
