My 13 year old grandson and I will be in Rome for 9 days over Easter. We wanted to stay in a convent, but they were all booked. I found a B&B that had a vacancy for the time we will be there and I'm a little worried that it may not be as nice as we would like it to be. Are any of you familiar with Carolina B&B, Via della Stazione di San Pietro? It's on the St. Peter's side of the Tiber. I think the pictures on the internet may be deceiving. Also, it looks like it's a lot further away from St. Peter's than it appeared to be on the internet. Because of the Easter season, all the hotels and B&B's seem to have quadrupled their rates. I appreciate any help you can give me. Thanks.
Posted by
US Pacific Northwest
10344 posts
Hi Bonnie: Yes, I'm not surprised the convents in Rome are booked solid for Easter. I can't help much since I haven't stayed there. But I did go to the website and it looked okay to me and looked not that far from St Peters--but it's your expectations that matter and I don't know what your expectations are. Easter is a pretty busy time in Rome, for obvious reasons; and therefore you may have to take what you can get that is at all in your price and minimal quality range or settle for less quality and a farther distance from St Peters, or accept paying a lot more for what few vacancies are left. Possibly if you move your search farther away from St Peters, you will get more vacancies? And hopefully somebody else can help you more than I have been able to.
Posted by
Seattle, WA, USA
7737 posts
I went to venere.com and unless they're lying about the location (which they wouldn't do) it's very close to St. Peter's, like 500 yards. Plus you'll be right by one of the two Metro Stops for the Vatican. What makes you think it's farther away than you had thought? (I use Google Earth to get distances. Very handy.)
It also got a very high rating on venere.com (as you probably know).
Posted by
OP
Antioch, USA
17 posts
Thanks you guys. I did check their rating on venere and that's what actually convinced me to go ahead and book a reservation there. You saw the same thing I did on-line, that it's very close to the Vatican. However, on other maps I've looked at, it looks like it's actually several blocks away. I just want my grandson's first visit to Rome to be special, since he's been asking me to take him there since he was 5 yrs. old. I should have realized that everything would be booked up way in advance because of the Easter holiday. Unfortunately, I wasn't aware that Easter would occur during his spring break, since Easter is so early this year.
I've not stayed on that side of the Tiber in my other visits, but,if the B&B is as close to the Vatican as they claim, all buses lead to St. Peter's Square, so getting around shouldn't be a problem.
Do any of you know if there are any tickets available that cover more than one museum, or bus/train/Metro tickets discounted for seniors/students? Grazie
Posted by
Atlanta, GA, USA
87 posts
Have you tried booking through www.nibiru.it? I enquired with them earlier this year about a particular convent and when it wasn't available they automatically reserved me space in a different (and better!) one subsequent to my approval. Stazione di San Pietro should only be a few blocks from the Vatican--about 300 meters, maybe?
Posted by
Land of La
9222 posts
Bonnie you obviously have a computer.
So use: http://maps.google.com/
If you have the exact address of the B & B type it in and when the pic comes up hit the satellite box, then zoom in (the + ) on the left side and lo and behold you'll see exactly how close the B&B is to St. Peter's Square. I used this wonderful tool for all my travels. When I visited Rome it helped me understand how close everything was to the apartment I rented. Perfection.
Posted by
OP
Antioch, USA
17 posts
Thanks to all of you. Kim, I'm going to make sure I save that web site in my Bookmarks for future reference. It's too late now, since I've already sent a 2 night deposit to the Carolina B&B.
I have used Google's satellite maps in the past, and used it to locate the B&B near St. Peter's. That was one of the reasons why I thought it was farther away from the Vatican than stated on the web site. It looked a lot farther away on the Google map.
I'll let you all know what I think of the Carolina B&B when I return from Rome. Ciao!
Posted by
OP
Antioch, USA
17 posts
As promised in my last post before leaving for Rome in late March, here is additional information regarding the Carolina B&B at Via della Stazione di San Pietro, 34. It was wonderful!!! It was only a 5 minute or less walk from St. Peter's, and our view from the front gate of the B&B was the awesome dome of St. Peter's Basilica. Giovanni, the owner, couldn't have been nicer, friendlier, or more helpful to us. My grandson and I stayed in the Yellow Room, with a private bath. The B&B was kept very clean and the kitchen, open to guests 24/7, was very well stocked. There was a cooktop, oven and refrigerator in the kitchen, along with dishes, silverware, glassware, cooking utensils, etc., in case you would want to save $$ by cooking some of your own meals. I was so impressed with the Carolina B&B that I emailed Rick Steves and suggested to him that he may want to check it out the next time he is in Rome. I wouldn't hesitate to stay there again.
Bonnie