First visit to Rome family of 4 ... Day Trip outside the city? Trastevere as home base?

My recent experience in Rome is limited to 4 days in May 2015, and there are many here who can provide more nuanced guidance. However, I stayed in Trastevere myself and think you'll be pleased with that location. I'm a big walker and walked just about everywhere. My one thought, since you'll be visiting in winter, is that areas around rivers sometimes seem windier, which could be more of an issue in the winter, and you'll probably be crossing the Tiber at least twice a day. On the other hand, I went to college in Michigan, so I assume you'll find Rome toasty warm.

I think it's perfectly OK to spend all your time (or at least all your nights) in Rome. There's lots to do there, and you can always head out on a day trip if you want a change of scenery. For that purpose I'd suggest Orvieto, a pretty hill town with a fabulous cathedral. It's just 75 minutes away by train, and the inexpensive regionale only take a few minutes longer than the fast trains. Regionale fares do not increase if you buy tickets on the day of travel, so this is something you could decide to do on the spur of the moment.

I don't think December is a particularly good time for coastal towns, so I don't believe you're missing anything there. Florence, however, is worth considering if you want to split your time between Rome and one other place.

Hi there — my husband and I will be visiting Italy for the first time this April!

I'm afraid I can't help you with your lodging question. My husband gets Holiday Inn points, and for our stay in Rome, we'll be at a Holiday Inn and using the points to get the room for free.

We have the same idea with walking as much as we can (we're in our 30s and work out every day anyway) and also use the public transportation to get around Rome. I would say there are no flaws in your thinking. :-)

I would suggest you venture out and see the coastal cities that you'd like to see. If you already have the concern that you may regret not seeing these areas, it sounds like perhaps you should make sure to add them to your itinerary! I have the same idea about "who knows what the future holds" with travel — so our 9 night/10 day trip in April will include four cities: Venice, Manarola/Cinque Terre, Pisa and Rome. We don't know when we'll be able to go back to Italy, so we're making the most of it while we can!

Trastevere is not a bad location, especially if you plan to attend the Christmas Eve mass at the Vatican as it will be in walking distance. Make sure to fax your request for tickets now is that is your plan. When we stay, we like to be a bit closer to downtown (in the middle of the action) near Piazza Navona. Plenty of VRBO/Air BnB apartments to choose from.

Rome over Christmas is amazing. My favorite is Christmas Day as the city slowly comes alive. Make sure to make lunch and dinner reservations for both the 24th and 25th as many restaurants close and it is very hard to get a table without reservations.

With 9 days, I'd consider a side trip up to Orvieto or maybe even overnight to Florence. FYI, Florence on New years eve is very crowded.

Have a great trip!

I would suggest Ostia Antica and Orvieto as day trips.

Nine nights really means only eight full days. Personally, I'd spend the entire time in Rome and simply day trip to places like Ostia Antica and Orvieto. The reason is simply. You will waste a lot of time (much more than your think) moving between locations. Been to Rome many times and still haven't seen or done it all.

Can't remember if it was Christmas Eve or Christmas Day (probably the former), but I was walking from the Pincio to Piazza del Popolo when the Motorcycle Santa parade went by. Hundreds of motorcycles, with police escorts. Elves rode in the sidecars.

Randifair, Trastevere is a good choice; we based there and walked everywhere, but December may be a different story... Yes, you can fill your days in Rome, no problem, but I would add Florence for an overnight, as you have the time. Definitely worthwhile, and it will add another layer to your cultural adventure. During your stay or after you leave, your daughter should not leave Italy without visiting Venice, for the richness of unparalleled architectural marvels. San Gimignano and Siena are also excellent choices for those with a limited time in the country. Check out Airb&b for your lodging; we've never been disappointed AND you pay in dollars before you go! One less thing to worry about. Happy planning; it's almost my favorite thing of the whole experience.
Martie

Randifair, Trastevere is a good choice; we based there and walked everywhere, but December may be a different story... Yes, you can fill your days in Rome, no problem, but I would add Florence for an overnight, as you have the time. Definitely worthwhile, and it will add another layer to your cultural adventure. During your stay or after you leave, your daughter should not leave Italy without visiting Venice, for the richness of unparalleled architectural marvels. San Gimignano and Siena are also excellent choices for those with a limited time in the country. Check out Airb&b for your lodging; we've never been disappointed AND you pay in dollars before you go! One less thing to worry about. Happy planning; it's almost my favorite thing of the whole experience.
Martie

Thank you ALL for the advice.

Joe Aloha: Great advice on getting lunch AND dinner reservations booked. I wouldn't have thought it necessary to book for lunch both days ... so thank you for including that bit of advice. BTW, we rented 2 houses through VRBO on the Big Island for Christmas 2014. Fantastic experience !! Moved once from Waikoloa to Volcano (?) ... in hindsight, it sure consumed a considerable amount of time just traveling from one point to another. Sleeping in a rainforest very different than sleeping "on the moon" in Waikoloa. ; ) If we arrive midday on Dec 23rd, how soon before we'll be over the jet lag? We are definitely planning on Christmas Eve Mass at the Vatican.

acraven: How long would you estimate the walk from Ponte Sisto to the Coliseum? Ponte Sisto to the St Peter's? Just trying to get a feel for distance ... also trying to understand how difficult it is to cross main thoroughfares. I've read Four Seasons in Rome (twice) and it underscores for me the importance of undivided attention when crossing.

Zoe: Motorcycle Santa? I'll definitely need to check into that !!

Martie: My understanding is her school takes many outings ... I'm sure she will see all of the places you mentioned ... and more. Lucky girl !! The world is a much smaller place than the days when I was in college.

Martie: Please expand on "paying dollars before you go" I am not sure I understand that comment.

AirB&B collects your money at the time you reserve through them (or puts a hold on your credit card for the amount). I don't use Airb&b so I have no recommendation for them.

You can find accommodations on booking websites (I use booking.com a lot), which will almost always take a credit card number to hold the reservation, but no funds will be withheld from your credit card/bank account until you stay there, at which time you pay in local currency (euro). You can pay in advance, but I see no advantage in someone else having the use of my money. Booking.com has a cheaper non-refundable option as well; I prefer the option to cancel free of charge (usually up to a few days before check-in, some places want a week's notice)..

There is no advantage to paying in dollars, since there will be a conversion fee.

I agree with Zoe about payment--why do it ahead of time unless there's a worthwhile discount? And when someone offers you the opportunity to pay in dollars, he probably is trying to pick your pocket by using a conversion rate that is pretty far off the official rate--and not in your favor.

I checked Google Maps for the walking times you asked about, and this is what I found:

• Trastevere end of Ponte Sisto to Colosseo: 1.3 to 1.5 miles, 27 to 29 minutes. The suggested route takes you past the Forum.

• Trastevere end of Ponte Sisto to St. Peter's: 1 miles, 22 minutes.

Assuming those distances are correct, I think the time estimates are reasonable and do not require a forced-march pace.

One thing to keep in mind is that, because of all the hills, Rome isn't the sort of place where you want to navigate solely via a printed map if you're in a hurry. It's fine if you're just wandering around, drinking in the atmosphere, but if you're on the way to a museum and on a bit of a schedule, it would be good to use something like Google Maps to be sure you're not routing yourself across the top of a hill.

Check ahead of time on buses/trams you can get near your lodging that will take you to or near some of the more distant places you plan to see. You'll have than information at your fingertips if you need it (if it is pouring rain or you get an unusually late start one day).

I believe you need to buy your bus/tram tickets ahead of time at a Tabacchi store or stand; I usually just go ahead and buy one ticket in each city (you'd obviously need 4) so I'll have it if I need it and won't have to wander around trying to find a place to buy one. I just accept that the ticket will sometimes not be used. If there's a package of multiple (discounted) tickets that can be shared, that might be a better deal for your group. I'm sorry that I'm not up on the options in Rome; I'm not a heavy user of intra-city transportation.

Edited to add: I didn't find life as a pedestrian especially difficult in Rome in 2015. (Palermo was a more of a challenge.) If you need to cross the street in an area without crosswalks, just be very careful. At least you don't have young children to worry about.

The biggest advantage to paying up front is that you don't have to deal with any exchange rate. All your lodging is paid for before you even get there. This works for us because my husband is very structured and prefers (demands) the certainty of having a bed each night, rather than leaving it to chance. We had a terrible experience with this in France one year and do not want a repeat!

That's fine as long as you understand that you may be paying a 3% or higher penalty for seeing a hotel bill with a dollar sign on it rather than a euro symbol. On a long trip, or if you're staying in fairly expensive hotels, that's not an insignificant amount of money.

I have occasionally prepaid for a hotel room when I was headed for an extended stay in a comparatively high-cost city and could get a discount on a non-refundable reservation. Otherwise, I want to pay on-site and in euros, and I will stand at the hotel counter as long as necessary to be sure the charge goes through in euros or whatever the local currency is. Having had to force the issue, I now always check out the night before my departure so it's not a problem the next morning when I am rushed. I think some hotels try to take advantage of tourists, figuring they're on the way to the train station or airport and won't want to stand around and argue. It's a nice extra profit for them.

Maybe I'm missing something here, but I can't remember a time when I paid in $ for a hotel (or anything else in advance) in a € or £ country. I start planning in my destination country's currency from the beginning.

I always inform my CC provider that I'll be making purchases in country X in that country's currency and have them release the card for a period of time while I do that. It's no different than making those transactions while actually in that country in person.

And it seems to be the cheapest way to do it with my credit union issued credit card.

Lo, I had two incidents in Spain of being presented with a dollar-denominated multi-night hotel charge slip to sign without any prior discussion. I have a chip credit card, but the terminal was not presented to me for the dollars-vs.-euros selection. This also happened at two restaurants, one being in one of the offending hotels. These were sort of budget places, which I realize do not have high profit margins, but fair is fair. If we agreed on a rate of, say, 60 euros a night, I want to pay just a bit over $60 (whatever the current exchange rate is), not around $70.

Back to the OP's question...as an alternative, consider the Prati neighbourhood. It is also very close to the Vatican, and slightly closer to the Colosseum/Piazza Navona etc. I stayed at a wonderful 3 BR apartment this past summer, very close to Castel Sant'Angelo and several bridges. It was surrounded by terrific restaurants and interesting streetscapes. The apartment was San Pietro in Arte. There was a discussion recently here on the same topic as yours, a family of 4 with older teenagers making their first trip to Rome, and lots of posters felt the same about Prati as I do. On the same trip, I spent 3 nights near Campo dei Fiori and 5 nights here in Prati. I preferred Prati by a large margin. I could see St. Peter's out the living room window, the street noise level was much lower, and it was less crowded. Anyway, check it out and see what you think.

The other thread was titled "Rome Neighborhoods – Where to stay? Family of four with two teenage girls" from December.