Rome accommodation

Hi Kim -
At today's exchange rate your $100 Canadian translates to around 66 euro - which is pretty low for Rome during shoulder season. I plugged random dates of May 21-26 (5 nights) into booking.com (my favorite hotel search site), chose the Pantheon area, and nothing at all came up for that rate.

Your exact dates could make a difference but would you also be willing to look at other neighborhoods for the rate that you'd like to stay under if no one else has a good idea here?

Yes, I realized with your response, that I meant $100/euro per night. I get quite confused on different rental sites, some are in euros, some are in U.S. $$. 66 euros isn't that much, I agree. We are planning to be in Rome May 15-20, then head out to Sorrento for 4 days, then up to Venice/Tuscany. Thanks for your response. I will take a look at booking.com as well. Also, yes, I'd be willing to change neighbourhoods, I am just going by the fact that we've never been there, we don't want to have to bus everywhere (would rather walk to sites) and Rick Steves does recommend the Pantheon area for it's walkability to sites, restaurants, etc.

CAD100=EUR66

I doubt you can find a room at such low price in the historical center near the Pantheon. Maybe a shared room in a hostel (and I don't know if there are any around there).
I think at that price you will be limited to B&B somewhere near the Termini station or maybe in the Prati district. You won't find much under EUR 150 near the Pantheon.
Try to see what you can find using www.Venere.com and www.Booking.com

Maybe a convent stay would be affordable. Check out santasusanna.com

OK, $100 euro will be better but not maybe around the Pantheon. There are many other areas of Rome which are just fine, though, and walkability in May won't be an issue from many locations. The historic center is more compact than you might think, and we've only hopped public transit (metro) a couple of times over our several trips.

Take a look at the booking websites we've suggested and see what you come up with? You can always post a question if you see something you like.

Don't discredit the better hostels either; some have individual private rooms for couples.

The dollar sign is confusing ($). Maybe your keyboard can do a euro sign (€). So it would be 100€.

" ..... a bit out of the 100euro range ...." pdidy, the OP wants to spend $100 CAD, a good deal less than 100 euro. Our Canadian dollar is feeling a bit sickly these days.

Thank you for all your suggestions. Yes, our Cdn. dollar is doing terrible right now. I am realizing that being in the Pantheon area is pricey. Has anyone stayed in a different neighbourhood? Open to anything, we just want to be safe, close to lots of sightseeing, and experience the city.

There are thousands of accommodations listed on Booking.com. And the Pantheon area is quite expensive so you won't find anything for 100 CND $ there. There are a number of properties within walking distance of the Pantheon that are more affordable--even east of the Vatican--but quality rooms in your price range may be difficult to find in the center city unless you're willing to stay in youth hostels around the train station.
I suggest you look on Booking.com, the largest web room site.

I suggest checking monasterystays.com. There are convents and monasteries throughout Rome, so you can probably find one in your neighborhood of interest. You will able to get a double room, typically including breakfast, for less than 100E. They are clean, safe, often in historically interesting buildings, and the sisters/monks are usually very friendly. There may be little/no English, and the room would be very simple, typically without TV or other amenities. They are my preferred lodging.

You could book directly with a convent/monastery to save a few Euro, but booking through monasterystays.com will make it more user friendly for you. That website also does a nice job of describing features of the property (elevator? AC? TV room? etc), things that can be difficult to learn. I typically book directly with the convent by email, but I've done this many times.

FYI, I find that convents/monasteries have some of the properties of hostels (eg, low price, common rooms, easy to meet other travelers), but they are cleaner and quieter than most hostels.

Last May my grandson and I spent four nights at Casa il Rosario, a Dominican convent on Quirinal Hill. Very clean and quiet. 94 € per night for the two of us, breakfast included. Excellent location just above the Forum of Augustus, and an easy walk to the Colosseum, Piazza Venezia, Fontana di Trevi, etc. It's about a 20-minute walk to the Pantheon.

Photos here.

Using $ sign to indicate euro (€) is confusing to those of us who are trying to reply to inquiries.

If you are using an ipad the euro sign is available from the number keyboard after pressing the +*- key.

If you are using a PC with American keyboard to create the Euro sign € simply press the 'Alt' key while you key the number 0128:

Alt+0128

Kim, you did come back and clarify that your budget was 100 EURO per night and not $100 Canadian, right?

Check into airbnb. In Sept 2014 my husband, mother and I had a great apartment with a lovely view of the Colosseum and about a 2 min walk there. We paid about $730 Canadian for 5 nights (including the airbnb fee and a 5% discount for renting for 5 nights) - so that was ~ $145 a night. And this was for a self-contained apartment in a prime location. (It was beautiful too!)

I generally try to stick to under $100 Canadian a night when it's just me and hubby but I had to go a little more since my mom was with us and we needed an additional sleeping area. I had been looking at places in the pantheon area as well that were about $120-150 Can a night for a self contained apartment. And yes - we have to make our dollar stretch! I was hoping to go back to Europe next year, but with our poor exchange rate we are gonna stick to Canada travels.

An apartment is great (if it has a kitchen) because you can pick up some breakfast foods, snacks, and maybe prepare supper a few nights at 'home' (I did when we were in Rome - easy and cheap to pick up some pasta, bread, chicken and whip up a meal for 3 at way less than a restaurant!)

Thanks everyone! Keep the ideas coming! And yes, I would like to stick around the 100 euro/night rate. I've checked airbnb and VRBO, as we would probably enjoy an apartment with a kitchen verses a standard hotel room, and have had some luck, it's just a little "dicey" when there are no reviews for the property or the reviews are there, and you don't know if they are real reviews. Scary!

Kim, just my humble 2 cents but I'd personally never, ever rent a property which didn't have a reasonable number of (legitimate looking) reviews. Too big a risk there so I'd stick with the tried-and-true.

We've never stayed at this one but it has a very high rating, and is in an area we like very much. Prati - while on the upper northern end of the historic center - is more residential and has lots of shops and restaurants along Via Cola Di Rienzo. We stayed near the Lepanto metro station some years back and really enjoyed that location.

This one also has en suite bathrooms, light breakfast included, the rate allows for free cancellation before May 8, and they take major credit cards. Take a look, anyway? $331 US dollars + city tax for 5 nights. Very close to the Vatican and Ottaviano metro station.

http://www.booking.com/hotel/it/b-amp-b-giulio-cesare.html?aid=356980;label=gog235jc-city-XX-it-rome-unspec-us_mn-com-L%3Axu-V%3A0ahUKEwi91Im2pt7JAhWHmx4KHfywA3EQFggdMAA-O%3Aunk-B%3Aunk-N%3AXX-S%3Abo-U%3Ac;sid=abfa17f4678234ba3a2a142846684222;dcid=1;checkin=2016-05-15;checkout=2016-05-20;ucfs=1;room1=A,A;srfid=69453d1b8127ebf66ef468df996d5866b00d3d21X176;highlight_room=

Do pay attention to the added city taxes, OK? Those come as surprise to people who don't read the fine print. They run between 3 and 4 euro per person, per night, and it's usually requested that this extra charge be paid in cash at check-in. Booking.com does a good job of noting what the applicable, non-inclusive tax will be for individual properties.

Thanks for all your suggestions Kathy! Prati is an area I noticed shows up a lot on booking.com. How long of a subway ride would it be from the B & B in that neighbourhood you suggested to, let's say, the Colisseum? Do you know? Just trying to get a feel for how far away it may be.

Kim, we walked to the Colosseum…and everywhere else from that Prati hotel. It wasn't until a later trip that we used the metro/ commuter train a couple of times, and one of those was to go clear out to Torricola on a commuter to hike back into the city on the Appia Antica. As I said earlier, Rome is such a fun place to see on foot that we've ended up using transit very, very little.

To get to the Colosseum by metro you have to change from Line A (which the Ottaviano station is on) to Line B (which the Colloseo station is on) at Termini. It is not difficult at all, and you do it on a single 1.5 euro ticket without ever leaving the station. You may also purchase day or multi-day transit passes.

I'm guessing, oh, a little under 1/2 hour from point to point?
The B&B Iinked above would be west of where we were, and closer to the Vatican. We were just a couple of blocks from the river.

I stayed at Villa Rosa in 2013 and it was a perfectly delightful place. Irish Dominicans, so English was no problem. No curfew (!).. you had your own key. Excellent central location. It's a B&B. Euro50 for single; Euro90 for double; Euro110 for a room with 3 beds. Newly refurbished ensuite bathrooms were clean and snug. Right across the street from a bus stop for 2 major lines. Leisurely 15-minute walk to the Coliseum. I HIGHLY recommend this place.
http://dominicansisters.wix.com/villarosaconventrome

We have used crosspollinate.com for lodging in the cities in Italy. Fall of 2014 we stayed a week in Trastavere neighborhood of Rome and I believe it was about $100 USD. Small kitchen. Simple and not fancy but secure building. We were able to walk everywhere. Went to the Vatican on 3 different days with a 30 minute walk. Good public transportation connections.

Booking.com also lists apartments, you can filter your search. Reviews are sent in by guests within a month of their stay.