Rome hotels and location

A central location will be full of tourists. We frequently stay in the Termini area - Sonya, Aberdeen, Contilla. Since it is at the transit hub - buses and trains -- it is a busy location but handy to everything but the Vatican. It is full of locals and tourists coming and going. I don't know where you could go in central Rome and not be heavy with tourists. Rome is a city full of tourists. You are a tourists. And locals seldom spent eight hours day looking at the old sites.

het teresa
when do you want to plan this trip as in dates, how many people, budget in euros, where have you looked? lots of tourists are looking for the same thing you are.
aloha

I do the same as Frank. I always stay near the Train Station - usually at the Contilla. Location is ideal, very safe for solo walking at night, many good places to eat near by and the big plus is the train station and bus connections very close.
Happy Travels.
PS - I walked from the hotel to the Forum area no problem and interesting things to enjoy along the street ( Gelato !!!)

Personally I liked to stay in the Centro Storico when we traveled there. Tourists? sure! So are you! But the atmosphere for walking around, especially at night, is lovely.

For a slightly more residential area, try Prati, which is the area north of the Vatican and very quiet at night when away from the main commercial streets. Good transit connections to, There’s the Metro, many buses, and a tram that takes you to Villa Borghese.

We liked staying near the Pantheon and Piazza Navona but disliked our hotel experience near tne Spanish Steps.

To qualify this, I haven't been to Rome yet. But I booked Hotel Due Torri for my May pre-tour, based on a few posts here and reviews on Booking.com and Trip Advisor. It is central, and looks to be walking distance to major tourist spots. This will be my first trip to Italy so I am a tourist and there's no reason to pretend otherwise. The other hotel I considered was Hotel Smeraldo.

Thank You all for your responses. I think I may have misspoke in the initial question. I understand I will be among several tourists as I am one myself and look forward to experiencing the whole atmosphere.
I am looking to find a hotel in a location that will be accessible to many sites as well as local venues such as restaurants.
We will be in Rome May 1st-May 3rd 2019. Our upper budget is $250/night but would like to spend much less if possible.
Again Thank You all for your suggestions and help.

We have stayed at Hotel Due Torri several times and found the location to be perfect. It is a short walk to Pantheon and Navona as well as Spanish Steps. It is well run and a great breakfast is included in the room rate. I cannot imagine why anyone would consider the area by the Termini central or convenient.

Several years ago we stayed at the Hotel Diplomatic on the Via Vittoria Colonna. It's on a major bus route, but not walking distance from the train station especially with luggage. Because it's located near government buildings, it's pretty quiet at night but perfectly safe. It's across the river from the Pantheon and the Piazza Navona. We walked almost every night to either Piazza Navona or Piazza del Popolo. It took about 10 minutes. Because of it's location, it's much less expensive than hotels on the other side of the river and you can walk to the Vatican in about 30 minutes. Across the street was the best blackberry gelato I have ever had.

CHeck out Hotel Scalinata di Spagna at the top of the Spanish Steps. Good variety of rooms. Near all major sights. Great hosts.
I stayed there 4 nights in April. Will definitely be back.

Rick

We always stay at Hotel Aberdeen, a couple of blocks from Termini station. It is also close to the Piazza Repubblica Metro, although we generally walk and use the metro occasionally. Some people don't like this area, but we've never found it to be a problem, day or night. Buon viaggio.