Where to stay in Rome

Rick Steves' guidebooks for Rome and Italy has excellent suggestion via neighborhoods for Rome. We always stay in the Termini for convenience to local transit and have used both Hotel Sonya and Aberdeen in that area. Wife prefers Sonya across from the Opera House because she thinks their lattes are better but -- other than that - both are good hotels. Others will rip on the Termini areas a little but it is mostly personal preference.

We like Hotel Due Torre located near Navonna and short walk to Spanish Steps. The Pantheon is also short walk.There are lots of good restaurants in the area. This hotel includes in the room rate a nice buffet breakfast.

The Termini area is absolutely charmless and is a bit gritty. We once stayed at Aberdeen and had the noisiest room ever.

Do you have a good guidebook or two? Also, when talking prices, it's best to use the local currency (euros, in this case).

Blymath
I’ve stayed at the following hotels and would recommend them to you. Both were listed in RS rome book 2017.
Hotel Museum, near vatican museum https://www.hotelmuseum.it/en/
Nicholas Inn, Monti neighborhood
https://nicolasinn.it/

We stayed one night at Museum Inn and a few nights at Nicholas. Personally, I prefer the Monti neighborhood over the Vatican or Termini locations.

Good luck!

Hotel Due Torri mentioned above has a sister hotel near the Spanish Steps. We've stayed at Hotel Fontanella Borghese a number of times and have always been pleased. It's very nice and the location is great. In addition to being able to walk to The Spanish Steps, you can also walk to the Pantheon, Piazza Nuvona, even Vatican City. The staff is friendly and helpful. We send an email directly with our request for a booking and get an answer in 24 hours or less. Ask for a room overlooking the courtyard as rooms overlooking the side street can get noisy. The web site is www.fontanellaborghese.com.

We like to stay near Pantheon- everywhere is walkable from there but I'm not sure you will find much there in high season under 148€.
We have stayed at Hotel Due Torre for 1 night a few years ago- it was very nice.

We have a 1 night stay in Rome coming up and wanted to be close to Termini for our departure to Tuscany next day- I found this hotel- it's a former convent that overlooks SM Maggiore. In the Monti neighborhood. Haven't been so don't know but it gets good reviews on booking.com. Our rate for 1 night in Sept is 117€ w/bkft- can't get much cheaper and we can walk to Termini and a few sights nearby

https://dnbhotel.com/it/

Go to booking.com- set your filters- price, location, AC, elevator etc. Read the reviews there as they can only be posted by folks who have actually stayed.

We usually rent apartments, but for a short stay have stayed here.

http://www.booking.com/Share-Yz1JMQ

Close to Trastevere, Campo dei Fiori, and the Colosseum.

We loved staying at Smeraldo Hotel. Great central location near Campo de Fiori. Included a terrific buffet breakfast with espresso to order.

Blymath, like some others here, we stayed near Termini, just a block from Santa Maria Maggiore. It's a basic, clean,
well run convent stay (listed in monastery stays) with a decent breakfast. We found several local restaurants nearby, as well as a great gelato stand in the next block. It seemed like the neighborhood was full of locals, which I liked, after being a tourist all day.
Christine H., we stayed there at the end of October 2019. We found it to be a quiet, clean and comfortable stay. The staff were very helpful, and I'd stay there again.
It's on Via Cavour, I did not find it gritty, but just not as touristy as other areas.

https://dnbhotel.com/en/
Have a great trip!

Another vote for Hotel Due Torri. Sister-in-law and I stayed there for four nights in May. http://www.hotelduetorriroma.com/en/

We are booked at Hotel Due Torri in the fall based on recommendations from Forum contributors and Booking.com. Our previous stays were near the Termini. Hotel Due Torri ticks all our boxes for a short stay. It is centrally located to our favorite sights.

...... The Termini area is absolutely charmless and is a bit gritty...... It is Rome, it is Italy, it is in the eye of the beholder. Ya, it is a little gritty but a lot of Europe is gritty. We think the area has a lot of character, good restaurants, nice hotels, and a lot of activity. In the US we associate grittiness with being unsafe. That is not true in Europe and the older cities. We much prefer it to the heavy touristy areas surrounding the Spanish, and other popular tourist sites. Feels more like Rome.

I usually do apartments in the Piazza Navona area but this year I'm trying a hotel. Check out the Best Western Hotel Canada (yep, that's the name). It's near Termini and gets glowing reviews. The pictures are appealing and the prices even more so, which made me a bit nervous so it took me a few weeks before I booked it. If it isn't what they claim . . . well, I don't want to even think about that possibility. :)