Heart of Italy Tour

I would prefer a different location, if you were just booking your own stay in Rome without a tour. But that's not a bad location, and by staying there the whole time, you avoid the hassle of changing hotels. So, I'd stay put.

I find it much easier to stay in the same hotel. If you tell them when you make the reservation that you'll be joining the tour, they may give you the tour rate and, most likely, you'll be able to stay in the same room. You'll be changing hotels enough on the tour and this will make your first few days less stressful.

Adding a 3rd endorsement to stay at the tour hotel if they have vacancies. It is so much easier to just get there from the airport and drop your bags once. Otherwise you will waste time moving from the other hotel to the tour hotel on the day the tour begins when you may want to be out sightseeing!

This opinion comes based on NOT booking the tour hotel quickly enough and then when I tried they were fully booked. One member of my party was ill and had to wait for a couple of hours for a room to be turned. The tour hotel was excellent in trying to get her in a room as quickly as they could. Even if she hadn't been ill, checking out, moving ourselves and the luggage, checking in took a bite of a couple of hours out of sightseeing time.

BTW, Heart of Italy is a wonderful tour! So. Much. Fun!

We've taken 5 RS tours and have done both. If starting out in a smaller city we always try to stay at the RS tour hotel. Once in Rome
the hotel was over by the Vatican so we went in 3 nights early and stayed by the Pantheon. The move the day the tour started was quick and easy. It worked for us.

Have you been to Rome before? We had and knew where some of our favorite restaurants are, that's why we stayed in a different area. No right or wrong answer

Have a Great Trip!

kvermedal,

I have done it both ways. It just depends on the location of the hotel for me. If the tour hotel is in the middle of town, then I try stay at that hotel. The tour I am taking this year is my first with RS. I am staying at the tour hotel for this trip.The other tours I have been on were in bigger hotels near the outer fringes of the town. I have a long train ride to my first town so I do want to waste that time on this trip. Enjoy your trip planning. As someone else mentioned, book early so you can get the hotel you want.
Judy

I would recommend another location if you weren't joining a RS tour. But, in this case I would stay at the same hotel to avoid breaking up the day's plans with needing to check into a different hotel and then return at 3pm to meet the tour group - probably lose a couple of hours of time to explore.

From the Vatican neighborhood, you could walk to sites like the Castel Sant' Angelo and the Mercato Trionfale covered market. You'll probably hop a metro or bus to get across the city, but that's not much hardship.