Rome

[Stuck in a rut!]

Just had a quick read through a couple of threads for Rome and found some interesting stuff but am after particular places to eat and drink. Can anyone recommend resturants and bars for the evening? Everyone had said stay away from the touristy bits but the last thing I want to do is have a crap meal everynight as I try and find somewhere decent so any reccomendations would be appreciated.

Was going orginally to see U2 only to find out last week that the tickets my misses bought were fake and the company was one big scam....but thats a whole other thread!!!

Cheers guys and girls, you never let me down.

Stuck!

 

[Oberon305]

This WAS a long time ago, but we avoided the main streets which are geared towards tourists, and found places down side roads and/or alleys.

The best one by far, was a place a couple of streets behind the Trevi fountain...it was truly excellent.

No names I'm afraid as it was in the mid-90's, but I'm sure the advice is still sound.

Enjoy mate, the place is amazing. If you haven't seen it before, the Sistine Chapel will blow you away.

Edit: Just actually read your post properly and see that I've answered it a bit sh!t, but I stand by what I've said. Sure you'll find some decent eateries wherever you go, just like any capital city.

 

[WEJohns]

Rome

I was there a month ago; plenty of McD's tucked away and the various little restaurants all seemed much of a muchness to me; but then I hate Pasta. Pizza was fine and reasonably priced in most the places I ate, but you will get gouged for soft drinks - I paid 3 Euros for a coke, and it came in 330ml can.

Avoid the bratty vans for tourist rip-off prices. There are Spar supermarkets in the centre where you can by bottled water and bottle beer cheaply.

I stuck to the various Irish pubs as I'm partial to the black stuff and the pricing there was on par with UK (or slightly cheaper during happy hour).

Enjoy!

 

[propersplitbrainme]

Stayed in Rome a couple of years back, small hotel near the Basilica di Santa Maria Magiorre. Around the corner on Via Cavour there were a couple of really good and reasonably priced and friendly restaurants that served authentic Italian stuff, pizzas, spag bol etc.
As you have been told, avoid the touristy centre such as Piazza Novona, very quaint but very pricey.

 

[Born-northern]

The best place we found was a couple of streets up from via del condoti (be sure to blindfold the wife when walking up this street, gucci, versaci,prada and your wallet dont mix). Walk up condoti towards the spanish steps then swing a left. The place is a tapas style pub but for the life of me i cant remember the name of it (has a lot of vines outside). Brilliant beer, food and atmosphere. Will find the name of it and post back.

 

[Warwick Hunt]

Really sorry to bring this one back from the dead, but me and the wife are heading off to Rome in a couple of weeks for our first trip there. We're staying just metres away from the Trevi Fountain so from what I can gather, the location is spot on but any tips on restaurants, sights, getting around, etc is greatly appreciated, if possible!

Further to that, we've been told about a tour that takes you round all of the locations in Dan Brown's 'Angels and Demons'. Has anyone done this tour and, if so, is it recommended?

 

[Stuck in a rut!]

I don't think you'll be disappointed with your location. We stayed not far from the train station and found that whilst pretty cheap the area was a little grotty.

As for getting round we used a bus. The tourist bus works just the same as here, buy your ticket for the day and just get on and off. Worked pretty well to be honest. There are stops all over the place so it should be easy to find.

We never found anywhere decent to eat and is my one big regret about the trip, again I'm pretty sure that was downto our location though.

We had a great time and I would love to go back, I'd be interested to hear what you thought? Incidentally we paid a bomb to go on a tour of the Vatican museum and st. Peters church. The guide buggered off before we got into he church so we missed out, even now I'm not sure if we were conned or not. It's worth thinking about though, just get a grip of your guide. We also stupidly went on a Saturday, so if you are going (you should) to see the Vatican try and go during the week, the que's may be a littler better.

As for the dan brown tour, I would have loved that, but never heard about it.

Have a great time.

Stuck!

 

[gray]

A few years since I did this, but good fun on an evening !

http://www.colosseumteam.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=65&Itemid=72

Gray

 

[Tedlooney]

We used the hop on/hop off tourist bus the get around most of the main sites. We were staying at Manzoni near the Colosseum so also used the metro quite a lot (it was 1 euro for a ticket 2 years ago ). The best restaurant we went to was recommended by the chap on the hotel reception. It was a place used by locals, great food and way cheaper that the tourist restaurants so see if your hotel staff can recommend somewhere near you.

We went to the Vatican but the queue to get in was about 600 miles long so we didn't bother going inside.

 

[vim_fuego]

Word of warning...it's well documented about the organised crime in most Italian cities but one of my contractors was turned over only last week in Rome...He was well briefed on the subject and they still got him...He was walking off the Metro train and two gypsy-esque ladies squeezed either side of in an impatient to get on the train style as he walked off...it was, according to him, so slick there was no way to avoid contact. They got 100 euros and his cards which they dumped firther down the platform so he got them back. I nearly got turned over on the Naples metro a while back...just my ability to dodge around the big fecker who was trying to pin me against the tram wall saved me from I shudder to wonder!

20 euros in your pocket...the rest down a sock with your card...dress like a tourist you'll get mugged like one...wear decent jeans, tailored shirt, get a man bag and wear the sunglasses on your head...you'll look like every other bloke in Rome then!

 

[Oberon305]

Word of warning...it's well documented about the organised crime in most Italian cities

Good advice Vim........my wife's purse was robbed from her handbag whilst riding on the Metro, by (I'm guessing) gypsy kids. Funny thing is, we were actually warned about it by a local on the train....he said "careful, watch the kids"....and we just thought he was telling us to not tread on them! Be careful!

 

[Tedlooney]

20 euros in your pocket...the rest down a sock with your card...dress like a tourist you'll get mugged like one...wear decent jeans, tailored shirt, get a man bag and wear the sunglasses on your head...you'll look like every other bloke in Rome then!

Or if you're over 55, leather trousers rather than jeans...