On a very hot (did I say it was really hot?) July day in 2009, we arrived in Rome, Italy to begin a trip of a lifetime. Our family would first be in Rome and Florence x 4 days, then onto the Holland American Roman Empire Mediterrean Cruise to meet 32 of our family closest friends from church (8 other families).
Our fantastic and very experienced travel agent, who was also traveling with our group, had arranged for all of us to stay at the Holiday Inn Eur Parco Dei Medici in Rome. Initially, she was trying to arrange it so that we could stay in Rome's city center, to be within walking distance of the sites and shops of Rome. But this summer, Rome's hotel rates in the city center were unusually high and were booked up sooner than usual, and the rooms are so small (typical for Rome) that it would be comfortable for only 2 people. Since the 8 families traveling had anywhere between 3, 4 and 6 family members each (and any affordable hotel in the city center was all booked) we stayed at the Holiday Inn, seemed close (enough) to Rome's city center, but yet, it really was so far away.
The hotel rooms are nice and big as we were used to in California, with plenty of room for 4 people. Were we supposed to have 4 people in our room? (no, all hotels in Rome only allow 2 people per room). Did we have more than 2 people in each hotel room? Guess. Unofficially, after we checked in, no problem.
The Holiday Inn had a comfortable and elegant lobby, English-speaking hotel check-in staff who also doubles as a concierige, small gift shop, very small self-serve business area (convenient because we had to use our calling cards on their pay phones), ATM, big pool area and outdoor bar. The hotel restaurant offers a nice buffet breakfast (which may or may not be included in your room rate, depending on your hotel package). There is a nice, affordable restaurant next to the hotel for the only alternate eatting choice, if you didn't want to always eat in the hotel. The one annoying thing about the hotel is that there was never enough ice for drinks. After a long, hot day of touring (did I happen to mention that it was really hot?), we always wanted ice water. The ice machine never had any ice (or if it did, it only spit out 1 cube!) and the hotel bartender always ran out (probably the other guests got to him before we did). Maybe having ice in your drink is not a Roman thing?
The Holiday Inn website describes its location as close to the airport and to Rome and to the trains, and provides free shuttles to and from the airport and the city center. The hotel is in a business park area (not anyway near any sites or shops or any businesses), about halfway between the airport and the city center and not near any trains, metro, subway or bus that would take you into the city center . Since the free hotel shuttle would not be at the airport for 2 hours after we arrived, our crazy taxi driver from the airport was weaving in and out of traffic to get to the hotel in about 25 minutes and 25 Euros later. We tipped our taxi driver the way we would normally tip in California, and boy was he happy (like he won the lottery)!! Tip- don't need to tip the driver, per tour books. We didn't read about that beforehand.
The free hotel shuttle has a very specific time schedule (available on their website) that can took us into the city (which takes about 20 minutes on the highway), dropped us off on some side street somewhere near Circus Maximus (which was really not near any of the famous sites in Rome and not a very convenient drop off site) . The shuttle driver didn't give us any help as to where we were, but fortunately another hotel guest helped us get our bearings since they had the smarts to ask for directions at the hotel front desk.
Getting to and from the city center to the hotel by shuttle is fine, if you don't plan on getting to the city early (first shuttle to the city is around 9am) or if you don't want to stay in the city after dark (last shuttle back to the hotel from the city is around 8pm). Otherwise, the taxi fare to the city averaged about 28 Euros (around $42 each way). Since we had to be in the city several times before 8am, and stayed late in the city for dinner, we took the taxi several times (trip takes about 20 minutes). The taxi fares really added to the cost of staying so far away. Be aware that Rome's taxis can only take 4 passengers.
Another transportation alternative to get back to the Holiday Inn from the city is by subway/metro. From Termini Station (in the heart of Rome), we took the metro to the end of the line (about 1 Euro per person), and then had to get a taxi from that metro station to the Holiday Inn (about 15 Euros and 15 minutes). So saved a little bit of Euros, but the entire trip (of metro plus taxi) took about 45 minutes (and a lot of standing and waiting in the metro station and on the metro). It did give us a peak into the residential side of Rome, where the end of the metro line was.
The hotel website states that it is near a train station. Another hotel guest told us that they tried to take the train from the city center back to the hotel. The entire return trip took them about 2 hours, and one could easily get lost. It is not a direct route to the hotel, with a couple of train transfers, and a lot of walking to different parts of the station to catch the trains.
The Holiday Inn seemed so close (per its website description), but yet it was so far away. We did enjoy staying at the hotel, but would have liked to have stayed closer to the city center so that we didn't have to spend a couple of hundred dollars extra on transportation. At least, we did save money by not having to get 2 rooms for the 4 of us (unofficially, so shh!).
