Went to Rome with my Girlfriend for a long romantic weekend. We were not disappointed with either the Hotel or Rome and would highly recommend both!

Easy Jet Flights - Nothing to exciting to tell you about - About a 2 hour flight from Stansted to Rome Ciampino Airport (the other airport is called Fiumicino, don’t get them confused!)

Transfer from Airport to Hotel - We decided to grab a Taxi to the hotel as the queue for the Bus was long. Taxi is a good choice, they are legally not allowed to charge you more than €30 for any destination in Rome city centre. Our fare cost €28 to the hotel and took less than 30 mins, even in Rome traffic.
(If you ask the hotel to book you a taxi, they will book you their own private car at €50, make sure you ask for a White taxi for when you leave the hotel - no need to book on your way to Rome, Taxi rank was full on arrival)

Hotel - My girlfriend cancelled our first choice hotel after finding San Marco on the web at a great price. The price we paid was incl Breakfast, 3 nights and 4 days. Worked out to be just over £60 each in total. Hotel Reception was clean and we were met by the owner who spoke excellent English, all other staff also spoke excellent English and were always happy to help and answer questions. Hotel Lobby is small but with a nice bar which serves drinks 24 hrs. They also have a TV room which looked nice but we never used it. We were on the 6th floor in a corner room, 620. not sure if this made any difference compared to the other rooms, but our room was very big. Although Bed was two large singles pushed together, the bed was very comfortable. TV with good selection of films if you wanted to pay for it. Nice sofa and table in corner to use if needed. Bathroom was big and very clean, tiled floor with drainage so you don't have to worry about drying off in the shower - It looked brand new.
Views from the room are what you expect in a city.
Pls note - Floor 2 is being refurbished, although work only takes place Mon-Fri - Also 7th floor was being built on, but this did not ruin our stay.
Breakfast - Was excellent, huge choice of food from fruit, toast, eggs and cakes, all served fresh from 7am till 11am.
Eating out - Do try the local restaurants around the block from the hotel, great food and 10% discount if you ask for a card from reception. Average price we paid each night was €30. Watch out when going out for Lunch, you will probably be in a tourist area and the bills can be very high, we were charged €50 for a small lunch on our first day, we didn’t make that mistake again and made sure we went off the main roads to find cheaper establishments.

Location - Hotel is a good 30 mins walk to the Coliseum or Trevi Fountain. The train station is 5 minutes away and you will find the Metro here which will take you across Rome for €12 each for a 3 days pass. You will need to jump on the tube to go to the Vatican unless you enjoy a long walk. Great value for money. Print off a tube map before you go as some maps in Rome did not have these on them. The Map given out in the hotel Lobby is very good and easy to understand.

Sight seeing TIPS - I would recommend you book your entrance fees before you go for both the Coliseum and Vatican. My girlfriend booked ours for the Coliseum and the Vatican. Because we pre-booked, we did not have to join the long queues, it costs a little extra but well worth it, the queues were huge. We turned up at the Vatican, a Tour guide met us, took us pass the queue and then kindly told us where everything was, then left us to it.
3 full days was just right to see everything in Rome, although your legs will feel very well used!

Safety - I could not of felt safer in Rome, Police were on every other street corner. Hotel has the German Embassy down the road so we got 24hr armed police walking near by, which made you feel very safe walking around at night near to the hotel. Tubes were also well staffed and although you get the odd beggars selling Roses etc, they didn’t bother you too much, a quick NO and they walk away.

If we went back to Rome, then I would be happy to stay in Sam Marc again, Staff were friendly, hotel was clean, location was excellent, this was Great Value for Money!

Feel free to ask any questions.

Thanks Chrissy for taking me! I owe you!! x