127 - Travel in Rome

Rome - the Eternal City. This free audio travel guide takes you through the tastes, sights and attractions of Rome alongside practical info on where to stay, getting around and where to go next.

Layout
Modern Rome is huge and sprawling on both sides of the Tiber, but first-time tourists and short-term visitors will want to base themselves in "old Rome".

With the spread of the city over time, it's now much bigger but you'll probably want to see the sights in Piazza de Spagna, Via Veneto, Quirinal, Esquiline, Lateran, Caracalla, Aventine, Palatine, Forum, Capitol, Campo de Fiori, Piazza Navona, and Piazza della Rotonda, and then Vatican, Januculum and Trastavere on the west of the Tiber.

Accommodation
If you're going to be spending just a short time in Rome, it's probably best to stay near the popular sites. Find yourself a hotel or hostel near the Pantheon and Campo de Fiori. The area around the Termini station is also convenient and in the right area.

Hostel beds tend to cost less than 20 euros a night but — depending on the quality of the establishment — prices can drop as you move further away from the centre; in fact, they get really cheap. Although it's one of the world's most popular tourist destinations, competition keeps prices in check for the lower- and middle- ranges of the market.

Even better value are the campsites out of the city center, combining great facilities such as swimming pools and scenic country views with easy access by metro into the city.

Food
Although Italian cuisine is well-known worldwide, we tend to combine all sorts of regional specialities into a big conglomerate. Roman cuisine tends towards pasta, sauces and cheeses with lots of deliciously prepared meat and vegetable dishes. One that caught our eye was Trippa alla Romana: a dish of tripe and tomatoes.

Transport
Public transport runs regularly and quite often. Buses, metro and trams are all integrated in the public transport system, so you can hop on and hop off within your time period. The cheapest ticket is 1 euro, which lasts for 75 minutes. If you're doing more than four journeys, more than 75 minutes apart during the day, you can get a 4 euro daily ticket. Three, seven and 30-day tickets also exist, as do yearly passes.

Guidebooks
With a culture- and history-heavy city like Rome, you'd expect Rough Guides' angle to treat Rome well, and it does. Time Out has the best guide to nightlife and the eating, drinking, party scene while Lonely Planet provides solid background and good on-the-ground choices and tips for getting around.

Where to next
Being the capital, you can get pretty much anywhere from Rome. Trains run in all directions; budget and legacy airlines lead all over Europe and the world.

Special thanks to Jessica Stewart from Rome Photo Blog for supplying the photos for this episode. http://romephotoblog.blogspot.com/

For more, visit http://indietravelpodcast.com.