Money-saving Tips When in Rome

Rome is a beautiful city but it can be expensive.

Monday, March 10, 2008
Rome, Italy

Read more about Italy in International Living Postcards—your daily escape

On this latest Italy trip, I was scouting properties in Abruzzo and Molise. To reach these southern regions, you’ll probably fly in and out of Rome. It can be costly, so here are a few money-saving tips:

Don’t take a taxi into the city from Fiumicino airport. Even without getting stuck in traffic, it’ll cost around €50 ($76). Plus, you’ll get charged extra for bags. One option is to use the airport’s Leonardo Express train to Roma Termini station in the city center. This costs €11 ($17) and takes 30 minutes. It’s even cheaper ($8) to take the Metropolitana train from the airport to Tiburtina station. The train also stops at Trastevere if you decide to stay overnight in this historic quarter.

You can get around the city by using the metro or buses. Most tobacconists ( tabacchi) sell tickets. They cost €1 ($1.50) each. When you’re riding buses, remember to stamp your ticket in the yellow machine beside the driver when getting on. Otherwise you risk getting fined by the posses of traveling inspectors.

Many visitors avoid the cheap hotels around Roma Termini because of the area’s seedy reputation. The streets immediately girdling the station are horrible, but you’ll find normality nearby.

I needed to stay overnight in Rome before the flight home. It comes under the Termini district, but I have no hesitation in recommending Hotel Pension Sallechia at 85 via Principe Amedeo. For the price, it’s unbeatable—and less than a five-minute walk from Termini station. Singles cost €45 ($68) nightly; doubles are €60 ($91) in low season. Rooms are basic and not exactly suited to romantic getaways, but they’re recently decorated and spotlessly clean with en-suite bathrooms. Plus, the young staff is really friendly.

When you move on and around, check timetables and prices at www.trenitalia.com. In general, trains are less expensive than long-distance buses, but a lot depends on the type of train and also the time of day you travel. From Pescara down the Adriatic coast to Termoli in the Molise region, a standard second-class ticket can cost anything from €4.70 ($7.20) on slower regional trains to €14.30 ($20.70) for the same journey by Eurostar train.

In chaotic Italy, even seasoned travelers sometimes go astray. If it happens to you, shrug your shoulders, say che ma fa (what can you do?) and enjoy the adventure. Through a confusion of crazy inspectors, milling soccer fans, and inexplicably changing bus numbers outside Termini station, we took the wrong bus. I wanted to go to Trastevere to enjoy a romantic meal with Michael, my long-suffering husband. I was looking forward to a meal of truffle-studded pasta and something along the lines of veal with artichokes. Instead, we ended up at Piazza Mancini.

This isn’t one of the guidebooks’ lovely piazzas. It’s not even in the guidebooks. With all the ambience of a giant parking lot, it’s a bleak concrete expanse on the city’s outskirts. And it’s almost beside Roma’s soccer stadium—on this night, crawling with police wearing riot gear. Roma was playing Real Madrid in a big European game.

Michael didn’t seem too thrilled by this version of romantic Rome. Traffic was painfully slow, and the journey took almost 90 minutes to the Piazza Mancini terminus. Being mapless in the dark, we didn’t realize the bus was traveling in the wrong direction for Trastevere. In hindsight, the fact that it was packed with excitable Roma supporters should have been a clue.

I never expected to eat a Chinese meal in Rome, but Citta del Drago restaurant on nearby via Flaminia does a tasty duck in orange sauce for less than €6. Michael opted for sweet and sour pork at €3.30. And a bottle of Chianti cost only €8. With dim sum starters and rice, the bill amounted to €20 ($30).
Investigate where no tourists ever tread, and even dining out in Italy’s capital needn’t be expensive. Not that I would dare suggest anywhere around Piazza Mancini again...

Steenie Harvey
Roving Europe Editor, International Living

Editor’s note: If you’re tired of paying too much for flights and want to cut the costs of all your travel expenses, read our special report to learn the secrets seasoned travelers use to get the best deal every time they travel.

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