River Palace Hotel

The was the last stop on our self organised tour of Italy, if you have read our other reviews you would realise we had adequate hotel experiences.

We arrived at the hotel just after 4pm and as promised it was 2mins (if that) from the metro. The staff greeted us like we were expected celebrities that they had been waiting for months for our arrival. We were told at reception about the area, given a map etc

The "bellboy" - showed us to our room and our cases followed, this was different to the "heres your key and there is the lift!!". He was brilliant showed us the evacuation exits, the restuarant/bar all very smoothly that it didn't feel like "grrr hurry up I want to go to my room". In the room he showed us how everything worked (TV, Safe, Lights etc)

The room was small, but grand (in decor), everything from the desk, minibar, towels, headboard, side tables, chairs all had RP (River Palace) engraved in the wood, the walls were fabric panels, the toiletries were exclusive designer full sized from a boutique in Milan the ceiling had a hand painted painting on it (like a mini sistine chaple!!). Our view was rubbish, but we weren't too bothered.

Our bags arrived before we could even take our coats off and we explored the room/goodies!! We quickly got changed and went out to explore rome. We had no real idea where we were, so we walked back to the metro and saw the arch (which we now know to be Plaza de Poplo) as we walked through we saw this huge fountain and millions of tourists, it was like their version of Trafalgar Sq.

We walked through it to find ourself on their main shopping high road (Del Corso) there was hundreds of shops and people (mainly tourists). We walked for a short while (felt like 5mins) and "bumped" into the Trevi fountain!! It started to get dark so we decided to turn back as getting lost in the dark is not fun, although in hindsight we just walked straight so it weren't that hard.

We ate at a resturant next to our hotel, coke was 2 euros and a pizza about 5-6euros (depending on toppings).

The next day we looked at our map... the Trevi Fountain seemed like miles away, but we had just passed it the day before without any transport so the scale of the map was deceiving. We went back to the Termini (main station) to sort out our coach to the airport and came back to the hotel. The hotel was 4 stops away from the termini.

We went to speak to the receptionist about how we get around, he sat down with us and gave us a good route, prices for a one day travel card (4euros). The Vatican was 2 stops on the metro, their stops are like 1min apart by lunchtime we had done the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican

We took the metro back to the Trevi Fountain (Baberini Stn) and carried on down the Del Corso after another 20min walk (10mins if you didnt go in the shops), we started to see the Coliseum which was the otherside of the map, We done the Coliseum and walked back to our hotel shopping and eating along the way.

When we got back to our hotel, our bed had this card on it welcoming us, telling us the weather and a small box of Godiva chocolates. We were a bit suprised but it made the end of a perfect day.

The last day my sister was ill, so she had a lie in, I was able to go to the internet lounge and entertain myself for free, when we left the hotel for a walk about/shopping etc they noticed my sister was ill (flu-y) and asked after her. When we came back they had left chocolates on our bed (again) and a box of tissues (RP tissues of course).

About an hour later, the receptionist called to see if my sister was feeling better, to let us know where the pharmacy was, what time it closed, how much and how soon a Dr could be called and then a waiter came to the room with some hot drinks (on the house). If I'm honest, they were more concerned about her than I was!!!

As we do, we looked at other hotels to compare, there was another hotel, called the "plaza" on the Del Corso, about 5mins from us, that we were like..... "oooh thats nice". We have since checked the prices and its about 4times more than the River Palace - it was nice, but not THAT nice!. Definitely stay at the River Palace

TIPS ABOUT ROME:

- Central Rome is fairly small, there is a lot to see (monuments etc), but you can get a travel card (4euros) and travel around getting off when you want.

- Avoid the tours, unless you like that sort of stuff, we found them (like in most cities) over priced and very much "shoved in your face". For example the Vatican Tour (Vatican, Vatican Museum and Cisitine Chaple) was 55 Euros Per Person (no lunch). We got a 4 euro travel card and 11 euro entry to the museum a saving of 80euros for two of us. Yes its nice to have a tour guide explaining everything to you... but there was like 50 in the museam - if you hover close enough you can hear it all!!