Where To Stay in Rome – 5 Cool Hotels to Check Into

I’ve had the opportunity to visit many of the city’s best and most interesting hotels and wanted to share some recommendations. Rather than list the city’s best or most expensive hotels, I wanted to provide a few choices in some categories that were important to me.

For Luxury

I like the newly re-opened Hotel Eden Rome, next to the Villa Borghese museum. The luxury hotel is part of Dorchester Collection and delivers a truly bespoke, five-star, warm, deeply personal experience. It provides seriously luxurious accommodations with an ideal, central location a few steps from the iconic Spanish Steps. The luxury hotel delivers on food as well, with a Michelin-starred restaurant, La Terrazza and a wonderful more casual dining option called Il Giardino (same chef and kitchen). Although the hotel’s penthouse and rooftop restaurants have great views of the city, most of the rooms and suites do not.

Hotel Eden Rome’s beautiful lobby

For City Views

This recommendation continues on from the Luxury category as the Rome Cavalieri, a Waldorf Astoria Resort both offers the city’s best views and is a beautiful luxury hotel. The hotel sits slightly outside central Rome atop Monte Mario, right next to the city observatory. The hotel (which is only a ten minute ride from the Colosseum) offers sweeping views across the entire Roman skyline. The food here is amazing as well, the Cavalieri is home to Rome’s only three-Michelin-star restaurant, La Pergola, run by Chef Heinz Beck. A guest shuttle runs between the hotel and the Piazza Barberini every 30 minutes all day and into the night.

Postcard views from the Rome Cavalieri, a Waldorf Astoria Hotel

For Colosseum Views

If you want great Colosseum views (and a Michelin star-rated restaurant) the magnificent Palazzo Manfredi should be your choice. It’s right next to the Colosseum (well the Ludus Magnus, the ruins of the gladiator training school, are in between) and some of the hotel’s rooms and suites have direct views of the iconic structure. My room did and it was truly awesome to be able to sit there and gaze at the Colosseum at all times of the day and night. Palazzao Manfredi is a family-owned luxury boutique hotel, part of the Relais & Chateaux group. The family owns an equally beautiful boutique luxury hotel on the Italian resort island of Capri called Hotel Punta Tragara.

Looking out my window at the Colosseum at the Palazzo Manfredi

For a Cool Boutique Experience

The Hotel Indigo Rome – St. George is an InterContinental property (Hotel Indigo is a cool, locally-oriented InterContinental brand).and it sits on Via Giulia, a tiny street in the vibrant Trastavere neighborhood. The 64 rooms and suites are very stylish and spacious. I had a very cool Junior Suite with windows opening onto Via Giulia. Suite guests have a free mini-bar and free snacks. And each guest gets a handy (the name brand and a good adjective for it) free mobile phone. It shows some ads but allows you to call (the US and other countries), text, surf the web and share on social media, as you walk around Rome, for free.

The cool bedroom of my Junior Suite at the Hotel Indigo Rome – St. George  

For Just a Nice, Centrally Located Hotel

The Sofitel Rome Villa Borghese offers very nice rooms and suites in a perfect location right next to the Borghese Gardens. The rooftop restaurant has great views of the city skyline, including the dome of St. Peter’s. I had a very nice, large guestroom, nothing too fancy but clean and with cool furniture and bathroom fixtures. The room had a long, thin balcony, which offered views across the Borghese Gardens to the dome of St. Peter’s. The hotel is currently under renovation and will re-open in March, 2019.

The Sofitel Rome is a perfect location right next to the Borghese Gardens

Getting There

Whenever I talk about Italy, I need to mention how awesome Alitalia’s Business Class service is. Your Italian vacation begins before you take off with Ferrari Maximum Brut sparkling wine and an foodie experience like flying in a fine Italian restaurant. When it’s time to sleep, the comfortable leather seats are turned into a flat bed. Service is excellent as the cabin crew (and ground staff) all go through the airline’s Customer Excellence Academy in Rome. When you fly with Alitalia, they don’t refer to you as a “passenger,” they call you a “guest” like in a fancy hotel or restaurant.

Photos by Freddy Sherman

By Freddy Sherman

Freddy is a regular contributor to Business Traveler across all print, digital, web and social channels.  To follow Freddy directly, you can find more of his content at luxuryfred.com and here:

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