HOTEL EMMAUS
Budget Stay at Vatican City
You’ve
been granted an audience with the Pope, but he’s
keeping you waiting. “Come back tomorrow, domani, domani” says
the Cardinal. "Maybe next week," says the Bishop.
Ah, the intrigue of the
Holy See.
Or maybe you just want to catch a Wednesday Mass on the steps of St.
Peter’s
Basilica, or meeting up with traveling friends who say “hey,
let’s
meet at the St.
Peters Square Obelisk it's right in the middle of the piazza,
can't miss it” and looking for a hotel near the Vatican City complex
that will save a little
of your Rome travel budget.
The
Hotel Emmaus is located almost directly across the street from the
Vatican on the less touristy
southern side
of St. Peter’s Square,
just off the Via di Porta Cavalleggeri. A 3 star tourist
class hotel with a budget friendly price range the Hotel Emmaus
has been
recently
renovated.
The rooms
are a little ordinary and
some of odd sizes, but in Rome you don't just sit around in your room,
and
the
locale
has
a certain
character
for Italian
tourist
class
and
the sense of being
part
of
the city rather
than just
a touring visitor.
The neighborhood has several nice restaurants with street side tables
to watch the world go by with a glass of Italian wine, and a few local
nightspot bars. Two doors away is a popular Chinese restaurant.
Okay,
you didn’t come to Rome for the Moo Goo Gai Pan, but even in Italy
pasta and pizza every day can get to you. 
The hotel bar is just a little
corner stand-up affair where you can discuss Italian politics with the
night clerk. You won’t understand what he’s saying,
but no-one understands Italian politics, anyway. A local vegetable street
market
is about three blocks away, held most days of the week. The more tourist
crowded area of Vatican City in the Borgo district with the souvenir
shops, more pricey restaurants, and ever-present fake designer sunglass
vendors
are
a short
walk across
St. Peter’s square. The Castello St. Angelo and Tiber River walk
past the Palzzo di Giustizia are a reasonable stroll as well.
The hotel says it’s within walking distance to the Colosseum, Trevi Fountain and the Spanish steps. Technically true if you have the tough feet of a Roman Legion soldier, and Ceasar could throw a coin across the Tiber when the wind was right, but you may want to take the bus which stop a half block away or the Metro (See Rome in Ruins - A Walking Tour). To get to the Emmaus Hotel from the Rome main train station (Roma Termini) take bus line number 64 (there are stalls outside the terminal where the bus lines stop) and get off at Porta Cavalleggeri stop, just opposite the big eye window of the Vatican audience hall (Aula di Udienze). You’ll probably see priests with their business briefcases waiting to cross the road. You can also take the Metro to or from the Santo Pietro rail station metro stop about four blocks away. If you’re driving, the hotel doesn’t have parking, but you can park in the Vatican visitors and bus parking structure off Via Cavalleggeri or find spaces on the neighborhood streets nearby if you watch the parking signs, but getting through Rome by car is an adventure all its own. The Via Gregorio VII from the west of the city turns into the Via Cavalleggeri.
The hotel can arrange a bus tour of Rome with an English speaking guide or help you with Vatican Mass schedules. If you want to reserve tickets for a visit to the Cistine Chapel without the lines or arrange tours, check the Vatican website. Yes, even the Pope is online, but don't look for his myspace page. © Bargain Travel Europe
Book
a deal at Hotel
Emmaus
Find best hotel deals in Rome
on TripAdvisor
Vatican Website Tours/Reservations
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articles are copyrighted and the sole property of Bargain
Travel Europe and WLPV, LLC. and may not be copied or reprinted
without permission.
SEE ALSO:
UNIQUE
ITALIAN FLAVORS - CUISINE & CULTURE
FORTIFIED
PORTO ERCOLE
