Grand Palazzo Carpegna Hotel Rome

OK, well now you're just being silly.

First, you let me go to Rome - and then you tell me I get to stay HERE?

This place was the perfect hotel for our one, lone night in Roma. We arrived in Rome early in the day, spent the day and the night in Rome, and then left the next evening. Obviously, if these two days and this one night were all we had for this famous city, we wanted a decent hotel room for the experience! But not being rich, where to go?

WHERE to go ended up being a two part answer; Part number one was uk.hotels.com (believe me, we tried them all) Part number two was this MIGHTY FINE hotel; The Grand Hotel Palazzo Carpegna.

This stately hotel is actually in a historic old building. They will tell you that it's surrounded by Villa Carpegna Park, but really, not so much - and why embellish, when the truth of the place is more than nice enough?

The truth of the grounds is that there aren't a whole lot to be had as far as I could tell. This place is surrounded by other businesses; so while you walk down a long drive to get there, and there is some grass and park, it's not much at all. But honestly, this is Rome - you'll be busy doing other things, and it won't matter.

The rooms are fantastic; white and brown, very calm, very clean, with lovely windows THAT OPEN... AHHHHH..... heaven. Perfect sheets, flat screen TV on the wall, are you getting the picture here? The price? On a holiday week, in between Christmas and New Years in ROME?? €89.00, my friends, €89.00... and add to that I was staying with my friend - so for me? €44.50. Sheer Bliss.

I would recommend strongly not eating in the hotel - that would be HUGELY overpriced. Leave via the driveway, cross the street at the top of the drive, turn right, and after about 10 steps there is a coffee shop, right there. Cheap, lovely, and perfect in most every way. Problem solved.

There is a haunted elevator - if this bothers you, think twice. No one told me it was haunted, but I'm not a complete dunce, and I know haunted when I experience it. It had a penchant for ignoring the floor you so nicely asked it to take you to, and instead would take you to floor...wait for it... FLOOR NEGATIVE 2????? Yes my friends, we're in some creepy basement now, where the doors would then open, and not want to close again until they had a nice rest. This was especially fun at 3:00 in the morning, when trying to get back up to the room, as my friend Dario decided his new favorite game was jumping out into said creepy basement, going around the corner, and then leaping back into the elevator screaming at me like a monster. Thanks for the memories, Dario.