All prices are based upon October mid-season, not the winter low season and not the high season of summer!

• 2 beds in a 6 person dorm at The Colors Hotel & Hostel – 54 euro = $74.52
• gorgonzola cheese, 2 types of bread, artichoke hearts and a bunch of bananas – 7.50 euro = $10.35
• Metro – from Termini to the Vatican City Area – 2 euro = $2.76
• 2 Americanos @ Piquadroemme wine bar (includes tip) - 1.40 euro = $1.93
• entrance to Sistene Chapel (both at student rate) – 16 euro = $22.08
• Medium gelato near Trevi Fountain – 2.50 euro = $3.45

(two adults) Total – 83.40 euro = $115.09

The total is for Justin and I, two grown adults.  If you are traveling alone you can cut the cost in half.

Solo Total – 41.70 euros = $57.55

Save more money on lodging in a larger dorm.  We stayed in a 6 person dorm, but it is easy to find 8-12 person dorm rooms for even cheaper nightly rates.  We chose to see the Sistene Chapel and presented student cards to save money.  In some European countries if you are less than 30 years old you may be approved for a Student ID card.  However, even if you don’t wish to pay for museums, Rome has hundreds of FREE things to see and do, including the Vatican.  Which means experiencing Rome for $50 a day is easy to do.

How to travel Rome for $25 a day?

1. Self catering – nothing beats the communal meal, prepared in hostel kitchens with other travelers you meet – split the cost of the meal.  Rome is full of delicious red wine too!  Split a few bottles with some of your new friends, and sample a variety of reds.
2. Sleeping in a multi person bunk room.  The more people in your room, the cheaper your bed will cost.  Remember, you didn’t travel to Rome to stay inside, you want to explore and see it all!  The bed is just the place to rest in between your adventure.  We even wrote an article on selecting the best hostel for you in Rome.
3. The coffee is amazing.  Look for the small independently operated cafes that are actually wine bars.  They will have the best atmosphere but watch out for the prices.
4. Don’t spend money in the expensive zones – I really wanted to eat gelato while looking at the Trevi fountain lit up at night.  But I could have found less expensive gelato in Rome.
5. Use the Metro to your advantage.  A single ride is one euro, or purchase a one day pass for 4 euros.  They are valid for a full 24 hour period.  Plan where you want to go in Rome carefully, you can enjoy the Trevi fountain in the evening, and wake up the next day and still have 16 hours remaining on your pass to get you to the Colosseum and back.  At the same time, walking can be amazing depending on the weather.
6. Depending on the season, it can be hard to find a cheap place to sleep in the heart of the city.  Don’t end up having to sleep on the outskirts of Rome.  Pay for your bed in the morning, not only do you guarantee that you will have a place to sleep, but you also have a place to leave your backpack while you explore the city.

It’s amazing to know that Rome can be experienced with very little money.  Super cheap if you dare!

Rome has over 100 hostels and budget accommodations. With so many options it becomes difficult to select the right place to stay. In fact, many hostels in Rome require a minimum stay of at least 2 nights. The typical backpacker approach of, “I’ll stay one night, if I don’t like it, I can find another hostel,” doesn’t work with Rome.

Rome is an old, ancient city, in which every square foot is priceless. Keep in mind that most hostels and budget accommodations will be in old buildings and space is in short supply. Rome hostels tend to be small.

Selecting your Rome Hostel:

• How far is the hostel from a metro station? What is in walking distance?
• Are the bathrooms unisex? Will I have a hot shower?
• How big is the kitchen? How many individuals share that same kitchen?
• What are the amenities? Is there a place to hang wet clothes to dry?
• What type of security is offered?  24-hour front desk?  Lockers?

These are great questions to ask before committing yourself to a hostel. In fact, our first mistake occurred after booking a hostel in Rome. Justin and I later found out that they did not have security lockers, or lock the rooms. This was a huge concern.

However, after arriving, checking in, seeing our beds, and chatting in Italenglish, we discovered that an individual sits at the 24-hour front desk monitoring who comes and goes. In fact, after staying out past 10pm (which we did), we needed to hit an entry button on the front door. Then they would verify that the two of us were currently checked in, before pressing the automatic release on the door. Our hostel in Rome was so secure, that we couldn’t believe we had so many previous concerns.

We loved the Color’s Hotel & Hostel in Rome; they even had a rooftop terrace. This offered a great place to relax with a cup of coffee in the morning as we enjoyed the beauty of Rome. The terrace also doubled as a place to hang our laundry to dry. Fortunately, the covering provided keeps Roman Pigeon poop from meeting your fresh and clean threads.  It proved to be a great hostel in Rome.

The Color’s Hotel & Hostel was the perfect location and accommodation for us. We selected our hostel and got lucky. This is a big part of finding a hostel in Rome. Some locations are amazing, while others lead to nights you don’t want to remember. Reading online reviews can be helpful. Try hostels, hostelbookers, hostelworld and hostelz. The reviews can be less accurate than we wish they were.  At the same time, these websites provide information on location and nightly rates.  Sometimes it costs extra money to book through one of these sites.  See if the hostel has their own website.  The hostel booking websites are a good place to start.

Other than that, travel is about risk! Know what you want to do in Rome and then decide where you want to stay, and book it! If you are really adventurous, find a hostel when you arrive. However, in the high season (Mid-May to early September) you might want to book ahead so you don’t sleep outside a Gelato shop near Trevi fountain.

At this point I am going to resist the urge to talk about playing frogger with Roman scooters, the immense joys of Italian wine, or the delightful (read: rank) smell of the city. I am sure many people write about these well know facts. Instead, I want to talk about how the Sistine Chapel is not in St. Peter’s Basilica.

This morning, Natalie was determined to arrive at the Vatican museum by 7:30 am The museum holds the Sistine Chapel and she possessed a fierce determination to beat the crowds to get a solid look at Michelangelo’s master work. Fighting our way of a jet lag induced coma (at 7:30. I know I know but we were tired) we quickly got ourselves together and headed out to circumnavigate the relentless Roman tourist mob.

As we walked into St. Peter’s Basillica, we were rather excited. Sure there were other people, but it appeared as if there was plenty of room to stand quietly and look up at the ceiling (this is what one does in the Sistine Chapel). Best of all, today they were not charging admission. Our immediate euphoria quickly dissipated as we wandered around the Basillica and came to the stunning realization that the Sistine Chapel is not a part of St. Peter’s Basillica. In fact, the Sistine Chapel is about half a mile North of the Basillica inside the walls of the Vatican. We were early. We were happy. We were in the wrong place. The real sad part here is that we knew that St. Peter’s Basicallica and the Vatican were in different locations before we set out that morning. Problematically, something about the dangerous cocktail of jet lag, excitement and classical architecture caused us both to suffer from temporary amnesia.

We eventually arrived at the Sistine Chapel and, unsurprisingly, there were crowds and we did have to pay an entrance fee. On the up side, the tourists did not completely swamp the chapel and we were able to spend a neck wrenching 45 minutes staring and the ceiling in awe and wonder. Not bad way to start the day.