 | Rome Tourist Traps | Tips 21 - 30 of 306 |  |
Popular Tourist Traps | Other Tourist Traps Tips | All Tips (306) They stand out on the main drag going to St. Peters, with their ads in hand waiting to walk you the few blocks back to their restaurants. We said maybe later, went to St. Peters, came back out, he was still there, it was lunchtime, we were hungry, said what the heck? He walked us to the restaurant and he was so nice to us.
Ok we had the worst waiter ever, totally rude, the other side had a very competent and friendly waiter. I manage a restaurant so I notice these things. Our meal was mediocre at best and the wine was just not good at all. Oh and expensive? si, si.
Just say no on the street, if they were that good they would not have to go out and beg for your business. Leave a Comment
|
Visiting Rome?
Read reviews about Rome Hotels
Real Reviews from Real VirtualTourist Members.
This is not really a tourist trap, but it is still good to know about it . If you feel like a quick coffee and want to save money, then stand at the counter. Thats what the romans do (one has to image the coffe bar as a fuel station), stand and knock it back. It will cost you less than half the price. Leave a Comment
|
When eating in restaurants on a big piazza, the waiter will spontaniously bring you some bread to accompany whatever you are eating. Normal thing right? No! Here they will charge you just for having the bread on the table even if you don't touch it! So if you know you are not going to eat any refuse the bread politlly as soon as the waiter brings it! Leave a Comment
|
I would say that this is not a special Rome problem, as it seems all the world's taxi drivers who stands outside an airport does it only for the chance of ripping a lot of money from newly arrived tourists.
Unfortunately the Fiumicino airport is no exception.
There were a lot of taxis outside the terminal, so getting one is not a problem. There are also leaders, who will ask you if you need a taxi, where you want to go, and then they fix the taxi for you.
Unfortunately there's where the problem starts... Cause unlike in the city center these guys don't use a taxameter, they have a fixed price for every trip. And be sure that it's at least 75 per cent higher than you should pay...
For our ride to Sheraton Golf Parco dei Medici, which was our hotel, they wanted 50 euro. For a shared taxi... The trip took 15 minutes maximum, and then the bastards wanted another 50 euro for the other group in the taxi.
You think it sounds okay? Well, eat this then... on the return we paid 35 euro for the same route, not sharing the taxi with someone else.
The problem is that these guys are in charge, and they know it. You have to go to your destination, and since this mafia mob all works together, you have no chance of getting another price.
At least try to haggle. We were first offered a ride by a "illegal" driver, who was prepared to take us for 40 euro (got it down from 50), but since I didn't think it would be possible that a legal driver would charge that much we turned down the offer.
Silly me...
Make sure to decide the price before stepping inside the taxi, and don't be afraid to get pissed. These guys have all seen it before, and they now they are worse bastards than bank robbers... At least bank robbers will go to jail, these guys won't...
We should have paid maximum 35 euro for that trip, and since we shared the taxi with another group it should probably have gone down to 20-25 euro even. Considering that we paid about 18-20 euro for a taxi from the city center to the hotel, a fair price Fiumicino-Rome city center should be about 50-55 euro. I doubt you'll ever get it that low, but it's worth a try.
There is a train service, Leonardo Express, going from the airport into the Termini train station. TAKE THAT!!! It takes 31 minutes, and is by far much cheaper than the price the taxi bastards will charge you...
Only problem is if you, like us, are living a bit outside the city center.
Also note, that this is about the drivers at the airport. During the week in Rome we travelled with taxi in the city about 7-8 times, and every time was great! Taxameter running, good price, and always very nice and polite drivers.
I wonder from which world the bastards at the airport comes from...? Jupiter?
Link to the time schedule for Leonardo Express, the train that goes airport-Termini: http://www.adr.it/content.asp?Subc=1361&L=1&idMen=731 Leave a Comment
|
 | |  |
The folk who dress up as soldiers, gladiators etc seem very friendly , wanting to take a photo of you beside their colleagues, but then DEMAND payment in a most unfriendly way. They should tell you first that it is a business transaction.
We hadn't had time to change any money when we strolled down to see the Colliseum , and my grand-daugher was fascinated by them and wanted a picture. But their aggressive attitude when we said we'd no money meant she went into a panic whenever she saw anyone dressed as a Roman again.
Refuse unless you are sure it is not payment for a service. After all that is how they make their living.
I
I snap them when they are busy touting other potential customers. Leave a Comment
|
Visiting Rome?
Read reviews about Rome Hotels
Real Reviews from Real VirtualTourist Members.
The view might be excellent, don't get this wrong, but first you got to fight yourself a place in the front row and for that you need elbows.
So the main problem is that there are too many of us up there =)
Forget all your good manners and do as all others do: push, press and try and reach the balustrade - and then grab it.
Now you've covered some 180 degrees of view - do same on the opposite side.
Well, fortunately there is only one St Peter's dome.... Leave a Comment
|
The 110 bus is a hop on hop off bus that tours Rome. It costs 13 euros and you are given an earpiece to plug in near your seat to listen to the commentry, a choice of about 8 languages. If you pick the bus up at the Terminni you join a queue to buy a ticket and then join another queue to get on the bus. We arrived to buy a ticket at about 10.30am and the lines where long. A couple of us stood in the queue for the bus whilst the others went to buy the tickets. By the time the tickets where boughts we were at the front of the bus queue but the buses were all full as they came into the Terminni with people who had already done the full tour and where now staying on till the bus went around again to where they wanted to get off. The lines were massive and no one could get on a bus. People started to kick off on the bus drivers but they just closed the doors on them but still the ticket office sold tickets to unsuspecting people. Finally we decided to go and stand in the ticket line and warn people what was happening to stop them wasting their money and to *** off the bus company when, miraculously, we managed to get on the bus. However, wherever we went around the city that day we noticed the buses pulling away from the bus stops leaving loads of people waiting for the next one to come along to see if they had better luck.
If you want to use this tour bus get on very early and stay on for the whole tour and then get off at your chosen attraction because you may not get back on.
Walk as much as possible. If you wander too far from your hotel and can't face the walk back with your throbbing feet then get a taxi. I thought that they were very reasonable. We got a cab from the Santa Maria Maggiori to the Vatican Museum and it cost less than 7 Euros. Leave a Comment
|
| | |
Avoid these guys at all costs. They are every where in the touristy areas. They will come up to a lady and hand her a flower and tell her no charge then they will tell the man 3 Euro or something crazy like that. These guys are every where. The Spanish Steps, the resturants on the street in any tourist area you will find them. We found that if you say no thanks they will still try to get you to buy flowers do we just avoided making any eye contact or even looking at them and less of them seemed to bother us.
Dont look at them and they wont bother you.
|
This is a classic tourist trap. It goes like this:
You're walking around Rome and suddenly a car pulls up to you. The driver asks for directions.
Once he discovers you're a tourist he embarks on a script." Are you English? I love London...blah..blah. What size are you? I have some leather jackets here. I've just been to a fashion show/convention/selling stock - but I don't want to return with surplus, so I'm going to give you one free!" (All laced with flattery).
Just when you think you're getting something for nothing, he says (to the effect) "Can you give me something for my petrol? I have to return to Paris/Naples/Madrid and I have ran out of euros." At this point you will know you will have to part with money. I offered him £10 or equivalant in Euros. The logic being that this is fair enough for a jacket....not so! He's looking for a full tank. So, if you want to buy a genuine Italian leather jacket, go to a shop...otherwise you'll end up paying 50 quid for a cheap imitation!
I didn't part with any cash - but this same thing happened to me on three occasions. The third time I pre-empted saying: "I don't want a jacket, and I don't have any money for your tank!" They will happily drive off looking for another potential mug. In fact if you watch them, they will only move a few hundred yards and try the same thing on someone else.
At that point I figured that I was standing out like a sore thumb. Italian men in Rome dress very stylishly. They particularly like their hats. My wife suggested she buys me a trilby (fedora) - it was my birthday after all - so we found a hatter and I duly chose a suitable hat and planted it on my head ( I already had a scarf - it was January) which set the attire of nicely.
After that, I happily roamed around Rome free from harrasment.
The moral of the story is this: Just because you are a tourist doesn't mean you have to look like one! So if you are wearing a baseball cap, carrying a back-pack, have a camera slung over a shoulder, and a bum-bag around your hips, be prepared for the worst. Provided you don't do this, nor have your nose buried in a streetmap, you'll pass for a local. Rome is a very cosmopolitan city, and you'll feel alot less exposed.
Of course, everyone has to earn a crust, and these scams have a formula the world over. But the Romans are very adept at getting you to part from your cash quickly - so before you know it, your wallet will be a lot lighter, a lot sooner than you anticipated. e.g. see the next tip.
|
| | |
There are two words in Bed and Breakfast.
Bed : that parth is in general ok I think.
Or we had been lucky two times in a row.
Breakfast : Am I too demanding?
I really don't like toast. I like it even less when it
is toasted a few weeks ago and packed in
a plastic and it will still be fine in the year 2010.
I'm afraid this thing IS the basic breakfast
in the BB's in Rome. They bring it with trucks
all at ones. You'll get some butter
and some jam.
That's it ladies and gentlemen.
IF I do the breakfast thing , I like it to be good.
Have a look at my shopping tips. :-) Leave a Comment
|
|
 |
 |
Search Hotels
Find the best room rates |
|
 |
|
on January 2, 2005
on February 11, 2005
on July 18, 2005
on April 15, 2007
on February 15, 2005
on October 14, 2004
on June 6, 2005
on August 17, 2006
on December 17, 2006
on July 7, 2004
