Hotel Grifo

Located in the hilly heart of Monti, the three-star Hotel Grifo is a polished small hotel with well-equipped rooms, friendly staff and nice bathrooms.

The Grifo’s 22 renovated guest rooms are quite nice, well cared for, and predictable. They’re outfitted with new wallpaper, fresh furnishings, and newly tiled floors, and have some nice decorative flourishes (like restored crown moldings) that class the place up. All rooms are equipped with air conditioning, a TV, phone, and mini-fridge. Free Wi-Fi works throughout the hotel.

All rooms have private in-room bathrooms, which are equipped with toiletries and a hair dryer. We were impressed by the spaciousness of the bathrooms that we inspected.

The Grifo, like so many hotels in Rome, has a terrace on the fifth floor, where guests are welcome to relax and look out over the rooftops of Monti. It's an explosion of flowers up there. (A friendly receptionist explained to us that "in Rome, you really can't help but grow lots of flowers. The climate loves flowers.") A second private terrace is shared between two rooms.

Note that three rooms are located in an apartment building across the street in the hotel’s annex. We've stayed in the annex, and found the rooms to be quite comfortable (with, again, a spacious bathroom), although we always prefer a night in a hotel to one in an annex, no matter how close to the hotel it might be.

A nice breakfast buffet is included in the nightly rate. Free Wi-Fi is available throughout.

Location

During our stay at the hotel, we found the location to be very convenient for visiting most of the city’s sights by foot. It’s an easy walk to the Colosseum and Forum in one direction or the historic center in the other. Otherwise, walk to the end of the street to Via Nazionale, and you can jump on any of the passing buses to head to nearby Termini Station or Rome’s center. (Although truth be told, we walked to the hotel from the train station.)

Monti also turned out to be our favorite neighborhood for dining. The streets around the Grifo are lined with small restaurants, many with outdoor tables. The receptionists were very helpful in directing us to eateries that were inexpensive (and packed with locals!).