As Swiss residents, we flew out of Zürich on Swiss International Airlines to Romes Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci Airport. While a train does run from Fiumiciono to Romes central station (Roma Termini) we elected to take a cab to our hotel near Piazza Navona. The cab cost 40EUR.
For this weekend we stayed at the Hotel Raphael right around the corner from the vibrant Piazza Navona. We've been staying at the Hotel Raphael for a number of years now and found the staff to be excellent, the restaurant to be splendide, the rooms comfortable (albeit of variable size) and the location second to none. During the warmer months, the roof-top terrace is open for dining and drinks. Being at roof level on the Raphael, views include a view of St Peters Basilica and the cielings of the Pantheon.
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Mark Sukhija is a travel and wine blogger, photographer, tourism researcher, hat-touting, white-shirt-wearing, New Zealand fantatic and eclipse chaser. Aside from at least annual visits to New Zealand, Mark has seen eclipses in South Australia (2002), Libya (2006), China (2009) and Queensland (2012). After twelve years in Switzerland, Mark moved back to London in 2012. You can follow Mark on Twitter or Facebook