6 Best Hotels in The Vatican, Rome

The first Italian outpost of the French brand Mama Shelter, this hip hotel features a funky design with lots of colors and patterns and playful touches like graphic ceilings painted by French street artist Beniloys and vintage pinball machines you can play. Rooms have comfy beds, flat-screen TVs with free movies (including adult movies), and bathrooms with colorful tiles and organic toiletries. The main restaurant, Giardino d'Inverno, draws a trendy local crowd for classic Italian dishes with creative twists, plus live music and DJs from Thursday through Sunday. There's also a pizzeria and, in the warmer seasons, a rooftop terrace and a ground-floor garden restaurant with a cabana bar. The shop in the lobby sells branded merch, as well as handcuffs and other sex toys.

This simple budget hotel on the third floor of a 19th-century palazzo offers rock-bottom rates and is just a five-minute walk from the Vatican. You won't find frills, but you will find clean rooms with air-conditioning and free Wi-Fi. There's no bar, but there is a breakfast buffet and a vending machine that you can use 24 hours a day.

The rooftop garden terrace with a center-stage view of St. Peter's Basilica is just one reason to stay here; proximity to the Vatican and superb shopping is another. This family-run hotel is set in a distinguished 19th-century building and has a classic atmosphere, with most guest rooms renovated with a modern style. The restaurant, Les Étoiles, serves sophisticated Italian dishes like tagliolini pasta with crab, basil, and tomatoes. A sister hotel, the Atlante Garden, just around the corner, has larger rooms at slightly lower rates.

On the west bank of the Tiber between the Spanish Steps and St. Peter's Basilica (a 10-minute stroll from Piazza del Popolo and the nearest Metro station), this hotel is removed from the chaos of the centro storico. Rooms are tastefully furnished with mahogany furniture, antique prints, hardwood floors, and marble bathrooms. Amenities include a bar, cafeteria, solarium, gym, and rooftop garden.

Set in the shadow of St. Peter's, this small hotel is a good value, with simply decorated, ample guest rooms that feature wood-beam ceilings, parquet floors, and comfy beds. The spacious attic rooms also have tiny terraces. Frescoes in the vaulted breakfast room, as well as the fountain in the courtyard, are romantic touches.

Set in a former monastery—still an extraterritorial part of the Vatican—abutting Bernini's colonnade of St. Peter's Square, the Paolo VI (pronounced "Sesto," a reference to Pope Paul VI) is unbeatably close to St. Peter's, with basic, quiet guest rooms. Replete with a stone terrace that directly overlooks Bernini's 17th-century porticoes, this hotel enjoys one of the most spectacular perches in Rome. For a truly exceptional stay, ask for one of the six "Deluxe Superior" rooms.