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Doing business
You’ll need more than a sharp suit to cut it in Rome. Local knowledge and language are prized and an on-the-ground franchise or agent may be a good way to break ground. There should be at least one Italian speaker in your party to help you get taken seriously.

Cool hotel
Get central, but stay away from the area around Termini unless you want to share your trattoria with hordes of bargain-seeking tourists. The Campo de’ Fiori (www.hotelcampodefiori.com; doubles £130-£230) in the heart of medieval Rome is more like it. Consider also the grand old Intercontinental De La Ville, gazing out across the city from the top of the Spanish Steps.

Hip restaurant
New-style trattoria, modern reincarnations of the neighbourhood classics, are the hot tables in Rome. Ditrambo (Piazza della Cancellara 72) and Renato e Luisa (Via dei Barbieri 25) near the Campo de’ Fiori are two well worth paying a visit.

Happening bar
Get out of that hotel bar – Rome is exciting and sophisticated at night. Upscale bars are clustered around the Piazza Navona. Crudo at Via degli Specchi 6 is perfect for a posh (and expensive) cocktail or two, with Rome’s beautiful people for company.

Getting there
Rome is brilliantly connected to the UK by the likes of Alitalia and British Airways, with flights to Fiumicino from Belfast, Edinburgh, Leeds, Gatwick, Heathrow and Manchester. Ciampino, meanwhile, is connected to a host of regional airports by easyJet and Ryanair. Fares can be very low, but flexible business fares of £300 or more are not unknown. Rome is also an overnight train journey from London, via Paris on the Palatino sleeper train.

Getting downtown
From Rome Fiumicino (also known as Leonardo da Vinci) Airport there’s a fast and frequent rail link every 30 minutes. The journey takes half an hour and costs 11 euros one-way. If you find yourself coming in on Ryanair to Ciampino there is a selection of buses to and from the Roma Termini station.

The Details
Rome isn’t as monolingual as it used to be, with younger people increasingly speaking at least one other language. It's one hour ahead of the UK. During scorching-hot summers the entire city leaves town so don’t expect to get anything done in August. Most of the rest of the year the climate is sunny and pleasant – very cold days are rare, but winter can bring the occasional downpour. The euro is, of course, the local tender.

The carbon cost
A return flight from London to Rome will cover 3,062km and emit 0.3 tonnes of CO2. Offset this with The Carbon Neutral Company from £2.55.

Must-see sights
You could spend weeks in Rome and still not see everything, but when you think you’ve seen everything there are the city’s incredible churches. Chiesa di Santa Maria del Popolo, in the piazza of the same name, is stuffed with renaissance art by the likes of Raphael and Caravaggio and is, incredibly, free of charge.

Insider's tip
“All restaurant bills include 'pane e coperto' – a bread and cover charge which is a first for most tourists but unfortunately is a necessary one. For a really special dinner try Giuda Ballerino in the Cinecittà part of town or Osteria della Gensola in Trastevere”

Compiled by Tom Hall on behalf of Lonely Planet. www.lonelyplanet.com

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