Oh, Rome — so much beauty, so many dreary budget hotels. Dark, battered stairwells, lackadaisical staff and old-fashioned decor all seem to be par for the course here — and prices are roughly 20% higher than in other European cities.

So it’s all the more miraculous when you find places that buck the trend. The extra joy is, the good hotels are no more expensive than the bad — for owners with a little passion, the virtue of a clean, nicely furnished and friendly hostelry seems to be its own reward. Make sure they’re the ones who get your business.

1 The Beehive

The area around Termini — Rome’s main railway station — is the heart of the budget-hotel scene in Rome, and there’s one property here that stands above the rest: The Beehive. Set in a quiet street, behind a high wall, it’s the nicest hostel-cum-hotel in town. Run by an American couple who have settled in the city, it’s a hip, ethical place with vegetable-based paint on the walls, a tiny vegetarian restaurant in the basement and rows of Philippe Starck chairs in reception.

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The designer-furniture flourishes make it sound more highfalutin’ than it is — after all, the doubles here have shared bathrooms. But the rooms are spacious, the mattresses are good and the garden patio is a real delight: the perfect place to cool your feet after a day spent pounding pavements. There’s no air conditioning, but all the rooms have big ceiling fans.

Doubles from £74, room-only; 00 39-06 4470 4553, www.the-beehive.com

2 Retrome Navona

One way to get the better of Rome’s inflated prices is to avoid hotels altogether and book an apartment. It makes a lot of sense if there are 4-6 of you in the party, and you’ll get a more central location for your money.

Take, for example, this four-person apartment on Via del Governo Vecchio. It’s on the first floor of an old baroque apartment building, 200yd from Piazza Navona, and it works out at just £44pp a night. Retrome, the company that runs it, makes a point of furnishing its properties with second-hand 1950s and 1960s furniture, which clashes a bit with the ancient terracotta tiles and wooden ceilings, but the good news is that the mattresses are new, the linen is of good quality and there’s portable air-con for the hot summer months. And for this price, who cares what style the furniture’s in?

Apartment (sleeps four) from £175 per night, self-catering; 06 9727 9432, www.cross-pollinate.com

3 Hotel Panda

This is a rare find: a clean, attractive and well-run pensione right in the middle of town. It’s close to the Spanish Steps, but not too close, so you won’t feel besieged by the tourist throng. Inside, the rooms are all freshly painted, and when you lie back on the (firm) beds, you’ll notice they have beautiful ceilings. Air conditioning, too.

No wonder this place books up quickly: if it’s full, consider the Panda’s new sister property, a block away from Piazza del Popolo, which offers an almost identical standard of accommodation, but is slightly more expensive (£112 a night for a double).

Doubles from £100; 06 678 0179, hotelpanda.it

4 Colors

Prati — the area just to the north of the Castel Sant’ Angelo — may be posh, but it’s also a good bet for budget sleeps.

Lined with sober 19th-century apartments, it lacks the intoxicating sense of history you find in the city centre, but at street level it has just as much buzz. You can walk to the Vatican, and metro line A takes you to town. Colors is the hippest of the hostelries here and offers dorms as well as rooms. The ensuite doubles are over budget (£122 a night in peak season), but those with a shared bathroom will serve you well. It’s noisy during the day, but you won’t be there then.

Doubles from £92, room-only; 06 687 4030, www.colorshotel.com

5 Pensione Paradise

The Paradise also lies in the elegant district of Prati, and there’s a Metro station right outside the front door. In five minutes, you can be on Piazza del Popolo.

Unfortunately, you’re on the busy Viale Giulio Cesare. It’s quiet enough at night, but don’t expect a lie-in in the morning. Otherwise, this is a similar property to the Hotel Panda, above: simply but not cheaply done, with cool terracotta tiles on the floor, solid furniture and nice shuttered windows.

Doubles from £90, room-only; 06 3600 4331, www.pensioneparadise.com

Getting there: airlines flying to Rome include Ryanair (0871 246 0000, ryanair.com), Alitalia (0871 424 1424, alitalia.com) and Jet2 (0871 226 1737, jet2.com).

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