We have a 7:00 AM departure scheduled out of FCO back to U.S. Any suggestions on where to spend the night prior? (besides the floor of the terminal building)

We stayed at the Hilton Hotel at the airport. There is a walkway from the Hotel across to the terminal. It's probably the easiest place for you to stay. The Hotel doesn't usually get rave reviews, but we found it to be absolutely fine.

Friends of ours stayed at the airport Hilton and also found it acceptable.

But when we had a slightly later departure (7:45 a.m.), we stayed in the city and took a taxi to the airport. 40 euros before tip. OK, not cheap, but it provided another night and another wonderful dinner in one of my favorite cities.

Hi C,

You could stay in the city and have your hotel arrange for a cab - about 50E.

You could stay at the Holiday Inn EUR Parc Medici and take a cab from there.

Where will you be the day before your pre-flight night? If you are already in Rome or will arrive there by train early in the day, stay in the city and arrange for a car service to pick you up and whisk you to FCO before dawn.

If you will come from farther away and will need to drop off a rental car, then an airport hotel is the answer.

I generally leave around 7am and always stay in the city the night before. If you feel more comfortable staying near the airport ,stay at either the Hilton or the new Hilton Garden Inn. Both have free shuttles to and from Rome centro.

We had a 7am flight from FCO on Swiss Air as well and still stayed in the city center (Piazza Navona). We had the hotel arrange a car to pick us up at 4:30am for a 30 min drive to FCO to arrive 2 hrs ahead of the flight time (as recommended). The ticket counter didn't open until 6am but the queue formed around 5am and it took the full hour (6a-7a) to get everyone checked in. I recommend getting there 2hr ahead becasue the line does get quite long.

I should have mentioned that we'll be in Umbria the day prior to our flight. We'll probably be returning a rental car to the airport.

You still have the option of spending the last evening in the city, but the cost and effort might not be worth it to you. That's your call.

You'd return the car at the airport, take the shuttle train into the city, check into your hotel, have a nice dinner and evening walk around Rome and taxi back to the airport early the next morning.

Where are you coming from in Umbria? Have you considered returning your car in Umbria and taking the train to Rome the day before your flight?