First, Rome, then Florence, or Vice Versa?
 

We are leaving for Italy and France in a couple months and spending the first week in Italy and the second in France. We leave the US on Tuesday and arrive in Rome around 5pm on Wednesday. We're planning on taking EasyJet or RyanAir from Italy to Paris.

1) If our flight is due to arrive in Rome at 5pm, would it be too much trouble to immediately hop on a train and get to Florence for our first night?

2) We will either leave from Pisa or Rome to get to Paris. Both places have flights that arrive in Paris around 10:30pm. Rome has a flight that leaves at 6:30am and arrives around 8:30am. What would be easier to manage: a super early flight or a super late flight?

3) Are there any other budget airlines that fly from Rome/Pisa/Florence to Paris?

Thanks!

Ryan Air flies from Rome Ciampino to Paris BVA which is a bit out of Paris but has a shuttle bus to transport after flights arrive. If you are leaving from Rome then do Rome last. If you are leaving from Pisa then do Pisa last. To get to Ciampino there is the Terravisions shuttle bus - www.terravision.it For budget airlines try www.whichbudget.com or www.nofrillsair.com

My personal opinion is that later flights are easier to manage - but then I hate getting up at 4 AM or so. But you can always take a taxi if you arrive late.

Here's the link for the shuttle bus for Paris BVA http://www.aeroportbeauvais.com/bus.php?lang=eng

Thanks to all. If I were to start my trip by traveling from Rome to Florence, would it be too difficult? We're arriving in FCO at 5:30pm.

If you are arriving at 5:30 it might be 6:30 before you get your luggage, etc. Then you have to take the airport train, taxi or limo/shuttle to Termini train station to catch the train to Florence which will take about an hour. If you can get a 7:30 or 8:00 train you will get to Florence at 9:00 or 9:30 and then need to get to your hotel. That makes for a long day. By that time you will have been traveling for at least 24 hours.

Stop in Rome, and then go north to Florence. Don't leave and come back, as in backtrack.

If I fly into Rome and stay a few days, then head north to Florence, I will need to fly out of Pisa or come back to Rome to get to Paris. My only hesitation about that is that their only flight is a late flight leaving at 9pm and arriving in Paris at 10:30pm.

I guess it's either arrive in Florence late or Paris late. Any thoughts as to what is the better option?

pls i need sb s help. I try to make it short and clear.

i want to go from Rome to Florence and then to Venice and finish in Paris. We are a family.i prefer to take buses or trains. any time will suit me if it is a cheap way.

Does anybody know if there is public transportation to do it, sth cheap?. does anybody know how much this can be?.
does anybody know how long each way can take?

Our plan is to stay 3 nights in Rome, 1 in Florence and l in Venice, Is this possible. What do locals take to make these journeys.

Tks a lot for your time.
regards.

Fakemark - Have you traveled to Europe before? I'm not sure you realise how tiring and uncomfortable overnight flights can be and most people find it difficult to sleep on the plane. I assume you have your tickets already since you know what time you arrive or I would suggest you fly into Florence or Pisa. Most flights from the US arrive early morning in Europe. Are you sure it's 5:30 pm and not am?

What is your concern about getting to Paris late?

kybourbon,

Thanks for your inquiries. I have only been to England before and when we did that we flew into London and immediately hopped onto a coach to Bath.

My original plan was to end our trip in Paris so that the last memory of our trip will be the Musee d'Orsay. We are also planning to do a couple days outside of Paris (Loire Valley or Burgundy) and then return. If we fly into Paris late at night, then we'll have to stay overnight, rather than going directly to our other destination.

Does that make sense? I'm starting to think that I will either have to break up our time in Paris or just resign myself to not having the grand Paris ending I was hoping for.

Hi fake,

Have you considered doing Paris first?

There is nothing wrong with having your last memory be Italy.

Is there a reason why you have left out Venice? You can fly Treviso/Beuavais on Ryanair at 12:05.

You can also fly Milan Linate to Paris Orly on easyjet. Flights leave about 13:00.

((I))

Hi, Ira,

Thanks for your input. We decided to skip Venice because 1) my wife has seen it before, 2) she hasn't seen Florence, 3) I have to see Rome, and 4) we only have 7 days in Italy.

In retrospect, I wish I had scheduled Paris first so that we could catch the horse race in Siena. But, alas, I've already bought the tickets and it will have to be Italy first and then Paris.

There are a couple of other options you can look at.

One is the overnight train to Paris from Rome or Florence. Check the SNCF website. A 2-person sleeper is expensive, but remember you won't be paying for a hotel that night.

Or, flying from Rome to Paris, I'm looking at the Easyjet flight out of Naples: Depart Naples 3:25pm, arrive Paris Orly 5:45pm. You can catch a train from Rome to Naples around 11am and be in Paris for dinner. Personally, I much prefer this option to the very early/very late Ryanair.

FM - Easyjet also flies from Pisa to Paris (Orly) - so that's another option.

Hope this helps ...

Steve