Flight out of Milan?
 

Our trip to Italy is in 6 months. Flying into Rome, finishing up in Venice. I've been looking around for airfare, and found a reasonably good price ($600 R/T, out of Baltimore). With fuel prices on the rise, I'm thinking about going for it. The issue is this: We'd have a 12-HOUR layover in Milan, before a nonstop flight home. Never having visited Italy before, I was hoping for advice from more experienced travelers. Is this an unreasonable idea?

Have you considered flying home from Venice? Is the price a whole lot more to do this?
If you finish up in Venice you will either have to drive or take the train to Milan. You could enjoy Milan for several hours (I love Milan but a lot of travelers don't) or you could rent a hotel room either in Milan or next to the airport and get some sleep before your flight
From the Centrale train station in Milan you would need to take the shuttle from there to Milpensa Airport (which I assume is the airport you are flying home from).
Or, on the other hand, you state that you would have a 12 hour "layover" in Milan. Does that mean you are flying from Venice to Milpensa (Milan) airport and than have a 12 hours layover?
If that is the case you could take the shuttle from Milpensa to Centrale train station, enjoy Milan, take the shuttle back to the airport in time to make your flight home.
If you could clarify about the Venice/Milan route perhaps I or someone else on this board could help.
Am sure you will enjoy Italy!

Dana,
What you should also do is price it out to fly on the next day...and spend night in Milan, price may be the same and much better than 12 hour layover. Also have you played around with other open jaw options, such as flights out of Venice? If you want give me the flights you're looking at I can play with them for you....very good with that sort of thing. Price and convenience top priorities. I'm not a travel agent but do this frequently for my own travels.

Hi dana,

If you go to http://www.onetravel.com/

You can fly BWI/Rome and Venice/BWI for $690 with layovers less than 3 hr.

Thanks so much for all the input thus far! I have played around with other options (leaving from Milan the next day, leaving straight from Venice, etc), but this was the cheapest option I've seen.

Ira - I'll definitely follow up on that deal you mentioned!

Hi dana,

It's something to consider.

However, a 12 hr layover in Milan allows you to, maybe, see "The Last Supper" and do some shopping.

You could also look into training to Milan and flying from there.

Oh, I suppose I should have mentioned that the stopover was overnight. (that's an important detail!) There's an overnight train that would get us to Milan a few hours before the flight, but my husband had reservations about that (where to store the luggage during that final day in Venice, if the train trip makes is the financial equivalent of a more expensive ticket, etc).

Looks like I still have some research to do. =)

Dana,
The hotel in which you stay will store you luggage for the day in which you check out. Yes it would be a good idea to weigh the total cost of Milan overnight vs. just flying out of Venice.

Hi dana,

>... my husband had reservations about where to store the luggage during that final day in Venice...<

At your hotel.