Hotel near FCO?
 

Hi, we're going to Croatia by way of Rome in May. If, by chance we end up staying overnight in Rome (we're flying stand-by and who knows? may get bumped a day or two coming home).. are there hotels near the airport? How far is FCO from .. fun stuff? and are the airport hotels very expensive? I know i'm asking a lot.. but all info/suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Hi callalilli,the hotel right at the airport is a Hilton. You can go on the Hilton website to see what there rates will be. It is not inexpensive.

Many people have stayed at the Holiday Inn which is less expensive than the Hilton and which is not far from the airport. They evidently supply a shuttle bus to the airport.

You will not be IN Rome. I believe the Hilton has a shuttlebus that takes hotel guest into Rome and brings them back to the Hilton. No doubt there website will give the exact details. I am not sure about the Holiday Inn but you can check out their website also.

A lot of people prefer to get a hotel IN Rome..some like to get one by the train station in Rome so they can just walk to the train station in the morning and take the train to the airport. Others prefer to take a taxi or a private shuttle bus from their hotel in Rome to the airport. So you do have lots of options depending on your time and budget.

thank you so much for your resonse LoveItaly ... i want to apologize also, i did a search (after posting my question) and found a few threads already addressing this. of course, i'm open to personal responses. hehe

No need to apologize callalilli. I hope something works out for you that you can enjoy Rome for a few days, if your time permits. And imagine you will enjoy Crotia. I have friends in Italy that love to vacation in Crotia,they have sent me such beautiful photographs.

If you really get a layover of 2 days, I would go and stay IN Rome, as otherwise you will spend more time on hotel shuttles and/or the Fiumicino airport train than would be fun, IMO. By train or taxi without traffic, the airport is about 30-40 minutes from the main tourist areas of Rome, so the airport isn't really "close" IMO and that trip would get old even just twice a day.

Do a search here, on Frommers.com and on tripadvisor.com so you have some Rome hotel names and phone numbers handy in case you need to do this. The advantage is that if you are making such a last-minute reservation, you should be able to get a very good price if the hotel has unsold rooms left that day.

If the layover is only for a day, if you haven't already found it in your search, there is a nice Marriott Courtyard hotel in the little seaside town of Fiumicino, where the airport is located. They have a shuttle bus to the airport, takes about 10 minutes. Their website is showing prices between 124-320 Euros a night, you can probably do even better on a last-minute basis or if you can use Marriott Rewards points then you can stay for free. The little town has some good seafood restaurants and the restaurant at the Courtyard itself is very good, they also have an outdoor pool which is a plus if you get a hot few day. Go to Marriott.com.

Also, if you stay at the Marriott (or the Hilton) the airport is quite close to Ostia Antica, which is an ancient city with Pompeii-like ruins. Rick Steve's has a good self-guided tour to Ostia, go to http://www.ricksteves.com/news/0202/ostia.htm.

If you want to rent a car, then I think the Etruscan town of Tarquina is worth an afternoon or more, its up the coast a bit north of the airport. I think you could get there by train and/or bus, would take longer but would be worth it as well if you did not want to go into Rome or go to Ostia Antica. With a car, you could drive up the coast, and also see/eat or even stay at either of the wonderful hotels along the coast, the Posta Vecchia or the Il Pellicano (much further north but if you really have 2 days and a car and good weather worth considering IMO). See websites below. I don't know your budget, inclination or time.

www.lapostavecchia.com
www.pellicanohotel.com

I have recently returned from a week's vacation in Tuscany and because our flight going home left from Rome, chose to spend the last night at the Rome Airport Hilton. Bad choice, never will do it again. It would have been much smarter to take a hotel in the city center, spend a wonderful evening there with a good meal, and then just take a taxi, shuttle, whatever, to the airport the following morning.

The Hilton Rome airport hotel is indeed right in the middle of the airport, that is its ONLY saving grace. We paid 212 Euros for two for one night and this was after a discount!! The room itself was not particularly nice, clean enough but could have been better, beds so-so, there is nothing really in the hotel itself to keep you busy for the evening before you leave the country. You can pay about 20 Euros per hour if you want to use their internet, room service and hotel food is exorbitantly expensive and I hear also not tasty (we did not try it but I read that from others who did). In short, stay in the city and enjoy your last night of vacation !!

You can also try the Holiday Inn near the airport. My kids stayed there prior to a return home. They took a shuttle from the Holiday Inn into Rome and then a cab back at night which still allowed them to be close to the airport for an early flight out. My daughter lives in Florence and what she did the last time, another suggestion, is to stay near the central station in Rome and take the train to FCO from there. You are then at the mercy of any slowdowns or strikes that might occur prior to your flight. Either way you can spend your last day/evening in Rome.

thank you all.. it will be an adventure any way it happens. i will definitely keep a list of names/phone numbers handy.