I'm New but have similar question to others on Italy timelines
 

Hi everyone, I am in the midst of planning a trip to Italy in Sept 04. We are planning to go for 2 weeks (12 days + 2 days travel). My fiance (city boy)wants to go to Venice and Rome - I (country girl) want to go to Tuscany region and Positano/Ravello (sp?).

From reading this board it sounds like I am biting off a little more than I can chew and for the length of time we will be in Italy we should only at max hit 3 places. So because I am nice I will give up one of my wants (giving up Tuscany...oh I hope I get to go back some day).

Probably fly into Venice stay in Venice for 3 days, then train to Rome for 4 days and then Positano/Ravello for 5 days. Anyways on to my question I am in the Philadelphia area and prices for flights are no less thn $1350 pp at the moment...will these prices go down? How much am I going to have to shell out for flights?

Thanks in advance and I truly appreciate all the info I am getting off of this board.

It's way too soon to be purchasing transatlatic tickets to Italy for September 2004: I would expect the prices to drop around March 2004 and thereafter for a couple of weeks. You would be paying top dollar by purchasing today.

I agree with GAC that it's too soon to purchase, but keep checking sites online in case there are after Christmas/New Year's specials.

If in a few months you still find prices high, you could opt to fly in and out of London, then take RyanAir or Easyjet on to Venice. Doing it this way, typically saves a few hundred dollars per ticket.

Good luck!

Think geography--pick your 3 destinations by north or south but do not mix it. Tuscany is included in either, and I would spend at least 4 nites there. Good luck !

I agree with bobthenavigator. Choose either Venice or the Amalfi Coast, but keep Rome and Tuscany, since they are contiguous. If it were my first time in Italy, I'd probably choose Venice. I'm not a member of the Venice lobby, but I think it's worth seeing Venice once. The Amalfi Coast is very pretty, but will be there for another trip.

Hi md,

I agree that you should keep Tuscany.

Airfares--wait. If you wait, you certainly won't have to pay any more than what you're finding now, and will almost undoubtedly find prices significantly lower 2-4 months before your departure month.

I agree, Venice/Tuscany/Rome. See Venice, rent a car on your way out and find a couple of spot to stop for a few nights (farmhouses or castles or b&b preferably) in Tuscany as you head S to Rome.
I don't know that there is a whole lot to do in Positano, for 5 days?
If you still want to drop Tuscany (the favorite part of my trip in June), consider an extra day in Rome maybe.
Also, we went in June and I checked Orbitz every morning, FInally in March I found a $600pp flight from Chicago to Milan. Booked it, an hour later it was gone and never to be seen again!

When is Italian high-season? I know it starts around Easter. Does it end around September?

You may want to make sure you're past high-season because this will make things cheaper.

Once you've ascertained you're not planning a trip during high-season, I would spend a lot of time shopping for tickets and hotels. I would monitor the prices closely...At one time, I was planning a trip around Easter, and if we had booked tickets and hotels when we first decided in September, we would be going to Italy when the weather will be warmer. Instead, we're doing Italy in the winter because we decided to wait a month to try to get cheaper prices.

By March, you should be able to get a good idea if the prices are at "rock bottom".

Good luck!

Lil

I have to disagree with the poster that says its way too early to buy a plane ticket. As long as your dates are set, if you find a cheap airfare with times that work, I would go for it. Fares are high right now, but keep checking them for the next several months. My husband and I are going to Italy in April 04, we bought our tickets in August and are flying from LAX to Rome for 600 roundtrip (each) on American. WE bought them during an overseas fare sale. The same flight is charging 1400 now. So what goes up must come down. Good luck!

My wife and I are going to the Amalfi coast in late May and I have been looking at airline tix prices. We are travelling from Newark to Naples and were going to book Alitalia at $829.31 per person which we thought was pretty good. The other day I checked Orbitz and British Airways came up with a price of $657.00 pp. This is a savings of almost $350.00 so even though we have to connect through London, it's only 2+ hours more than Alitalia connecting through Rome.
The moral of the story is to keep checking and lock in when you feel that you are getting a really good price.

I'm going to London in Sept 2004 and talked to a United Airline rep for tickets for my trip to Hawaii in March and asked her about tickets to London. She did say that usually the best times to get tickets is about 3 months out, however, to be aware of sales at all times, but she definitely advised never to buy a ticket this far out unless it's a sales, you will then pay the full price!