My son will be studying in Siena in the Spring. My husband and I would like to visit but the airfares are killers. Does anyone have a suggestion of how to travel more cheaply? Is is realistic to fly to London and then take a train to Italy?

Hi Carla,<BR><BR>Ryanair go from London Stansted airport to many Italian airports. I do not know what the nearest one to Siena is .<BR><BR>Ryanair often have very cheap fares and special offers and would probably be cheaper than the train.<BR>Their website is www.ryanair.com<BR>Flying into London is probably a good bet as the most competitive fares are likely to be found on the US-London routes.<BR>You could also try flights to Rome or Zurich then taking the train.<BR><BR>Hope this helps.

I see an add on Ryan air for flights from Stansted to Pisa for 27 pounds one way. That would give you a 2 hour train trip (vs a 15 plus hour train trip from London that will cost you far more). The closest airport to Siena is probably Florence.

The closest airports that ryanair fly into are ( from their map) ;<BR>Pisa<BR>Fiorli<BR>Ancona<BR><BR>GO (www.go-fly.com) fly into Rome Ciampino.<BR>I do not think any of the low cost carriers fly into FLorence but occasionally the major carriers ( British airways or Alitalia would have seat sales into Italy)

Carla, When you say the spring, do you mean the spring season or the spring semester? I ask because if you mean the spring semester which usually starts in January or February, I would think that you could get some pretty good off-peak fares for flights through early March.

Carla--You don't say where you are flying from, but many of the airlines are having sale fares good through March. I live in Atlanta, and have tickets on Delta for my husband and me to fly Atlanta-Rome then Venice-JFK-Atlanta in middle March. Our ticket was $421/per person for the trip. Try Frommer's newsletter today for a list of other airlines with sale fares to Europe. Barb

I would suggest two things. One Priceline your tix. I have done it several times and usually have only one layover. Be careful about specifics when you put in your needs. Also set up a fare watcher on Travelocity and Expedia as well as on some of the major London/Spain airlines BA, Iberia, RyanAir, BM to check airlines. I have been back and forth to Europe 15 times in the last three years and I have never paid more than $350 round trip. You just have to be patient.