We are planning our trip to Italy in Sept. Arriving in Rome and staying 4 days, then on to Umbria for 2 weeks and finally Florence for 4 days. We will train back to Rome for home from Florence on a Tuesday.Our flight leaves at 11:30 am Wednesday. What would be the best idea for accomodations for that night? Should we stay closer to the airport(Fumicino)or stay in the City? Any hotel ideas for the night? Can we catch a train from SMN in Florence direct to Fumicino? Thanks

There is no direct train from Firenze SMN to Fiumicino Aeroporto, but you can take a Eurostar from Firenze to Roma Termini and connect to the train that goes to the airport. Depart Firenze SMN 6:40, arrive Roma Termini 8:30, depart Roma Termini 8:52, arrive Fiumicino Aeroporto 9:23. You should be aware that you will likely need the whole 20 minutes or so to get from the Eurostar to the Fiumicino train that leaves from a track that is quite a hike away from the "regular" tracks. Also note that this is the June schedule; you would have to make sure that the September schedule hasn't changed.

The alternative is to stay in a hotel near Termini on your last night in Rome. I wouldn't suggest a hotel near Fiumicino -- and I'm not sure how many of those there are -- because the only way to get to it and from it to the airport would probably be by taxi, which becomes a somewhat expensive proposition.

A third alternative, and probably the one I would favour, would be to stay at a hotel in the centro storico (Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Campo de' Fiori areas) to enjoy what Rome has to offer on your last night, and use one of the shuttle services -- there are a fair number of them mentioned in various threads on this forum -- to get from your hotel to Fiumicino. In my experience, the shuttles TO Fiumicino are considerably less expensive than the shuttles FROM Fiumicino. And if you factor in the taxi to Termini, the hassle of getting to the airport track and the price of the train to the airport, it's well worth the relatively small difference.

If you are going to use one of the shuttle services you could stay in many areas of Rome...if high-priced hotels are an issue. I would definitely stay in the city and leave early in the morning....the shuttle is probably the most economical but this is your LAST NIGHT there...you can stay closer to the airport to "save money" but the added hassle and deprivation by being out of the city itself probably costs a LOT more than the little money you'll save.

Hi minx,

I suggest you stay in Rome or near the airport, not in Florence.

You cannot be certain that there won't be delays traveling between the two cities.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn EUR Parc Medici, which has a free shuttle bus to the airport as well as free shuttle service to/from Rome (Pzza Venezia).

Next time, however, we will stay in the city and take a shuttle to the airport.

More interesting.

Have you thought of starting your trip in Umbria or Florence? If you are round trip Rome, for certain, fly to Rome train or drive to Umbria (a car in Umbria would be nice).
You could drive or train to Florence and not need a car from that point on.
This way you finish your trip in Rome.