We just booked a trip to Italy in February and will spend the last few days in Rome. We plan to stay in the center of the city. Our flight leaves at 7:05 on a Monday morning. Do you have ideas on getting to the airport by the recommended time of (yawn!)5am? Should we find a hotel next to the airport for that last night or am I being paranoid?
Oh, and we booked Lufthansa connecting in Frankfort...hope it's not as bad as some posts I've read!
Thanks in advance.

Stay in the city (though perhaps Sunday nights in February are not the same as the lively summer nights I know and love in Rome). Anyhow, have your hotel call a cab to pick you up at 4:15. They'll make the trip with no hitch at that hour in the morning.

Best wishes,

Rex

Follow Rex's advice.

This advice presumes one is staying at a reliable hotel with 24-hour desk service, I would guess. I seem to recall a number of stories from people who relied on their hotel to do this, but then ended up scrambling at the last minute.

If you will already be in Rome at a hotel, I don't see the need to switch for one last night, esp as you won't have to worry too much about traffic to the airport at 4:30 am. If you want to stay at the airport, there is nice Hilton at the airport with connecting sky bridge to the terminals and you can walk there in about 10 minutes. You can also take a shuttle if you have a lot of luggage. It is not cheap but works for a lot of people. The rate generally includes breakfast:

Hilton Rome Airport
Via Arturo Ferrarin, Rome Fiumicino, IT 00050
Tel: 39-06-65258 Fax: 39-06-65256525
Hilton.com

www.limoservicerome and Andrea will make sure a driver is at your hotel in plenty of time for you to make your flight.

Buon Viaggio,
BC

Thanks for your replies. I will contact limoservicerome. I did check out the airport Hilton (just to compare) and because of fire codes, they only allow three people to a room (there are 4 of us), and each room was 215 Euros.
It doesn't sound like getting to the airport will be a problem at that hour.

I'll second BookChick's recommendation on limoservicerome. The trip to the airport early morning is very fast!

I've been on that early Lufthansa flight several times. Don't rush to the airport because no one from Lufthansa will be at the counter to check you in before 5:30, more likely 6:00 a.m. Get a limo or taxi to pick you up at the hotel at 5:00 and you will be at the terminal no later than 5:25 at that time of the morning. We once made it in 17 minutes.

We had the same connection 10 days ago. Stayed in the city, because at 4:30 and you can get to the airport in 30 minutes (or less if your driver is jacked up on nicotine and caffeine as ours clearly was) We had our airport call us a cab the night before.

There is no one at the gates until 5:30-6am so you have plenty of time.

I wouldn't forfeit my last night in Rome!

We too had a 7:00 am flight from Rome and had no problems at all making it to the airport. Our hotel arranged for a car to be reading at 4:30. We triple-checked with our hotel desk to make sure that we would have our car ready. The traffic was very light (obviously), and we arrived at the airport without a hitch before 5:00 a.m.

Oh, and as stated above, no one was at our gate (Swiss Air) until about 6:00, and nothing in the airport is open (ie no coffee shops) so we just sat and waited.

I feel much better!