We have a 9:45am flight out of FCO for our departure on a Mon. For our last night in Rome, should we spring for the Airport Hilton (cheapest rate is 255 Euros), or stay in the city, or stay in Frascati? What would fellow fodorites do?

stay in the city. the train runs from Termini starting at 8am and is half an hour. cutting it a little close but you should be fine

I would also stay in the city. You may want to (I did for an early morning flight) use limoservicerome.com to get you there. The drivers are polite, helpful and are very adept at traffic manuevers to Fiumincino. Just my own preference.<BR><BR>Buon Viaggio,<BR>BC

I'm so cheap I would sleep on an airport bench rather than pay euro 255 for an airport hotel.<BR><BR>Then again I would pay $100 to change my airplane ride to a more reasonable time and sleep in town.

We flew from FCO in November and used Airport Shuttle to take us to the Airport. They were booked for 6:30 am, as our flight was around 10 AM and arrived right on time--our hotel was not centrally located. It cost us about 36 euros and took a bit over an hour. There was another couple on the shuttle. Since we were staying in the hotel where we had ended a tour, our cost for the night's stay was about 120 euros. Airport hotels are notoriously expensive, I think.

Any recommendations on where to stay for about 150 Euros that is comfortable, clean, and perhaps, dare I say, romantic?

I'm not sure how much taxis run but I'd rather stay in the city and spend the money on a taxi to the airport.

Hi Linda<BR><BR> The Holiday Inn EUR-Parco dei Medici <BR>[email protected] <BR>Tel 011 39 06 65581 <BR>Fax 011 39 06 6557005<BR><BR> charges 110 E/dbl w/bkfst and has free shuttle service from the hotel to the airport and also to downtown.<BR><BR> It's only about 15 min from FCO.<BR>

Our flights out of Rome are always at the crack of dawn and we have never opted for an airport hotel. We leave our hotel in the city so early there's rarely much traffic, so doesn't take long to get there. <BR><BR>That would not be the case for you travlindiva, but you could go earlier than necessary to miss the traffic, and spend some time looking around at the airport. It's a pretty nice one and you could pick up last minute things you didn't buy earlier on to take home.<BR><BR>Agree with Bookchick, LimoserviceRome is terrific.

Thanks everyone! As it turns out - hubby insisted on staying at the Airport Hilton because we've decided to stay as long as possible in the Amalfi with an evening return to Rome. I called the Hilton and they were very nice and secured a little bit of a cheaper rate for 180 Euros (much better than 255). Just thought I'd let everyone know that it's worth a call to the hotel to try and negotiate a better rate. Thanks again for all your help.

Once you get to the Hilton don't let them bamboozle you into upgrading for additional $$$. We stayed there in Oct and did the upgrade, but the perks that came with it weren't worth it.(Unless the hotel is better organized and staffed at this point) I noticed one disgruntled guest who probably felt as we did. He settled into the bus. class lounge and started drinking at about 6..... when we went to bed he was still there. Drinks were free so guess he decided to get his money's worth that way!

DON'T choose the airport benches. We did and it was an awful night. The benches are metal park-like (curved) benches, with fixed armrests so that lying down was not possible. Cleaning services vacuumed the area at 1:30 a.m. and around 3 a.m. the carabinieri (4 or 5) armed with machine guns surrounded the bench area to check out papers. We were not more than half a dozen waiting to catch a 6 a.m. flight. This was in 1995, with no special terrorist alert in sight.