Provence and Rome
 

My husband and I want to take our 2 boys, ages 23 and 20 to Europe mid-May for about 10 days. We are considering Provence (I'm a French teacher so he and I went 10 years ago and loved it!) and then going to Rome. What is the best and cheapest way to get to Rome from the South of France? Or vice-versa. Any ideas on where to fly into and where to fly back to US from?

francelover, you can take the TGV to Nice and from there you can fly to Rome with the Blue Express , which from Nice is only one hour flight.
As a matter of fact I will be doing the same route at the end of June.

Here is the web:

http://www.blu-express.com/cgi-bin/a...ANG=IT&LFF

You can also now take Ryanair from Marseille to Rome.

-Kevin

Thanks for the information Kevin..My last stop in Provence is Toulon which is very close to Marseille.
I need to check Ryanair web site for their June schedules.

I strongly suggest taking Ryan Air or EasyJet. Both airlines have great prices, not to mention great customer service.

I'm doing the same thing in September. Trying to get from Avignon to Rome. I was planning to train to Nice and then take the Riviera night train to Rome. Has anyone done that? It was going to be $264US approx. for 2 of us for the overnight sleeper in addition to a day on our Pass.

However, these airfares are so cheap! Is it really 9.99 euros to fly one way to Rome??

Oops, I see they tack on a lot for taxes- total for 1 was 50 euros, but still..that's cheap.

Also, just looked and Easyjet doesn't fly from Nice to Rome yet...

I really would love to fly to Venice from Nice or Marseille but I cant find any cheaper carriers for these routes..
Any suggestions?

They really are that cheap. Once flew from Marseille to London for .99 cents. Of course, you then tack on the taxes, but still hard to beat the price. You need to pay attention to the luggage allowances and make sure to get to the airport with a bit of time to spare. Otherwise, I can vouch for Easyjet, Ryanair and Transavia - others are no doubt fine, but I can't vouch for them personally.

Great site to find these routes is www.whichbudget.com -

-Kevin

Francelover,

Your trip sounds wonderful! I am sure your boys will really appreciate the experience, even if it takes a couple of years for it to sink in : ) Not sure if this will be helpful or not but I was browsing www.culturecloud.com and came across a posting by someone driving from Southern France through Italy - it's beautifully written and descriptive (including hotels they are staying at and places they are eating) - they are mid-trip. I would just click on their name and e-mail them to see if they would have done it differently. Worth reading at least ... http://www.culturecloud.com/Articles...634/Italy.aspx