Where to stay the night before a departure from Rome
 

In planning a trip for next year (before I book flights), the itinerary is shaping up with 5 nights in southern Tuscany before heading home. I'll have an extra night before leaving from Rome. Any thoughts where we should stay? (We don't intend to visit Rome at all this time) We will have a car and it will be a morning flight. It would be great to leave from Pisa, but those seasonal flights are not on the books yet for next spring.

How early will you book a flight? You could stay somewhere on the coast north of Rome or in the area between Orvieto, Rome and the coast such as Viterbo, Tuscania, Tarquinia. The drive to the airport wouldn't be too far, but it would depend on your flight time.

Last time I was in Orvieto, someone staying where I was had an early flight out of Rome and was training to catch it. She planned to catch a train about 5am (too early for me). She had to arrange a taxi to the train station as the funicular doesn't run that early.

Hello ky. There's a 10:40 am flight from Rome. Of the towns you mentioned, do any have charm?

There's also a 12:45 flight. I wonder why it's 30 minutes longer than the 10:40 flight (both non-stop and same aircraft).

Re the 30-minute discrepancy. On domestic flights in the U.S., airlines often add more minutes to a flight schedule at airports and times where they know delays in taking off or landing are common. This is one of their tricks for keeping on-time statistics high.

I wouldn't be surprised if they do the same thing in Europe.

Personally, I like to play it safe and be IN Rome on the day I have to fly out. You never know what surprises may await you if you plan on driving into the city, or to the airport, on the day of your flight.

There are plenty of relatively inexpensive small hotels and/or B&B's in the area around the airport, as well as the more expensive larger hotels. That said, even though you do not plan on visiting Rome on this trip, I have found that spending my last night in actual Rome city proper and having a lovely evening meal before my flight back, gave me a better "last taste" to my visit than other options (which I have also tried).

Have a good trip!

Have you checked to see if you can book a ticket out of Pisa early enough to connect with the 12;45 flight out of Rome?

I fly out of Italy's secondary airports all the time, connecting with US bound flights that leave after noon. It's easy to make the connections at FCO and it is usually much less hassle getting to the airport in the morning. Plus, if you'd like to go to Pisa, it's a great place to spend the night and enjoy the small city away from the monuments.

If it isn't Pisa that particularly attracts you but just the ease of leaving from Tuscany instead of hauling all the way back to Rome, check out whether departing from the airport in Florence or even Bologna offers you anything attractive.

PS: I should add that I have found one-hour to be sufficient connect time at FCO. And I only have carry on. I might leave more time if I checked a bag, but domestic flights into Rome often start early.

If you see a flight from Pisa that you like and are thinking you can drive there in the morning and drop of your rental, just make sure the rental office at your airport is open. Usually they are, no problem, but check.

First of all, I suggest not to book any accomodation as long as you don't know from which airport you'll be leaving. There's no reasonable way of basing yourself in the middle between Rome and Pisa so to catch the plane wherever it leaves from.
Second, IF it's going to be Rome, DON'T book anywhere just because it's charming there. Traffic around Rome is not fun, and from Tarquinia, Tuscania, Orvieto or Viterbo, the risk of not reaching your plane in time would be far too high - the Grande Raccordo Anulare, the highway loop around Rome, is a route where you can easily incur a one or one-and-a-half hour delay with bad luck. So if you decide on staying away from the metropolitan area, by all means be sure to have a train connection to the airport.
What I would do, though, is basing myself in Ostia Antica for that last night. (It's called "antica", but it's a modern village NEAR the ancient ruins.) That's just 9 kilometres from the airport, and whether you have a car or go by bus, or by taxi, you'd easily reach your plane at whichever hour. Ostia Antica is not what I would call charming, just an average, dull village, but if you have just the evening there, you can still benefit from one of the best restaurants in the environs of Rome: Al Monumento, serving seafood, prepared in the style of Romagna (the region around Rimini - Ravenna). Simple, rustic (don't expect anything faintly fancy!!), really good. If you arrive earlier in order to spend the day there, the archeological site of Ostia is of course nearby, and it's one of the best all around Italy (to put it more precisely, one of the three best, along with Pompeii and Herculaneum). Don't believe the rushers who will inevitably tell you "two hours is just enough for Ostia" - it's not, and you'll immensely enjoy spending the entire day there.

I would keep it simple and spend the last night in Rome. One problem of a connecting flight is that unless both flights are on the same ticket , if the originating flight is late and you miss your flight home, you are on your own. What's so bad about spending your last night in Italy in Rome?

First, thank you for your good advice. I am not booking hotels now, but am feeling the pressure to book the flights so far out because I would like to use Amex pts and for business class if possible. So that urgency is driving the development of the itinerary. I was going to post a new thread to ask advice on that, but if you’re all still around, I would love to know what you think. Although this is probably my 7th trip to Italy, I’m hardly an expert (especially since some of my trips were with a back pack at the turn of the century). In looking at maps, I suddenly feel that I haven’t seen half of what Italy has to offer. The itinerary that I’m considering has only places that we’ve never been to.

Land in Milan and rent a car
2 nights Parma
2 Bologna
3 Cinque Terre area
2 Lucca
5 Southern Tuscany
1 near Rome
Depart from Rome

Originally, I thought we would do RT Milan, but since I feel strongly about finishing in Tuscany, it seems ridiculous to go back north. When I look at multi city flight itineraries for next spring, and if I add Florence, for instance, it comes up going home through Paris and a very long trip. Since Delta's non-stop Pisa to NY is a seasonal flight, it won't be available for next year for quite awhile. I'm wondering if it's possible to book the Rome to NY flight now and whenever the Pisa flight is shown, ask them to make the change.

Did I miss that or didn't you tell so far which month you are going?

You did not miss! May 13 - departure 6 pm NY

So I think your itinerary is excellent. (The Cinque Terre are a big no-no in summer, that's why I asked.)

I have a flight out of FCO to JFK at 12:30 pm. I will be returning my rental car in Tuscany, right across the street from the train station in Chiusi. It is about a 90 minute train ride to Rome Termini. We have a hotel near Termini for that night, and will be able to spend an enjoyable last evening in Rome. (There are many nice inexpensive places to stay within walking distance of Termini). Then the next day we will get the Leonardo Express, which is a 30 minute train ride to FCO. It runs every 30 minutes with the first one leaving at 5:50 am.

We are staying here: http://www.bbluanainn.it/italian.html the night before we leave from Fiumicino. It is only about 4 km from the airport, as I recall. It is also 2 km from Ostia Antica, which we are going to visit the day before we leave. this inn was recommended by someone here on Fodor's as I recall.

CPG: I would certainly heed Franco's advice on Ostia. If for any reason that does not work out, this Fiumicino restaurant was recommended for a last Roman meal by MFant on another board. It does look a bit fancy but if that is ok with you, the food should be excellent.

They have a hotel on site:


http://www.pascuccialporticciolo.com/porticciolo/

Agree with Franco, stay close to Ostia Antica. Every time I'm in Rome I return to OA for my "time stood still" experience. And very few tourists or rather very few people. I just hope it doesn't become another Pompeii.

We fly out of FCO at 10:55am, so we are staying at the following hotel the night before:

Hotel Albergo Del Senato Rome - www.albergodelsenato.it/

A little pricier, but right across from the Pantheon and very close to a couple of attractions that we can visit the night before.

FYI - Delta has a bonus offer for Amex points transfer (25%) through the end of June. You must register before the transfer.
https://www.delta.com/marketing/summerpromo/