flights

You're looking at a cheaper fare than I am! I'm seeing $1800. I don't know what your itinerary is, but if you are traveling to several cities, like Venice, Florence, Rome you may want to fly into Rome and
out of Venice to avoid backtracking. There's a website called cheapoair.com You might want to try them to look at alternative ways to do this. Also kayak.com Keep in mind that train tickets are not inexpensive, and an open-jaw (flying into and out of different cities)may be worth your while for two reasons, even if a hundred more the train tickets, and the wasted precious vacation time spent back-tracking to leave from your arrival city. Happy Travels!

Twelve hundred is a pretty good price from Chicago. It might get closer to a thousand but I doubt it. You rarely save money flying into another airport and taking local transportation. Are you seeing any differences between Milan and Rome which is about you only alternate choice?

Time is worth something on a trip, too. Let's say you got a cheaper flight into Zurich, and could get a cheap train from Zurich to Rome. Let's further suppose that the total cost of these was less than flying to Rome. You would still lose a day getting from Zurich to Rome. If you're traveling for a month, or want to see Switzerland too, this may be worth it. Otherwise, I don't think it is. So, you'll do better flying to exactly where you want to be (or at least very close). For instance, if you want to start with Florence, you can look at flights into Florence, Bologna, Pisa, or even Rome. If one is substantially cheaper, it may be worth the extra hour or two it will take to get to Florence vs. flying right into FLR. But if your goal is to see Italy, don't fly to Frankfurt or Dublin just because they're cheaper. Yes, flights to Italy are often pricey. Figure out what cities you will be seeing, then determine if you would do better with a round trip or an open jaw flight (into one city and out of another). For Italy, it often works best to fly into Venice or Milan and fly out of Rome or Naples, to maximize your sightseeing time. To find these flights, use the "multi city" option on http://www.kayak.com, and be sure to check "search nearby airports." But even though these are "nearby," research how you will actually get where you want to be, and what it will cost in time, money, and hassle, before accepting any "alternative" airports.

I can't believe you found a flight as cheap as $1230. Be sure to look for anything odd with it, like extra long layovers, or having to change airports (happens a lot in London). But that's a great price!

Flying open jaws (multi-city) usually makes sense if you are traveling to different cities. It will maximize your in-country travel time. As a matter of note, a suggestion would to not fly home from Venice because flights depart really early in the morning. Sometimes the flights leave before public transportation is operating. An unwritten rule of thumb is this: if you find a ticket price you can live with...buy it and stop looking. Continued looking will only make you crazy. When you travel you will either spend time or money...and sometimes both. Buon viaggio.

Thank you so much for your advice. I had us flying in and out of Rome, but now I will look into flying out of another location to maximize our time.

Joan: Many Spring fares increase on 3/27/14. We usually don't wait until May for European trips. Italy historically is not cheap to fly into directly. You can fly Air Lingus Chicago-Dublin cheap. Air Lingus also flies from Dublin into Venice and Rome.
Ryanair also flies Dublin-Rome Ciampino cheap. Just pack light when you fly on them.

Joan, I encourage you to pursue open-jaw routing. This website may help you decide day, route, and price options. http://matrix.itasoftware.com/warn/unsupported

That's about how much we paid for our trip last May from Seattle we flew into Venice and out of Rome. I checked flights to other cities in Europe at that time Nd they were either the same or it wasn't with the cost of the extra travel to get there (time or hard costs). We booked our tickets in Feb.

I echo what other are telling you. That price is great. I always budget $2000.00. Most I've had to pay was about $1650.00 during Easter. Open jaw tickets are e way to go. I leave Oct 3 for Italy and actually got a ticket using Skymiles!

If you can, fly midweek... I've seen $400 difference between flights on Wednesday vs Friday or Saturday. As an example, I recently saw flights from Seattle to Rome returning from Venice next month for $1150. (Wednesday to Wednesday flights.) Needless to say, I booked as soon as I could!