Airport preference

The main airports for two of those are Venice Marco Polo and Rome Fiumicino. "Best" depends on the airfare and where you're staying.

Treviso and Ciampino airports also have reasonable local transport into Venice and Rome, respectively, but they're both used mostly by budget airlines that will not be partnering with your trans-Atlantic carrier, if coming from North America. Book the whole ticket together to/from Venice and Rome (using a multi-city trip request), not piecemeal from different sources, to ensure that one carrier/partnership is responsible to get you there.

If I were purchasing air ticket around your tour, assuming the tour starts in Venice and ends in Rome, I would look for a multi city (aka Open Jaw) ticket with arrival at Venice Marco Polo airport (airport code: VCE) and return from Rome Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci airport (airport code FCO). By not flying in and out of the same airport you could save both time and train fare. The one way train ticket from Rome to Venice (or vice versa) is about $100 and the trip takes 4 hours with the high speed train.

We don't know where you are coming from, but from the East Coast flights in and out of Milan can be a great deal. In my book, saving $600 on airfare would certainly trump the convenience of flying open jaw, especially considering the frequency and cost of high speed trains from/to Milan. Take a look just to see what the cost is.

As that tour starts in Venice and ends in Rome, those would be the most logical airports to use. If you find cheaper flights to other airports (ie: Milan), be sure to factor in the cost of the trains from Milan to Venice. Having to sit on a train for another couple of hours in a jet lagged state would not be my preference, as that would add several hours to an already tiring journey.

But remember, flying to Venice will generally mean having to make a transfer at another airport in Europe, as there are no flights direct from North America in March (at least for now). So landing in Milan in the morning and taking a noon train to Venice would be my choice over rushing around CDG or FRA and getting on another packed flight. A 2nd class train seat is way more comfortable than an airline seat, and you arrive IN Venice, not an airport outside of town with another couple of legs by bus and vaporetto still ahead of you.

We did the Venice, Florence, Rome RS Tour in June.

We flew into Milan and immediately took a fast train to Venice. It was only $35 and it was a nice relaxing 2 hour trip.

Then we did the tour...ending in Rome and we had an extra 3 days...when we went on our on down to Pompeii for a day trip and then flew from the Naples Airport back up to Milan. The easyJet flight from Naples to Milan was only 1 hour and cost $30. Yes...a flight for $30!

Then we had a day in Milan...before we flew back out from MXP. We ended up going to Lake Como for a day trip...which was a nice day trip.

I guess I should have been a little more specific. The travel sites list 2 airports for each city. I was wondering if there was a better one to choose in each city for distance to downtown, ease of travel, etc. Trying to make traveling as stress-free as possible for 3 inexperienced international travelers. We live in Missouri, so we will be changing planes a number of times regardless of the route we take.

Hi bharlin. As Micheal says, the 'main' airports for anybody coming / connecting from US are VCE in Venice and FCO in Rome. They aren't necessarily closer or more convenient to the cities, but will have 95% of the flights coming / connecting from US. Use those in your search, or in many search tools, you can put in 'Venice - all airports' and 'Rome - all airports'. If so, again, you will see that 95% of flights that come up will be via VCE and FCO. However, as other posters mention, also double check flying in and/or out of Milan, just in case that saves you hundreds of dollars, or provides better connections from Missouri, you could decide whether that is worth it. Enjoy your trip!

As the others have mentioned, the main airports (and the ones most likely to have international flight connections) are.....

• Rome / FCO
• Venice / VCE
• Milan / MXP

Which "travel sites" are you using? You may want to book directly with the airlines, or enlist the aid of a good travel agent. Once you've got your flights booked, the group here will be able to provide additional information on transportation options from the airports you choose.