departure help from FCO

IMHO, driving down from San Gimignano is not a cogent strategy because too many things could go wrong. The rule of thumb, at least on several forum boards, would be to return the car the day before and stay in Roma for the last night.

We like a great b&b across from the Roma Opera House called Armonio All' Opera and we have stayed there many times. It's about a 10-15 minute walk to Stazione Termini and the Leonardo Express for transport to FCO. You could also look on Tripadvisor for a hotel. Also, the restaurant Al' Amatriciana is one of our favorites in Roma, which is located downstair from this b&b.

For the past several years we have used romashuttle.com for their limo service to FCO at a cost of 45€. They are extremely reliable and diligent.

FYI: We always arrive at the airport 3 hours in advance for a transatlantic flight home. We find this to be a most cogent strategy.

Buon viaggio,

Thanks for the response. I do agree about all the variables rushing down that morning.
We DO need to return our car at the airport, so staying the night around there would be better. I'd hope for a hotel at airport with shuttle that could pick us at the FCO rental facility, take us to the hotel, and then next morning shuttle us to our departure terminal.

Tip: you don't manage traffic around Roma, it manages you.

Stay in your departure city the night before, you can relax with that time cushion.

The concept of shuttles moving people from rental to hotel to airport is more of a US service concept. Free shuttles are not that prevalent in Europe. The rental drop is in the airport so you can walk to the terminal. The last time we stay in a hotel on the far south side of Rome (same side as airport), then the drive to the airport in the am was about 20 minutes. Dropped the car and walked to the terminal for a similar departure time.

The drive is about 3.5 hours on an average day, including a short pit stop to refuel.

You need to be at the airport, I'd say at least 2 hours before departure, but 2.5 is safer if your airline has the check in at T5. So let's say 9:30. You probably want an extra 30 min for the car rental return procedures in the parking structures across the terminals (sometimes it takes longer than you may be used in the US). To be there at Fiumicino no later than 9am, you have to come through Roma Nord entrance on the A1 freeway at the worst possible time (the morning commute). Anything can happen on the GRA (Grande Raccordo Anulare = Grand Ring Beltway) at 8-8:30am on a week day. Sometimes it's a parking lot.

San Gimignano is a bit too far for comfort in my book. But everyone has its own threshold of Risk Appetite.

When we had an AM flight out of FCO, we stayed in Fiumicino. ( Hotel Riviera) The hotel has a shuttle service ( approx 5-6 euro p/p)

It made for a stress free situation to order the shuttle the night before and know it would be ready when we needed to depart for the airport.

Unless you have a "no penalty for changes" type of airfare, the AM drive sounds way too speculative a proposition.

Roberto has made it very clear to me that driving in the morning of your flight is a terrible idea.

I would suggest returning the car to the airport the afternoon before. Find a hotel in Rome. Have a nice dinner, go for an evening stroll, grab a gelato along the way. Stop by the Trevi fountain to toss a few coins in and call it a trip. Relatively leisurely departure for FCO in the morning.

We spend the night before our FCO flight in Ostia Lido at the Barcelo Blu hotel. It was lovely, right on the beach and only a 15 drive to FCO. The car rental has easy access to all terminals and took about 15 minutes. There was free parking in front of the hotel. We walked to the marina for dinner at Friends restaurant. The whole experience made fir a nice final night in Italy.

We stayed in Greve, which is roughly the same distance from FCO as San Gimignano. Our departure was about the same time as yours.

We decided to stay at the Hilton at FCO. We left Greve the morning before our flight and enjoyed a scenic drive to FCO. I dropped Deb off at the Hilton and returned the rental car, which turned out to be an adventure due to the construction at the airport and the moving of the rental facility from one parking garage to another.

Still we had plenty of time to catch the free 2:00 pm shuttle to Rome. The shuttle drops you off right next to the Victor Emmanuel II Monument (Wedding Cake). From there we walked over to the Piazza Navona where we were to meet our Walks of Italy Evening Stroll tour. We took the last shuttle back to the hotel, arriving around 11:00 pm. Our last day in Italy turned out to be relaxing and stress free.

I travel frequently for work and had accumulated a lot of Hilton Honors points, which gave us a free upgrade to the executive floor. In the morning, we took the free shuttle from the hotel to directly to Terminal 5 (Delta), which is separate from the main terminal complex. This way we avoided having to go to the main terminal, then take the shuttle from there to Terminal 5.