My wife and I have a 0615 flight home from Rome on a Saturday in April. We will be staying the previous 2 nights in a convent near the Vatican City. Should we spent Friday night in a hotel near the airport (FCO), spend the night trying to sleep in the airport, or just stay at the convent and trust that a cabbie arrives at 0330 to get us to the airport on time?
Thanks for any suggestions.
This question gets asked frequently. I guess it depends on how young your are and your sense of adventure. A lot of people have that problem and solve it by overnighting at the airport. You will have lots of company if you do. Look at it this way -- you should sleep well on your way home.
Hotels around the airport are more expensive.If you believe it's worth it paying at least 200 Euros, then sleep near the airport. A taxi would cost you about 50 Euros. The cheapest way (FREE)is to sleep in the airport. Some people don't like the idea, I have no problems doing that.
We have a very similar situation in May, so we've decided to just spend the night at Fiumicino. Hotels near the airport are way out of our budget. Here is a fun website that acutally has some good info on sleeping in airports. Yeah, it probably won't be a great night, but you won't miss your flight and you'll sleep good on your way home!! (at least thatt's how we look at it)
http://www.sleepinginairports.com/
Although Fiumicino is on the 'hate' list on this website, i don't think it sounded so bad....not nearly as bad as CDG!
Have no idea what Jodi means by saying that Fiumicino is on a hate list for this website. I don't think I have seen anyone refer to FCO in those terms. It is an average European international airport -- nothing to hate or love.
On my last day in Rome, I transfered from a downtown hotel to a convent near the Vatican. That change saved me about 20E on hotel costs, which covered most of a 30E airport shuttle ticket. The extra 10E was worth it to spend my final night in Rome. I also structured my itinerary so that the Vatican and St. Peters were on that final day (near the convent). I asked for a 3:45am shuttle pickup, and the driver was waiting for me right on time. The ride to the airport took about half an hour.
There's two ways to do it- I researched it before going, and chose #2;
1) grab a cab to the Tiburtina station, and catch a 230 bus to Fiumicino (and that's the last one before 530AM)
2) grab a cab anywhere in central Rome for a guaranteed 40E fare, + supplement of 5.8E and baggage handling- so call it 50E to be safe.
Either way, grab some food and drinks to take with you because NOTHING is open in the airport until 6AM. Your hosts at the convent can get the cab for you- we were close enough to walk over to Termini so we just did that (at 330AM). Carabinieri asked what we were up to, and my wife said, DOH... they did the L lower eyelid pull and said, "Be careful".
