We recently returned from a trip to Italy, leaving by way of Rome and spending our last day near the airport in the Fiumicino neighborhood to catch an early flight.
All of the larger transactional experiences from the cab rides to the food was in general less than satisfying. I know that these two neighborhoods rely on departing tourist traffic so we expect to pay more for the convenience, but I felt like I was emerging from a den of thieves. We did enjoy a nice walk along the Mediterranean that last afternoon. Is there some more pleasant way to close out a good trip to this beautiful country? Thank you for your recommendations.
David
Posted by
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23671 posts
Without knowing specifically what your problems were, hard to make a recommendation. When we are returning from Rome we always have a nice dinner at one of the better restaurants in Rome to cap our trip on the last night. And then a late stroll across the city. With a couple of exceptions, it is rarely necessary to spend the night around the airport.
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
34352 posts
Because the taxi ride in the middle of the night from Rome to the airport is only about half an hour, not hugely far off the time the taxi from Fiumicino or Ostia takes, most of the people I know stay the last night at their hotels in Rome and book a car for the morning trip.
Posted by
Tucson
4183 posts
Too complicated to explain why, but we spent 2 nights in Fiumicino at the beginning of our current trip. We could not make reservations in advance. If needed I thought it would be easy to get a room at the Tiber, where we are staying on the way back. I was wrong, wrong, wrong!
The place was sold out, as was almost every other place in town. We ended up at the Best Western. The room was adequate but pricey. The breakfast was good and other meals at an attached restaurant were also good.
I hope we can take advantage of Ge.Pa.Gi. on our way back home.
We used the shuttle van that serves so many of the local hotels. It worked great, got us to the airport in plenty of time for our flight to Istanbul (the driver used some short cuts) and only cost 6€ pp. I thought that was very reasonable.
FCO is only a pass-through airport on this trip, so we had no interest in going into Rome. Even if we had, we would likely have stayed near FCO our last night anyway, just to avoid the frenetic flight home morning.
Posted by
Toledo, Ohio, US
11613 posts
Just a personal preference, but I can't think of a situation where I would spend my last night in Rome at the airport or in other areas near FCO. That last glimpse of the centro storico from the cab window is worth every euro the taxi/train costs, even if it means getting into the cab at 5am.
Posted by
Coraopolis, Pa, USA
1018 posts
Like the other posters mentioned, when we depart from Roma we always spend the last few days in Roma. We can wind down exploring the various neighborhoods, find less touristy restaurants, and then use a limo service to FCO. The limos are a few euros cheaper than the cab rates. When we were more energetic we walked to Stazione Termini and used the Leonardo for transport to FCO.
So you now have made a learning experience from this episode of your trip and will be more knowledgeable about departures for your next trip to Italia.
Buon viaggio,