Local Italian airlines

My husband and I arrive in Rome around 11 am on a Saturday, and leave on Tuesday for Venice. We have 2 nights in Venice, which counting travel leaves us about a day and one half in Venice before we leave for Florence where we spend 3 days. Is that enough time in Venice do you think?

As with most carriers the earlier you can book the fare is usually cheaper. However, you really might want to consider the train instead. The actual fare will be more expensive, but the total cost might be about the same of a bit cheaper. Consider the train will pick you up in Rome city center and drop you off in Venice city center. the current 2nd class fare is around 73 euro and the fast train takes about 3 hours 45 minutes. There are no train changes and only a few stops. to fly you'll have to get out to FCO at a cost to you, arrive early enought to clear security. the flight takes about an hour. On arrival in Venice, if you fly into Marco Polo you are still about 20-30 minutes from the city center. If you happen to fly into Venice - Treviso (Ryanair) you are a bit more than an hour away.

There really is no advantage to flying between Rome and Venice. The speed, convenience and comfort factor for the train for outweighs flying. It will be quicker to take the train.

Gail, I agree with the others, in that travel by train is the most efficient method. You won't save any time travelling by air, when all factors are considered. The rail trip via EuroStar Italia / Alta Velocita is 3H:48M (second class fare currently listed at €73). IMHO, this is MUCH more preferable to putting up with the airport "hassles", baggage limits and surgcharges, transfers to and from the airports, etc. Happy travels!

Thank you. It sounds like the train will be better. Besides, I guess we will see more!

I think we need a better understanding of your travel plans. You keep adding little curves. And you need to define "enough." Can you see everything in Venice in a day and half ??? no but you can see a lot and you can see more the next time. In the same manner you will not see all of Rome in three day. On four visits to Rome and a total of about three weeks, we still haven't see it all. But will see more on the next visit. Why Venice, then Florence? Make more sense to do Florence, then Venice unless you are planning to return to Rome. Then it doesn't make any difference. Have you considered an open jaw ticket into Rome and home from Venice? Saves the expensive and time of back tracking to Rome especially for a short time trip. Why don't you lay out your whole trip so we can better understand your objectives.

Frank, Maybe this will help you with our overall plans. This is a 50th anniversary trip. We are active people in our late 60's early 70's. This is an independent travel plan. Our plan is for 23 days. Our flight from US takes us to: Paris 3 days Rome for 3 days Venice 2 days Florence 3 days Cinque Terre 2 days Central Tuscany for a weeks farm stay.
Orvieto or Bagnoregio 3 days. We fly out of Rome for home. Since we have a 10:30 am flight we are trying to decide whether to overnight in Rome or not.

If you can change your Paris / Rome flight, it makes much more sense to fly Paris to Venice and then work your way down to Rome for departure. So it would go: Paris Venice Florence CT Tuscany Orvieto
Rome depart Rome I might take one of the Orvieto nights and add to either Venice or Rome Doing in this order makes the last night before departure a productive night in ROme rather than a burned travel night.

Gail - Happy 50th Anniversary! We booked our trains in advance because we found such great fares. The Trenitalia website shows specials for many trains and can be booked in advance to get the best fares. We just booked the fastest Rome to Venice connection online for €29 at the very end of March. It showed up as the standard €73 fare but when I selec-ted the train to book, the Mini fare showed up for €29 per person. If the Mini fare is not available, it won't show up when selec-ting the specific train. I had no problems booking the Rome to Venice train and the Venice to Florence train in the English version of the website, but I did have a problem booking the Florence to Rome train. I had to clear my cookies and wait a couple of hours before I could actually book that last train in the Italian version of the website. The Mini fare from Vencie to Florence was €17 and Florence to Rome was €19 - both in April. Enjoy your trip!

Ron's suggestion makes much more sense for scheduling. Why go to Rome twice? Your are backtracking. Second with a 10:30 departure (assuming a connecting flight in Europe and not a direct flight back to the US) you should overnight in Rome. Your hotel can arrange a shuttle that will get you there in plenty of time. The hotels around the airport are second rate and expensive. Enjoy your last night in Rome.

These are all such good suggestions.
I am going to call the airline and see what it would cost to change the flight, (we are using miles), from Paris to Venice instead of Rome for a start to the Italy trip. I just finished booking our B & B's etc. this past week , but it is early enough that I could probably change the dates. At least I know where we want to stay.

I did reverse my trip. I now fly into Venice and end up in Rome to fly back to the states. Does anyone know if there is a train that goes from Venice to Cinque Terre? Or is it better to go from Venice to Florence and then to Cinque Terre and on through Tuscany?

The trip from Venice to the CT on the train takes about 6 hours and on most routes you'll change trains in Florence. The train from Venice to Florence is aout 2 hours on the fast train and the trip from Florence to the Ct is about 3 hours. That's why most people, me included, suggest putting your Florence time in the middle. So Venice then Florence then the CT.

Thank you so much for your input.