Open-jaw advice?

Well that's a rather odd question. None of us have control of the costs of your flight/airport choices. However, a little geographic knowledge would tell you that going from Venice to Florence to Cinque Terre will take you East to West (not in a straight line). This is not a big area to cover so an open jaw flight might be overkill. For example you want to visit London and Paris and Rome, then an open jaw flight into London and out of Rome would be highly advisable.

If you just must have an open jaw flight for your trip I guess you could fly into Venice and out of Genoa (Cinque Terre)...or you could do the reverse.

BTW the major airports would be in Milan, Venice, Florence, Rome, Naples.

With the 3 destinations in Italy you mentioned, it looks like your best bet would be to go with Delta Airlines which offers 1 stop service from Denver via JFK to both Venice (VCE) and Milan (MXP). Layover times in New York aren't bad; 3 to 4 hours. I did a sample trip for the month of May, and a roundtrip Milan is $1,700, and an open-jaw into Venice and returning from Milan is just $68 more. Don't know of another airline that can get you to Venice with just 1 stopover (United does Milan out of Chicago but not Venice, and British Air requires you to switch airports in London). You'll save the most money by flying on Mondays through Thursdays.

Most of the direct flights from the States fly into either Rome or Milan. If you want to fly into one of the smaller airports (Venice, Florence) it usually means a transfer in Europe.

You could also consider a R/T to Milan. Fly to Milan and then take a train to Venice. Train Venice to Florence. Train to Cinque Terre and then return to Milan for flight home (or start in Cinque Terre and end in Venice).

Try using sidestep.com or kayak.com to see what airline options there are. When you put in your airports, check the option to include nearby airports.

How do you search for "open jaw"? I only find searches for round trip or one way?
Cindy

For Cindy:
Most airline websites have an option for 'Multi-City' near where you enter the airport codes. Click the multi-city, then you enter each leg of your trip one at a time.

We fly Lufthansa from DIA. Nice direct flight to Frankfort, change plane and arrive in Florence.

Depending on how you split your time between these 3 places, you really could just fly into and out of Florence. It's a really easy airport to get into and out of. There is a bus that's really inexpensive that will take you from the airport to the main train station, and you are in the center of Florence.

Another option would be to fly into Pisa, visit the Cinque Terre, train it to Florence, spend your time there, then end in Venice and arrange to fly home from there.

Check into Luftansa for nicer, direct flights. United is the biggest carrier in Denver, offers the most options, but things are changing, the offers are shrinking. Do make sure that if you book, you check often to make sure the airlines have not eliminated your route! That happened to us for next May when United/Lufthansa dropped their direct DIA to Munich flight...we were booked and had to beg to get the DIA to Frankfort for our already scheduled bike trip!

Hi Ernest. Delta flies to Pisa (close to Florence) and also into Venice through JFK. You could fly in to Pisa, take trains to your destinations and then ultimately fly from Venice back to the states.

Ernest,

The option suggested by Tim (Ojai) is the one I would probably choose. Start your trip in Venice, train to Florence and the Cinque Terre and then return home via Milano (MXP).

You might want to speak with a Travel Agent to get some idea on the best flight options.

Good luck!

I spent 13 days (12 nights) in that area in October. My only airport choice was Milan. It worked very well for me. My first and last nights were in Milan. Day 2 I took the train to Venice, stopping for the day in Verona (left luggage at train station). Then from Venice to Florence, I stopped in Padua for the day to see the Scrovegni Chapel. And again, from Florence to CT, I stopped for 1/2 day in Pisa to see the leaning tower. I got to see a lot without too many hotel changes. I also did a day trip by bus from Florence to Siena.

We flew into Venice and out of Rome. You can see pictures and details at our blog at: http://gadtravel.blogspot.com/