Rome Fiumicino airport hotel recommendations. Restaurant reccos too?

Why stay near FCO? It’s an easy and relatively inexpensive taxi ride from Rome. You can enjoy a great meal, stroll, get a few hours sleep and have your (pre-arranged) shuttle or taxi pick you up at 5:30 AM. Since it’s Sunday traffic should not be an issue. Several on this forum have stayed close to FCO and done OK. But, on the recommendation of others here we stayed at The Hotel San Carlo, had a great lunch and dinner at the two nearby restaurants they suggested (and reserved) and used Welcome Pickups to get to FCO (same flight time as you).

I have stayed at the Hilton at the airport. It has an elevated walkway to the terminal and has a restaurant on site. But...on our last trip, we had a 9:40 AM flight and stayed in town. If you catch a taxi around 6-630, you will arrive in plenty of time. You should have your hotel arrange for a taxi the night before if you do this.

To me there are only 3 choices:

1. If I must stay near the airport (if my flight is super early, like at 6:30), I stay at the Hilton, because I save myself €48 of taxi fare and can walk to the terminal in 5 min.
2. If I don’t need to stay right at the airport, then I stay in the city center itself.
3. Tertium non datur (there is no third choice). Anything other than the above two choices would still require at least 15-20 min on a taxi for at least €25 of taxi fare. Saving 20€ and 15 min would not be worthwhile the sacrifice of staying away from the city center.

Thanks all,
A bit of backstory is that we will be arriving on Saturday from near Bologna or somewhere in either Le Marche/Umbria. Yes, it's uncertain and fluid, only flights have been booked. We pick up and drop our AutoEurope rental at Fiumicino on that Saturday. We could drop the car and taxi into town for the night although depending what time we arrive at FCO from "wherever" it may not be worth the additional expense and logistics. As I mentioned earlier this type of airport stay is my last resort/option and would prefer staying in Rome for the night. It will depend on what time I think we would arrive in Rome on Saturday. We ended our French trip this past June in Toulouse. Drove into the center of town on Sat., had the hotel valet park us and drove out to the airport the next day for a 12:00 flight. I don't think I would ever consider driving into Rome for the night.

Best,
wvdthree

First ?, is your 9.30am flight a direct to the US or a connecting flight to somewhere else in Europe. Since it very rare for direct flight back to the US at that time, I am assuming it is a connecting flight. That means you should be at the airport around 7.30 and on a Sunday, 8 am is probably adequate. So I would stay in Rome and catch a taxi at 7am and you would be in good shape.

But to answer your specific question. If you are going to stay at the airport, use the Hilton and walk to the Terminal. Free shuttle service for airport hotels are not as common in Italy as in the US. And sometimes, if provided, that service is very limited. The Hilton will be more than $150 but staying at the airport is critical, then that is the price you pay.

I was posting at the same time you were. Taxi to and from the airport is fixed at 48euro. Personally I would drop the car at Termini (train station) in Rome. It is fairly direct and easy to get to from the outer ring road. Save yourself a day's car rental. Stay in the Terminal area (we also do) and either take taxi in the am or grab the Leonard Express train to the airport. The train fare, I think, is 14 euro but could be a euro or two more.

Frank,
Thanks for the follow up. It is actually a direct flight FCO to ORD, O'Hare which was great to find. That said I feel like we need to be there three hours prior. I'm conservative. That would mean a 5:30 taxi from city center to the airport. Looks like taxis from FCO to downtown Rome are 50 euros ish so 100 round trip. A lot will depend on if we would have enough time to walk around Rome Sat. afternoon/evening. That will depend on our lodging prior to Rome. Thanks again. More posts to come re. lodging and restaurants once itinerary is honed in.

Taxi fare is fixed at 48euro but if you dropped at the train station you would have only one fare to the airport. If it is a direct flight back, then you should be there around 6.30 to 7 because of exit immigration processing. Crowds at that time of morning will be pretty light. The taxi from Rome will be quick at about 30 minutes. So you could leave around six but little difference between 5.30 and 6am. But Roberto is correct, it is the Hilton or nothing.

We stayed at this hotel... http://www.hotelrivierafiumicino.com/en/home-page.aspx... Couple blocks to the beach and reasonable shuttle fee to airport ( memory a bit foggy, but 10-15 minute ride?)

Had dinner at Chalet del Mare, a 15 min. walk from the hotel. Saw several other restaurants along the way. Hotel should have a suggestion as well.

Found waterfront dinner and beachfront sunset a nice way to end our trip.