Rome/Florence Trip-Cheaper Flights to Other Cities

We don't know your home airport, and fares vary greatly by origin.

I suggest going to Google Flights and entering your preferred origin airport. Stick with Round trip for this initial research. Click on "Explore destinations" just above the map. On the next screen, enter "Europe" as your destination. Click inside the calendar field and choose 2-week trip in May since September is not an option.

Zoom in on the map and focus on the geographical area you are interested in. Make a note of the places with the lowest round-trip fares. Although the fares themselves will change, there's a good chance that the cheapest cities you find today will be among the cheapest when it is time to buy your tickets.

Now you can explore what happens when you try a multi-city trip into one of your cheap options and home from Rome. Sometimes the multi-city trip is a good deal and sometimes it isn't. You just have to try it and see.

Sometimes other factors influence the prices. For example myself and a couple of friends wanted to watch England play Italy in the Six Nations in February however the flights to Rome for that weekend were far more expensive than usual (from the UK) so instead we found cheap flights to Milan and took the fast train to Rome which, all in, was still cheaper than flying direct to Rome.

Italy is generally more expensive to get into from the U.S. than other European countries. Milan is less expensive, but it's very far north in the country.

We have flown in and out of London Gatwick and taken EasyJet into Pisa and out of Rome. Last time we flew out of Venice, the British Airways flight was to Heathrow and it was fairly priced to compete with the budget airlines.

The last time I went to Venice, it was way cheaper to fly to Milan Malpensa and take a train from there. Florence is actually 1/2 hour closer to Milan than Venice given the high-speed rail tracks between them.

Sounds like you hope to visit Florence first and then go to Rome. If you can find a less expensive open jaws flight into Milan and out of Rome, go for it. Trains from Malpensa to Florence take only about a half hour longer than the trains from Fiumicino and are only slightly more expensive. The one small negative is that connections from Malpensa may be about hourly while trains from Fiumicino run more frequently. Also note that there are 2 direct trains each day from Fiumicino to Florence, currently at 11:08 and 15:08.

Thanks for all of the suggestions so far. Responses to a couple of the postings: We are flying from Dallas and don't really care whether we start in Rome or Florence. We have traveled to Europe before, love the public transportation, plan out more than we can do in a given day and then easily change our plans based on how things are going (such as doing something that is set for day 2 on day 1 if it becomes convenient or dropping something that wasn't high interest off the list if time doesn't allow-very flexible once we are 'boots on the ground').

If you do fly into a city other than the one you want to start in, remember to add the cost of a last minute train ticket from there to the place you want to be, or a hotel night in the arrival city before taking a pre-booked discount ticket for the next morning. Or, if you're the gambling type, you could buy a pre-booked discount ticket for your day of arrival. But if you miss that train, you'll have to buy a last minute ticket on top of it, and if you're early, you could have a long wait while jet lagged.

If you fly out of a city other than the one you want to end your trip in, remember to add the cost of a hotel the night before, near enough to make it easily to the airport the next morning. Also remember to factor in the time lost in the places you want to be. To give an example that comes up often, if someone has flown round trip to London and is seeing Scotland, they have to get back to London the night before their flight - losing a day in Scotland.

If you're thinking of stringing together two separate plane tickets to save money (say, a cheap ticket from Dallas to New York, then a cheap ticket from New York to Rome), read this to learn about all the possible pitfalls: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g41707-c207311/Newton:Massachusetts:Connecting.On.Separate.Tickets.html

I'm not saying these things can't or shouldn't be done, particularly if there's a big enough saving to justify it, or if there are other places you want to see anyway. For instance, if it's much cheaper to fly to Zurich than to Milan or Rome, you could spend a few days in Switzerland before going to Italy. I'm just saying you have to figure ALL the factors into the equation.

As said above, the only rule about airfares is that there are no rules. What city will be "cheap" or "expensive" to fly into is a moving target. Milan is indeed often cheaper than Rome - except when they're the same price, or when Rome is cheaper (doing searches over the years, I've seen all three scenarios). And when one is cheaper, it can be by $300, or only by $50. In the former case, I'd take the train to my ultimate destination. In the latter case, it would be a wash financially (figuring in the train), so I'd fly to my destination and save the hassle.

It's good that you're starting to look now, so you can get an idea of prices. That way, you'll know a good deal when you see it, so you can snag it quickly (deals can disappear in an hour, as the airlines use computers to adjust prices constantly). But, you have plenty of time - don't be in any hurry to buy tickets that aren't discounted.

How long do you have for the trip. Usually time = money, so to save money will cost you a bit in time. For me, I have more time (usually) than money so I often do things like flying into a different city. I have also found flights to Milan usually less than Rome. If you buy train tickets well in advance the price is cheap, but you need to allow plenty of time in case your flight is late. And if it's really late you may miss the train and need to buy a last minute one. Could still be cheaper than flying to Rome, you just have to compare to see if it's worth it. But if you have an entire day to spare you could spend the night in Milan (a lovely city that many people skip, but certainly worth it for one night) and book the train for the next day, minimizing chances that you'd miss it. Another option I frequently do is fly to London, which is usually cheapest of all, then take Easy Jet or another economy carrier to Rome or Florence. But you definitely then need at least one night. I usually book a couple but then I love London and am happy for an excuse to spend a couple of days. You also need to figure in the cost of getting to/from the airport to London city center and back again for the flight to Italy. But in some cases I've seen flights many hundreds of dollars less, even with all the add ins so if you can "afford" a couple less days in Italy that works. And the third option would be to get to a city in the US that has flights on Aer Lingus, or Norwegian, or Iceland Air - those are usually the cheapest airlines.

Isabel,
We will probably stay about a week-a few days in each location. We are ok for money because we will save up before we go. But, if there is a way to pay less or even about the same and get another event worked in, we would think about it.

The shorter the trip, the more value you get out of flying right where you want to be, even if it costs more. With only a week or so, it's worth it to fly to the places you're seeing, unless the cost difference is gargantuan.

Harold is dead right. If you start taking non-optimal transportation, your short vacation will become a too-short vacation.

That is a good point. Thanks

I would pick one of these two options:

1. Fly multi-city home to Milan and Rome - home, then take a train to Florence from Milan

2. Fly round trip to Rome. Note that there is a direct train from Rome FCO airport to Florence.

Flying to Milan MXP will add about 4 hours to your trip to Florence and at least $80 per person to the cost of transportation.
Since your airport is DFW, which is an AA hub, and since AA is a partner with British Airways, the easiest way to get to Florence is from DFW to London LHR then a BA flight to either Pisa PSA or Bologna BLQ (British doesn’t fly to Florence FLR from LHR). Both PSA and BLQ are near Florence. Between Pisa and Bologna I would probably choose Bologna because there is only one flight a day from LHR to PSA but there are 3 to BLQ. But if the time works, PSA can work as well.
The return trip would be from Rome FCO to LHR (BA) then to DFW. AA also has seasonal flights from FCO to New York JFK and to Chicago ORD, if you prefer that route.