Travel to Venice?

Funny, my Delta flight went through ATL. check out Trenitalia for timetables from Rome and Milan (don't bother trying to book, it won't let you and in person is just as good). Also give Pisa and Florence a shot. Were you checking "Open-Jaw"? When we booked, it was cheaper to go in to Venice and out of Rome.

I haven't done it yet, but in October I will be flying into Milan and taking the train to Venice. I am doing it for the same reason. The flights into Milan were much, much cheaper ($200-$300). Interestingly enough, we will be flying from New Orleans with one stop in Atlanta. To give you a reference point, our tickets ended up being $734/person for open jaw into Milan and out of Rome. I know that's not very helpful since you were looking for someone with actual experience, but I tried!

Greg:
Did this last October. You will have it easier because there is now a train to Milano Centrale where you connect to a train to Venezia. (We took a bus to Centrale, then a train. I'd guess you'll save at least 45 minutes over what we did.) We arrived about 2:30PM. It was a very relaxing ride. Grab some food & water though, before you embark. Check Trenitalia's website. Put in "Malpensa aeroporto" as your departure location and "Venezia" for arrival. (I even had to use the Italian for the Malpensa location on the English site, so be sure to try that. It did not recognize only "Malpensa" as a location.) There are even a couple of "Freccia" trains from Malpensa to Venezia requiring no change. You can buy your ticket at the airport. FYI, we are doing Rome to Venice later this year. Leonardo Express to Termini from FCO, then Freccia to Venice. Will be there by mid-afternoon.

I booked an open-jaw flight from Atlanta to Venice & back from Florence for June and saved about $100 by going to Venice first. Booked early in Feb. thru Expedia on Air Canada & Swiss Air. The total was about $200 less than my daughter paid in 2008. She flew Delta from Atlanta to Milan for her honeymoon and they lost their luggage! I found that checking the travel sites around midnight turns up deals sometimes.

Are all flights from USA to Italy overnight flights? I have yet to find any that leave the US in the morning and arrive the same day. I, too, am looking at flying into Venice but out of Rome. Flying overnight would be awful, since I find it impossible to sleep much on a plane (since I cannot afford first class).

@Laura - all flights from the US to Europe are overnight. I guess they do that to try to simulate a normal evening, night, and morning; and so that you'll arrive at your destination in the morning and not at midnight or later. Planes bound for the US leave Europe in the morning so you have a very long day if you're flying to the US. I can't sleep much on a plane either - I'm lucky if I get 2 hours. The first day in Europe is a little wonky for a lot of people because of jetlag and lack of sleep. But after your first night in Europe, even if you only sleep 3 hours, you're on local time the next morning.

To answer Laura from Illinois, there are no daytime flights to Italy from the U.S. However, there are daytime flights to London from Washington, New York, Boston, and Chicago ... but they typically arrive around 9 to 10pm which is too late to connect to another flight in Europe. You would have to stay overnight in London. To answer Greg's question, I have flown into Milan and taken the train to Padua (on the route to Venice). It is not a bad choice, especially if it saves you some money. I took the bus to Milan Central station and then got the train. When I did this I waited to buy my train ticket until I got to the station. The train trip is only a couple of hours. However, I might be more inclined to start my trip in Rome or somewhere close to Milan (like on Lake Como) if I were flying into one of those airports.

Hi Greg. I flew from Edmonton to Calgary, then to Frankfurt, then to Venice. It was a long long day of flights, but wonderful to land right in Venice. On my return, I flew from Milan through Frankfurt, to Calgary, then Edmonton. Milan is a big hub; there should freque trains from Milan to Venice. Flying through Frankfurt may work for you. Have a great trip, I LOVE Venice.

You could always fly to Paris and then take EasyJet from a town just outside of Paris to Venice. I just booked such a flight and the EasyJet segement cost me about $90.00.

My hubby & I are flying into Milan at the end of March, non-stop from Atlanta via Delta. Then training it to Venice fror 3 nights. On to Florence for the rest of 2 weeks. I was also very interested in having the direct flight to Venice. Just didn't work out. I'm sorry, but you do have an expensive time to travel so you will just have to accept it and enjoy your trip! You might just go ahead and fly into Venice and pay the $$ so that you can start your experience without the delay of taking the train from Milan.... I hope that isn't mean... You just really need to think about what is most important to you and what your time is worth. We set up our trips so that we can have certain experiences - like going on the train and seeing the countryside (?) etc. We love that. We normally fly in and out of Rome and wanted to do something different. But we are also right at the tail end of "low" season so it is less expensive. Try looking at the fares on Monday or Tuesday as I have heard that sometimes they are "lower" at this time. Good Luck!

We had no problem flying from Louisville, KY to Venice last summer. We flew out of Rome. If you take the train, take the high speed line, much better quality! As to some other issues on this thread: I take Ambien on overnight flights. I wake up after 8 hours fully refreshed. Some people can't use it and I only use it for overseas flights. Try it before you leave! Your doctor can probably get free samples for you.

We flew back from Venice to New Orleans. It wasn't direct. We had two connections Frankfurt and Phily. Atlanta you might find a one connection flight. The question would be what's easier or more convenient. In the case of Rome, you'd have to take the train to the Rome station, Then connect to a train to Venice. Buy the ticket Rome to Venice at the airport station. (We flew in to Rome to go to Florence.) Haven't been to Milan so can't comment but suspect it's about the same as going through Rome Probably shorter. I know the train ride to Florence it a pretty ride. And suspect the ride to Venice is also. If you want to do the train. Do it. But, if time or money are the issues. You might come out ahead with a layover connection somewhere in Europe. From the Marco Polo Airport. It's about 5-10 min to the airport docks. If you take the Alilaguna, assuming you have to wait, and depending on where your hotel is, it'll take up to 2 -2 1/2 hours or more to get to your hotel. A water taxi closer to 30-45 mins. Unless your hotel is near the train station, on the train, you'll still need to take either a water bus or water taxi.

I've done it, it is easy, even with luggage. Also I recently read here on another thread that there are trains from Malpensa (Milan airport) to the same train station that the trains leave from to points east, (so you don't have to take the bus) but I don't remember the name of the station right now. The bus is very convenient from Malpensa to the Milan train station, unless you get stuck in traffic..... I would also suggest a short stay in Verona - one of my favorite places in Italy and on the way to Venice.

If you plan to see da Vinci's Last Supper while in Milan, make reservations now. You must have reservations and they sell out quickly. You can make reservations here: http://www.vivaticket.it/evento.php?id_evento=298097&op=cenacoloVinciano or check out Steve at:
http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/destinations/italy/museumupdate.htm