Italy-Switzerland in August: Open Jaw or RT Flights?
Feb 9, 2015, 10:23 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Syracuse, NY
Programs: Alaska, United, Marriot
Posts: 23
Italy-Switzerland in August: Open Jaw or RT Flights?
First Post!
My Fiancee and I are planning for our honeymoon to Italy/Switzerland for about three weeks in August (Wedding August 8), and I have done some searching on my own but figured I would ask advice about the flights.
Would it be more economical to do a RT to/from MXP and travel in a loop, hitting Florence, Rome, Venice, E Switzerland, Zurich, SW Switzerland, then Milan again or to do an open jaw trip starting in Rome and ending in Zurich, hitting all the sites between?
We plan on train travel between each location, but I have no idea what the difference in train fares would be between the loop vs zig-zag one way. (we traveled Europe together 5 years ago, became quite good at train travel so that part is not a problem).
Does anyone have suggestions? We live in Syracuse, NY, so flying out of the NYC area is not a problem if the price is right (its a 4 hour drive).
So far the best Ive found are these:
RT SYR-MXP Aug 12-Sept 1 $1074 each on UA
RT NYC-MXP Aug 10-Sept 1 ~$900 each on UA, Emirates (non-stop)
Open Jaw 1:
SYR-FCO Aug 12 $1100 each Turkish Air
ZUR-SYR Sept 1 $650 Each
Open Jaw 2:
NYC-FCO August 11 $530 each Norwegian Air
ZUR-NYC Sept 1 $400 Each Iceland Air
The additional costs of flying out of NYC are ~$10/day parking (10*22= $220) and 8 hours + of drive time.
What do you guys think?
Thanks!
My Fiancee and I are planning for our honeymoon to Italy/Switzerland for about three weeks in August (Wedding August 8), and I have done some searching on my own but figured I would ask advice about the flights.
Would it be more economical to do a RT to/from MXP and travel in a loop, hitting Florence, Rome, Venice, E Switzerland, Zurich, SW Switzerland, then Milan again or to do an open jaw trip starting in Rome and ending in Zurich, hitting all the sites between?
We plan on train travel between each location, but I have no idea what the difference in train fares would be between the loop vs zig-zag one way. (we traveled Europe together 5 years ago, became quite good at train travel so that part is not a problem).
Does anyone have suggestions? We live in Syracuse, NY, so flying out of the NYC area is not a problem if the price is right (its a 4 hour drive).
So far the best Ive found are these:
RT SYR-MXP Aug 12-Sept 1 $1074 each on UA
RT NYC-MXP Aug 10-Sept 1 ~$900 each on UA, Emirates (non-stop)
Open Jaw 1:
SYR-FCO Aug 12 $1100 each Turkish Air
ZUR-SYR Sept 1 $650 Each
Open Jaw 2:
NYC-FCO August 11 $530 each Norwegian Air
ZUR-NYC Sept 1 $400 Each Iceland Air
The additional costs of flying out of NYC are ~$10/day parking (10*22= $220) and 8 hours + of drive time.
What do you guys think?
Thanks!
Mar 5, 2015, 8:45 am
#2
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: GRU, ZRH, LUG
Programs: LX SEN
Posts: 139
Train fares are usually (for sure in Switzerland) not dependent on whether the trip is one-way or return.
Provided the flight prices are not too far apart, I would definitely choose what is most efficient to visit the most cities with the less travel required.
By going back and forth to/from MXP you will be at the center of everything but you will definitely do more train kilometers since you have to go "back and forth" to Rome, Venice, Zurich.
Doing an open-jaw will allow you more flexibility and optimize travel time in-between cities.
I think you could also consider flying to Naples and back from Geneva, this will allow you to visit most of Italy and Switzerland without backtracking at all: Naples-Rome-Florence-Bologna-Venice-Milano-Como-Lugano/Ticino region-Swiss Alps-Lucerne-Zurich-Bern-Lausanne (and wine region)-Geneva
Provided the flight prices are not too far apart, I would definitely choose what is most efficient to visit the most cities with the less travel required.
By going back and forth to/from MXP you will be at the center of everything but you will definitely do more train kilometers since you have to go "back and forth" to Rome, Venice, Zurich.
Doing an open-jaw will allow you more flexibility and optimize travel time in-between cities.
I think you could also consider flying to Naples and back from Geneva, this will allow you to visit most of Italy and Switzerland without backtracking at all: Naples-Rome-Florence-Bologna-Venice-Milano-Como-Lugano/Ticino region-Swiss Alps-Lucerne-Zurich-Bern-Lausanne (and wine region)-Geneva