NCRBILL

We are planning a trip to Italy for our anniversary but need some suggestions. We are looking to fly business on whichever gives best price and service. I have no status since I’ve not flown in a long time so airline is not specific and we want to go north to south or reverse.
My question is:
1. Should I fly to Italy over Germany and take a train ride down?
2. If I fly into Italy, which airport is preferable?
3. I want to rent a car and drive while in Italy and not sure who to rent with.
4. We want to go to the Almafi coast as well but not sure what to do.
Please any suggestions are appreciated so we can book the flights.
Thank everyone in advance and hope for a great trip.

13901

Hi there NCRBILL, it feels like you're in the very early stages of your plan. My 2 cents' worth below.

If the reason is price alone, I'd say no. I know that, for an American, Europe feels remarkably close and cozy but... it isn't. For instance, a train ride from Munich HBF to Venezia Santa Lucia will take 7 hours, involve a change at Verona and will cost you at least 45 euro in 2nd and 80 in 1st class. If you want to go just on price, check out websites like Kayak and so on. It's hard to predict how the world will look like next year - I mean, you can't predict how the world will look like next month - but with regards to having the least amount of Covid rules to contend with, my suggestion is:

1. Fly direct, non-stop.
2. In case direct flights don't exist, fly with a stopover in your home country (the US, in this case I assume)
3. If you can't/won't fly with a US stopover, do a stopover in the European Union/Schengen area, especially Spain/France/Germany. Netherlands, Austria, the Nordics have been a bit twitchy.
4. Only if none of the above work, do a stopover outside the EU. Like UK or Turkey, but be prepared for problems.

It's impossible to answer this question because, well, you're not giving much to work with. Where exactly do you want to go? From top to bottom it's about 1,420 km of Italy, or 880 miles, a bit more than the length of California, and there's a lot of Italy to do! You mention you want to go to Amalfi, which is in the South. Therefore the closest large international airport is Rome FCO. Alternatively, the closest airport full stop is Napoli NAP. I think there is a seasonal service (United if memory serves me right) from Newark EWR in the summer to NAP.

The usual rental agencies are all available. Sixt, Europcar, AVIS are the biggest players. Personally I always rent with AVIS because I get British Airways Avios, but it's a matter of preference.

Again, a pretty open ended question. Are you asking for suggestions on places to stay, where to eat, which villages/towns/locations to go to? I personally have been to Amalfi only once (and frankly I didn't like it, like most tourist traps around) but many on this forum have been and can help.

JMN57

1) Agree with 13901 - unless there is a reason you want to do the train from Germany to Italy, flying directly into Italy makes more sense.

2) In October, most seasonal non-stops are usually done so the only two airports you can fly TATL to Italy would be Milan/Malpensa or Rome/FCO. There's an outside chance that there is a flight into Venice and also possibly Naples but, essentially, those are your two choices if you want to avoid a connection in the EU/UK/etc. Personally, I would definitely do any connection in the US rather than in Europe as these days the changing rules (hopefully all gone by then) can make those changes problematic.

3) I'd stick with the majors (Avis, Hertz, Sixt, Europcar). If you have certain credits cards (Chase Sapphire, for example, not Amex) you can get primary insurance through your card on rentals up to 28 days. If you are renting for 21 days+, another alternative is a new car lease with buyback (Peugeot, Renault, Citroen). It is generally more expensive than with a rental car company but it will give you a brand new car with full insurance. I'm in Italy now with one ($1900 for 2 months) that I booked late last year and it saved me a bundle as current car rental costs for two months are approaching $5k. Brand new Peugeot 3008. If you go that route, next year it will save some money to pick up/drop off in France (we will probably do that next summer).

4) Amalfi is actually quite nice in October. October is the rainiest month in Italy but it is highly variable (it's raining today where I am but most of the month has been quite nice, sunny with highs in the 60's). The overwhelming tourist crowds are gone and you can actually drive the coast. That said, lots of things that are seasonal (hotels, restaurants) can start to shutdown - particularly in smaller areas which are tourist focused. You're likely to have more choices open for restaurants and hotels in more populated areas (Positano, Amalfi...).

NCRBILL

Thanks everyone for the comments. It seems better to fly into Milan, get car and start driving through Italy and fly out of Rome. This is what I mean by north to south. We plan on driving the whole country during this time.

I have not seen a way to fly from west to east, stopping in the states then direct to Italy but need to research more.

Any suggestions on if I should purchase the business class or take my chance on being offered a discount rate at the airport? I’ve not flown long distances in sometime and noticed not a great reduction between premium economy and business.

Thanks again for all the feedback.

JMN57

If, by "whole country" you plan on driving down to Puglia and/or Sicily, you might want to drop the car in the south and take a flight (or train) on the way out. If you are flying out of Bari, Palermo or Catania, don't feel constrained to connect in Italy. That time of year you are much better driving north-to-south as it will extend your good weather.


If you tell us your starting point, that would help.


If you want business, your best bet is to buy it. Low to nil chance of it being offered at airport. Shop PE as it can nominally more than economy - it is the sweet spot (particularly for EU to US as that's not a redeye.