If you are a travel agent, or just really, really smart about these things, could you tell me the best (hahahahaha, okay, I mean cheapest) way to fly to one European city (like say, Rome) and leave from another, smaller-airported city (like, say Napoli)? Napoli’s smaller airport means folks like American just don’t go there, so that means, what, I should be looking for a regional airline to take me from Napoli to Rome? I mean, it seems to me that when an airport says it’s “international” I should be able to get on a plane there are go to another country. Across the ocean.
Why so difficult, Universe?
Clarification in the First: Don’t worry. No one is staying in Napoli. It’s just the closest transportation hub.
Clarification in the Second: I’ve taken the train from Rome to Napoli and back and it is totally the way to go… if you have an extra day of travel. That’s the thing I wanted to weasel my way out of.
I believe Napoli is “Naples” in kayak-speak. You can get from there to another European city and back to DFW.
You’re right; it is. But that still requires another plane change IN the US before DFW. That’s the part I’m shaking my fist at. And paying for a whole other flight.
When we flew from Miami to Napoli, we had to stop in Milano first. On the way back, our of Napoli, we had to stop in Milano again. We were flying Alitalia. I think if you fly into or out of Napoli, you have to stop somewhere else first.
As for cheap… I have no idea.
Why not take the train from Naples back to Rome? You would probably have to change planes in Rome or Milan anyway if you flew back from Naples. The fastest train takes 70 minutes and costs $55 in second class, $75 in first class. The slowest train costs only $15 one way, but takes three hours. There are other trains that are somewhere in between in terms of cost and speed.
You could take the train back to Rome (easy option) or you can check out kayak, like someone else mentioned. Or you can look into other airports in the general area (Milan, Turino, etc) and see which has the cheapest option. To be honest, unless you’re flying to Paris, Frankfurt or London, it usually requires obnoxious connections. Trust me, I fly into Prague a lot. *sigh*
Hi! I agree with the train idea. I studied abroad in Florence and traveled all over Italy, mostly by train. Not only can it be cheaper than flying, but you also get a chance to check out the pretty countryside! Look into Trenitalia for more info… http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=ad1ce14114bc9110VgnVCM10000080a3e90aRCRD
I’ve taken the train from Rome to Napoli before (and back). It’s just we lose a whole day over there if we have to train back to Rome because of flight and train schedules. I hoped to avoid that, but it looks like I won’t be able to.
I am at work and don’t have time to find the URL for you now, but I think there is a web site (whichbudget.com or something like that) which will list all of the european budget airlines (rynnair, etc) and which airports they fly between and then link you to their websites. sorry i can’t remember the exact url, but i bet you can find it with google.
I am not giving you ANY advice because I am uncontrollably jealous right now. Although, I just got back from Rome (Naples, Florence and Venice) in June and it was UH-MAAAA-zing!
and I guess I can turn the hate off for a second and tell you after a ton of research we did, we took the fast train from Rome to Naples and it was the cheapest and fastest way to go. Although, out of all the places we traveled in the few short weeks we were there, Naples was BY FAR the yuckiest. Dirty, scary, loud. This is just my opinion though, I’ve heard from others that they had a good time there..
I think it’s some sort of restriction issue that makes it impossible to fly in and out of different cities. I don’t know all the ins and outs (ha!) of it but I’m pretty sure it’s impossible to do.
That being said, I spent a glorious week on the Amalfi Coast two years ago and the week before in Rome. We took the train and it was actually really nice. Yes, you’ll lose some time but the truth is getting from Naples to the Coast isn’t all that easy either so you’re going to have to factor in a travel day both ways anyway.
Are you planning to rent a car? I would recommend this (even though the roads along the coast are TERRIFYING) just because you’ll get to see so much more and it is well worth it. The Amalfi Coast is LOADED with tourists but when you have a car it’s much easier to escape somewhat. When I was there we stayed in a gorgeous villa outside of Positano which was actually cheaper than a hotel and so much nicer. If you haven’t looked into this option you should.
I’m sure you’ve done your research so sorry if this is all old news to you. Here is a short list of things not to miss:
– Ravello
– La Sirenuse in Positano
– boat ride along the coast (best one is the old guy whose name I can’t remember who takes people out from the harbor in Positano. If you walk down there he’s not hard to find.)
And don’t leave there without buying olive oil and Limoncello – find the local stuff.
It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been and I travel all the time.
Napoli is TOTALLY yucky, but we’re going on to Positano
Salerno is kind of grody too, but Amalfi, Positano and Ravello are totally worth it!
Cast my vote for the train also. RyanAir and EasyJet don’t fly to Napoli (and be forewarned if you use them for other locales in Europe — they tend to use teeny tiny airports that are miles out of the way that lead to you getting stranded outside Paris at 3 in the morning with no more Euros. Hypothetically speaking of course.) and though you may lose part of a day, it’s a beautiful ride. Looks like you’re going to get a layover in Rome on your way back regardless.
Will you be doing Pompeii and/or Capri? I did neither (got too caught up limoncello tasting!) and regret it.
The last few trips to Europe we’ve been on, we’ve booked using Kayak. You can choose a different destination and departure city. I’ve never flown into and out of the same city in Europe. Also, Rick Steves is a travel god.
sidestep.com gives you all of these options, and searches several airlines, as well as other search engines.
My friend is going on her honeymoon in Greece. She’s flying into Athens and out of Crete. She said she booked the whole thing through expedia. I know from experience that expedia is one of the few places that you can book your flight to your destination on one airline and fly back on a different one and not see a big difference in cost.
Actually, the one previous commenter was incorrect — EasyJet does fly out of Naples. Just not to Rome. But you can fly from there to Venice or Milan or London (or Paris, or a handful of other major cities). I have used EasyJet before, and it has its pros and cons. Pros being it’s so absurdly cheap, especially if your schedule is somewhat flexible in terms of what time of day you can leave. Cons being that they are _extremely_ strict about their luggage restrictions/weight limits. Like, they count your carry-on as one item, period. Not a carry-on bag plus a purse, or whatever. So, as long as you aren’t travelling with more than one checkable bag and one carry-on-able item (or something with enough room in it to shove your purse when boarding the plane) and you don’t mind having to fly into Gatwick instead of Heathrow (if you are going to London) I highly recommend them.
Generally, though, if you can find a ticket through a more “regular” airline — BA or Alitalia or something — I’d try that first.
What if you flew out of Napoli on a budget airline? It’ll be quicker than a train and much cheaper than a regular airline. You can take a look at http://www.flycheapo.com/flights/naples to see all the airlines that fly out of there. (Flycheapo is a useful little website. When I lived in Italy, i bummed around Europe quite a bit, never paying more than 35 euros for a flight)
On the other hand, if you’re thinking ‘What kind of a moron suggests that I should fly a budget airline on my HONEYMOON’ then that would be perfectly understandable too
Have you tried seeing if Ryan Air flies where you need it to? The have crazy cheap deals like flights for a pound or less all the time. You would need to get to a major hub city and then they usually have flights all over.
I just got back from Italy in July. We took a train to Rome from a city just north of Naples. I couldn’t believe it was $4! Their trains travel much faster than U.S. trains, so it wasn’t a long commute. Train travel is the way to go.
I agree with the comment that Naples is not so nice. The traffic/congestion is NYC ten times over.
OK, having lived in Naples for the last 2 years, I can pretty much tell you that you can’t fly directly from Naples to the US. Your best bets are to fly through Munich (Lufthansa) or Paris (Delta/Air France/Alitalia) or to fly a budget airline from Naples to some other major European city (EasyJet rocks, RyanAir is enh, or a ton of others – try http://www.skyscanner.net and you can type in Naples to Everywhere with your dates and see where the cheapest flights go to), or another option is to book through Expedia or Orbitz and try the “multi-city” option to fly into and out of different airports. I’ve had better luck (read: found cheaper tickets) with Orbitz, but they don’t list out the budget airlines, so I’ve had even better luck trying different combinations on Orbitz and then buying a one way ticket on a budget airline. There are almost always cheap flights from Naples to Milan or Venice, both of which are pretty good international hubs.
Good luck, and if you need any other advice or want to meet a random reader who happens to live in Naples (and is pretty familiar with all the places just outside of Naples that you’d want to see – Amalfi Coast, Capri, Ischia, Paestum, Avellino/Taurasi, Pompeii/Herculaneum/Ercolano, etc.), drop me an email. Naples is not for the faint of heart, but I’ve really come to love living here, not only because of all the awesome stuff within an hour and a half drive/boat ride, but also because if you know where to go in Naples, it can be pretty kick ass too.
I was just in Naples for a wedding (a friend of ours is from there) and her wedding was in her fathers backyard overlooking the Bay of Napoli. It was amazing! Apart from that, Naples itself is a bit dirty and loud and crazy, but it has amazing shopping if you get to the right area, and also really great food. I know people think of Naples as the worst city in Italy, and maybe it is to some respects, but we thoroughly enjoyed it. So apart from getting in and out of there, I would definitely check it out for a few!