Rome 🍝 Inexpensive Start for Long-Haul Flights

Rome 🍝 Inexpensive Start for Long-Haul Flights

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This much we know: there are few things more soul-destroying than staring down the barrel of a ten-hour flight, knowing you’ve just haemorrhaged a small fortune for the privilege of being crammed into a glorified tin can. Travel, as they say, is widening, but it’s not just your wallet that feels the squeeze.

That’s why, when contemplating a journey that spans continents, we decided to inject a bit of Italian cheekiness into the proceedings.

Why start a trip to the Philippines in the heart of Lazio, you might ask? Well, because we discovered a set of Emirates tickets from Rome to Manila for a sum so utterly reasonable (€528 return), it felt like we were robbing them blind.

A stroke of genius, or an unnecessary diversion? We’ll let you decide.

Highlights

• Starting & Ending Your Trip in Rome
• Choosing the Right Guesthouse
• In Pursuit of Pasta Perfection 🍝
• Save Money on the Airport Commute
• City Transfers to the Airport
• Inexpensive Rome Restaurants
• Rome Hotels & Guesthouses ⛲
• Rome Film Festival & Attractions
• Rome Airport – Prima Vista Lounge
• All Hotel Options in Rome

The Economics of Evasion 💰 Why Rome Beats the High Street

It seemed almost irresponsible not to build a short Roman holiday into our itinerary, transforming a simple outbound flight into a surprisingly budget-friendly, two-part adventure. Considering we were based in Malta, Rome is a mere hop across the Mediterranean pond.

The simple truth is, using Rome Fiumicino (FCO) as a launchpad for long-haul flights can be a proper money-saver. It’s often overlooked, but the sheer volume of carriers and routes funneling through a major European hub means the competition keeps the prices down.

We found that the combination of a cheap flight to Rome, a couple of inexpensive nights in a guest house, and a stonking deal on the main long-haul ticket amounted to a substantial saving compared to flying directly from our small island home.

• The Price Anomaly: Major hubs frequently offer disproportionately cheaper long-haul connections, especially when compared to fares originating from smaller regional airports.
• The Euro-Hop Factor: Adding a short, cheap intra-European flight (like ours from Malta) to a major hub like Rome is a shrewd manoeuvre to unlock those lower international prices.
• The Roman R&R: The stopover itself becomes a holiday, a way to acclimatise and shake off the inevitable pre-trip frazzle before the real marathon begins. Think of it as a brief, culturally rich warm-up.

We managed to keep the entire Roman pit-stop—including accommodation, dinner, internal travel, and the odd espresso—snugly within a €200 budget for the two of us.

Not bad for a couple of days surrounded by ancient history and genuinely excellent pasta.

Where to Rest Our Weary Heads 🛏️ Choosing a Guesthouse

Once the flights were locked in, the accommodation hunt began.

Now, we’re walkers. Proper, determined strollers. We don’t need a hotel slap-bang in the middle of all the tourist hullabaloo. In fact, we prefer being outside the immediate scrum. It helps that Rome is well-served by its metro system, meaning you are never too far from a tube station.

Hotel Options in Rome

We eventually landed on what I can only describe as an architectural oddity near the Vatican. Not a fancy hotel, per se, but a guesthouse with a peculiar charm (more on that hotel here)

Our criteria were simple, really:

• Proximity to a Metro Stop: Non-negotiable for quick jaunts.
• Decent Online Reviews: Avoiding anything with red flags about bed-based critters. A minor obsession of mine.
• A Price That Didn’t Make Us Wince: We were here to save money, not set up a small Roman principality.

This place, just a stone’s throw from St. Peter’s Basilica, ticked all the boxes.

St Peter’s Basilica

In Pursuit of Pasta Perfection 🍝

Since we would be short on time, we limited our activities to a trip to St Peters Basilica and dinner at TripAdvisor’s top-rated Machiavelli’s Club.

There’s an inbuilt anxiety when you choose a top-rated restaurant. Will it live up to the hype? Will it be teeming with tourists who’ve also read the reviews? Will it be an overpriced, microscopic-portion fiasco?

It was, thankfully, superb. A proper Roman feast, the kind that makes you want to loosen your belt a notch or two. The atmosphere was suitably lively and the wine flowed. The entire experience was a welcome preamble to our impending flight.

We had a job to do: fuel up for the long haul, and Machiavelli’s, to its credit, performed admirably.

Airport Run 🚌 Dodging the €50 Taxi Trap

The next day, with full bellies and slightly weary legs from all the architectural gawking, we faced the final Roman hurdle: the airport commute.

Our flight to Manila, via Dubai, was scheduled for early evening, giving us the perfect amount of time to get mildly stressed about transport.

Now, you could easily throw fifty quid at a taxi driver to whisk you to Fiumicino Airport (FCO). And if money is no object, then go on, knock yourself out. But we, the thrifty, the people who still check the price per kilo in the supermarket, opted for the far more sensible, and cheaper, Terravision bus service.

This is not some rickety old coach; it’s a regular, reliable shuttle that zips between the airports (FCO and Ciampino) and the central Termini railway station. Buy your ticket online beforehand, and it’s even cheaper. It’s simple, efficient, and ensures that the savings you secured on the flight ticket aren’t immediately siphoned off by a chap with a taxi meter.

Get to Rome from the Airport(s)

Our brief Roman sojourn—a mere two nights—had served its purpose. It was a cultural palate cleanser, a proper Italian feed, and, most importantly, the financial linchpin of our trip. We felt vindicated, well-fed, and ready to face the long-haul.

• Terravision: A reliable, low-cost shuttle between Termini and Fiumicino (FCO) airport. Book ahead for the best price.
• Metro Magic: The efficient and cheap Roman metro is your best friend for swift internal city travel. Forget waiting for tourist buses; embrace the underground.
• Walking Works: Save even more by exploring Rome on foot. You’ll feel smugly virtuous, and you get to stumble upon little side-street gems the guidebooks never mention.
• Our Budget for this short stopover in Rome was around €200 for the pair of us, including hotel, restaurant, travelling around, snacks and sundries.

So, the next time you’re plotting a long-haul adventure to the Far East, or anywhere requiring an extended commitment to sitting, don’t just look for the obvious flight. Consider a cheap, culture-rich stopover in a European hub like Rome.

I guarantee you won’t regret the pasta, and we certainly didn’t regret the savings.

If you enjoyed Rome – An Inexpensive Start, check out our Short Breaks and City Stops. You may also like:

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