Best time to fly to Italy from the UK: month-by-month price guide (2026)

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The difference between booking a flight to Italy at the right time and the wrong time can easily be £150+ per person. We’ve seen London to Rome return fares swing from under £40 in January to over £200 in July on the same airline and same route.

We’ve flown to Italy three times from UK airports and have tracked fares across multiple booking platforms to put this guide together. Below, we cover the cheapest months to fly, the best days to book and depart, which Italian airports to target, how to avoid hidden costs, and the tools we use to find deals.

In short: The best time to fly to Italy from the UK is January or February (outside half-term), when return fares from London typically start at £35–£60. Shoulder months (April, May, September, October) offer a good balance at £70–£140. Book 4–6 months ahead for summer, 2–4 months for shoulder season, and 4–6 weeks for winter travel.

Not sure when to visit? Our best time to visit Italy guide covers weather, crowds, and what’s open month by month. This article focuses purely on getting there for less.

How Italy’s seasons affect flight prices from the UK

We cover Italy’s travel seasons in depth in our best time to visit Italy guide. Here’s how they translate to what you’ll actually pay for flights from UK airports:

These ranges are based on economy returns from London airports (Gatwick, Stansted, Luton, Heathrow) to Rome Fiumicino, Milan Malpensa, and Naples, the three most commonly served Italian airports from the UK. Fares from regional UK airports like Manchester, Edinburgh, or Bristol tend to be £20–£50 higher on average, though budget carriers occasionally run competitive routes.

Cheapest months to fly to Italy from the UK

Based on fare tracking across Google Flights, Trip.com, and Kiwi.com, these are the patterns we consistently see for UK departures.

January and February are the cheapest months, and it’s not close. Outside of the February half-term week (which can see fares double for that single week), you can find London to Rome returns for £35–£60 with Ryanair or easyJet. Even full-service carriers like BA drop to the £90–£120 range. We flew to Naples in February and paid under £100 return each three weeks before flying.

November sits close behind. It’s one of the quietest months for Italy tourism, and airlines price accordingly. We’ve seen London to Naples returns under £50 in mid-November. The first two weeks of December can also be decent, though prices start creeping up as Christmas approaches.

Early March still benefits from winter pricing before Easter demand starts increasing fares, usually from mid-March onwards depending on when Easter falls.

The most expensive windows to avoid if you can: the last two weeks of July, the first two weeks of August, Easter week, and Christmas/New Year. February and October half-terms also spike, sometimes doubling fares for just that one week. If you have school-age kids, the half-term premium is unavoidable, but booking 3–4 months ahead rather than 6 weeks ahead still makes a difference.

When to book: a month-by-month guide

How far in advance you book matters as much as when you travel. Here’s what we’ve found works across different travel windows.

The windows below are the latest we’d recommend booking by. You can always book earlier (and sometimes get a better price by doing so), but leaving it later than these windows is where fares start climbing and the best options disappear.

Use the flexible date search on Google Flights or Trip.com to compare fares across entire weeks. A day or two of flexibility can save £30–£50 per person on shoulder-season flights.

Set up price alerts. Both Google Flights and Trip.com let you set fare alerts for specific routes. We try to set alerts at least 4–6 months before any trip and wait for a dip before booking. It takes two minutes to set up and has saved us a lot.

Which Italian airports are cheapest to fly into?

Not all Italian airports cost the same to reach. The airport you choose can make a £30–£80 difference per person, and some airports give you easy onward connections by train that make them worth considering even if they’re not your final destination.

Rome Fiumicino (FCO) is the most heavily served from the UK, which means more competition and generally more fare drops. It’s the default if Rome, southern Italy, or central Italy is your destination. The Leonardo Express train connects Fiumicino to Roma Termini in about 30 minutes (around €15 one way, bookable through Omio).

Milan Malpensa (MXP) is often the cheapest Italian airport to fly into from the UK, especially on budget carriers. It’s the natural gateway to the Italian Lakes, the Dolomites, and northern Italy, but also works as an entry point if you’re heading south by train. Milan to Florence is under two hours on a high-speed Frecciarossa, and Milan to Venice is about 2.5 hours. You can check train times and book through Omio.

Naples (NAP) has seen a big increase in budget carrier routes in recent years. It’s excellent value and the obvious choice for the Amalfi Coast, Pompeii, and southern Italy. We’ve seen sub-£40 returns from London Stansted. The Alibus shuttle connects the airport to Naples city centre in about 20 minutes for €5.

Pisa (PSA) is worth checking if you’re heading to Tuscany. It’s often cheaper than flying to Florence directly, and the Pisa–Florence train takes about an hour. Book the train through Omio or directly with Trenitalia.

Bologna (BLQ) is underrated. It’s well-connected by train to Florence (35 mins), Venice (90 mins), and Milan (60 mins), and it occasionally has surprisingly cheap fares. If your destination is Florence or Venice and direct flights are pricey, check Bologna as an alternative.

Venice Marco Polo (VCE) tends to be pricier than Milan or Rome, especially during Carnevale in February. If Venice is your destination and fares are high, consider flying to Bologna and taking the train. It’s 90 minutes and usually much cheaper.

For getting around once you land, our Italy train guide covers all the key routes, prices, and booking tips.

Best days to book and fly

If you can be flexible on which day you search, book, and fly, there’s a bit of extra savings available, though the effect is smaller on short-haul European routes than the internet sometimes suggests.

Booking day: According to Expedia’s 2024 Air Travel Hacks report, booking on a Sunday can save up to 13% on international flights compared to a Friday. In practice, the difference on UK-to-Italy routes is less dramatic. We’ve found it matters more how far in advance you book than which day of the week you click purchase. That said, if you’re comparing the same flight on the same route, checking prices on Sunday evening is worth the two minutes.

Flying day: Tuesdays and Wednesdays are typically the cheapest days to depart for international flights, and this holds for Italy routes too. Weekend departures (Friday evening and Sunday) are almost always the most expensive, especially in summer when everyone is trying to maximise their time off work.

Watch for bogus savings. A 6am flight might look £30 cheaper, but if it means you need an airport hotel the night before (£60–£100) or a taxi instead of public transport, you’re not saving anything. We’ve made that mistake and it’s annoying. Similarly, arriving late at night might mean a taxi is your only option from the airport, so factor that in.

Hidden costs: what makes a “cheap” flight expensive

The base fare is only part of the story, especially with budget carriers. Here’s what to watch for so a £40 flight doesn’t become a £120 flight.

Checked baggage is the biggest one. Ryanair and easyJet charge £25–£50+ each way for a checked bag, and prices increase the closer you get to departure. If you know you’ll need a checked bag, add it at the time of booking. Better yet, travel with hand luggage only for short trips. We only ever travel with a small backpack each (including for a month in India/Sri Lanka). It’s not only cheaper, but easier to travel with.

Seat selection is optional on most budget carriers, but if you’re travelling as a couple or family and don’t pay, you’ll likely be seated apart. Ryanair charges £4–£15+ per seat depending on the row. We rarely pay to select our seats on short flights and save the money.

Priority boarding / speedy boarding is never worth it on a short flight unless you have a tight connection and only hand luggage. Don’t be upsold.

Airport transfer costs vary a lot. Some airports (like Naples or Pisa) have cheap, direct transport to the city. Others (like Rome Fiumicino if you need to get to the city centre quickly) cost more. Check transfer options before booking a flight to a specific airport. Omio is useful for comparing airport train and bus connections, and we find airport transfers are cheapest through Welcome Pickups.

Travel insurance is important but don’t buy it from the airline, as it’s almost always overpriced. Get a standalone annual travel insurance policy instead, which will cover all your trips for the year for much less.

Currency and card fees. Some booking sites charge in euros or dollars rather than pounds. Use a card with no foreign transaction fees (like Monzo, Starling, or a Chase debit card) to avoid hidden charges of 2–3%.

When comparing flights across different sites, always compare the total price including baggage and any mandatory fees. Trip.com is good for this because it shows the total cost including taxes upfront, and Kiwi.com lets you add baggage during the search so you can compare like-for-like.

UK school holidays and Italy flight prices

This is the single biggest factor affecting what UK families pay for flights to Italy (and everyone else, if you have to fly during these dates).

February half-term (usually mid-February, one week): Fares jump 50–100% above standard February prices. It’s the most dramatic spike relative to surrounding weeks because January/February fares are otherwise so low.

Easter holidays (usually two weeks spanning late March to mid-April): Fares increase significantly, and the exact timing shifts each year. If Easter falls early, March fares stay low for longer. If it falls late, April shoulder-season pricing gets disrupted.

May half-term (late May, one week): Coincides with the start of shoulder-to-high season pricing. Less dramatic than February half-term but still a clear bump.

Summer holidays (mid-July to early September): The big one. Six to seven weeks of peak pricing. The cheapest weeks within this window are usually the very start (mid-July) and the very end (late August/first week of September). Mid-August is the worst because it overlaps with Ferragosto, when Italians travel domestically too.

October half-term (late October, one week): Pushes up otherwise reasonable autumn fares by 30–60%. Book 3+ months ahead.

If you can travel outside these windows, even by a few days either side, you can save a lot.

Avoiding price spikes: events and holidays in Italy

Beyond UK school holidays, Italy’s own calendar affects flight prices. If you’re visiting specifically for one of these events, book early. If you’re not, consider avoiding these windows.

Carnevale di Venezia (February): Venice flights can cost 2–3x the normal February fare. If you still want to visit Venice around this time, fly into Bologna or Milan and take the train in. It’s cheaper and you get to see an extra city. Book the train through Omio.

Easter (March/April): Rome and Florence get the biggest price bumps. Naples and Milan are less affected.

Ferragosto (15 August): This is Italy’s main summer holiday. Italians travel en masse, prices spike across the board, and many independent restaurants and shops in cities close. Coastal areas get packed. Avoid if you can.

Christmas and New Year: Book at least 3 months ahead. Prices climb steeply from mid-December.

One useful trick: fly into a different city and take the train to your destination. For example, if you’re heading to Venice during Carnevale, consider flying to Florence or Bologna and getting the train. Our Italy train guide has all the key routes and prices to help you work out which airport to fly into.

Airlines flying UK to Italy: what to know

Several airlines operate UK-to-Italy routes, and they have different pricing patterns and gotchas worth knowing about.

Ryanair flies from Stansted, Luton, Manchester, Edinburgh, and other UK airports to a wide range of Italian cities. They normally offer the lowest base fares, but watch out for baggage fees (a checked bag can add £25–£50 each way). If you can travel with hand luggage only, Ryanair is almost always the cheapest option. Search Ryanair fares on Kiwi.com alongside other carriers to compare properly. We don’t love Ryanair, and normally fly with easyJet or others.

easyJet operates from Gatwick, Luton, Bristol, Manchester, Edinburgh, and more. Fares are usually slightly higher than Ryanair but include a larger cabin bag. Their fare families (Standard, Plus, Flexi) can be confusing. The base Standard fare is almost always the right choice unless you need to change dates.

British Airways flies from Heathrow and Gatwick, mostly to Rome and Milan. Their base fares include a checked bag, which makes them competitive with budget carriers once you add luggage fees. Worth checking for shoulder and low season, when they sometimes match budget carrier prices.

Wizz Air operates some UK-to-Italy routes (mainly from Luton and Gatwick) and occasionally undercuts everyone on specific routes. Check them separately as they don’t always show up on aggregators.

ITA Airways (Italy’s national carrier, successor to Alitalia) flies from Heathrow. Generally more expensive but worth checking for direct routes that budget carriers don’t serve.

A practical tip: don’t assume two one-way tickets are more expensive than a return. On budget carriers especially, two one-ways on different airlines, or from different airports, can sometimes beat a return on the same airline. For example, flying Stansted to Rome with Ryanair and returning Naples to Manchester with easyJet. Kiwi.com is the best tool for this because its “Nomad” feature and multi-city search are specifically designed to find these kinds of combinations.

Open-jaw flights: fly into one city, out of another

This is one of the best ways to save both time and money on an Italy trip, and it’s something a lot of people don’t think to do.

Instead of flying London–Rome return (and having to backtrack to Rome at the end of your trip), book an open-jaw: fly into Rome and out of Venice, or into Milan and out of Naples. You avoid doubling back, you save a day of travel, and the flights are often the same price or cheaper because you’re picking the cheapest route for each leg.

This works especially well if you’re combining Italy with a train journey. Fly into Milan, train down through Florence and Rome, fly home from Naples. Or fly into Venice, train to Florence, fly home from Pisa.

Kiwi.com is the best platform we’ve found for open-jaw searches. Its multi-city search lets you set different departure and arrival airports for each leg, and it searches across all carriers (including mixing budget and full-service airlines). Trip.com also supports multi-city searches and is worth cross-checking.

For planning the train legs of an open-jaw trip, use Omio to check routes and prices between Italian cities, or see our Italy train guide for a full breakdown.

What websites to use to book flights

Here’s what we use and why.

Trip.com is our go-to starting point. It searches across airlines and shows the total cost including taxes upfront, which saves the annoying surprise of hidden fees at checkout. Its flexible date search is useful for spotting the cheapest days to fly across an entire month. We’ve found it finds competitive prices on UK-to-Italy routes, and its app sends price drop alerts if you’re watching a specific route.

Kiwi.com is where we go for creative routing. It’s the best platform we’ve found for open-jaw flights, multi-city trips, and combining one-way fares on different airlines into a single itinerary. If you’re visiting multiple Italian cities, Kiwi’s “Nomad” feature finds the cheapest order to visit them in. It also has a “Guarantee” option that covers you if a connecting flight is missed due to a delay on a self-transfer, which is useful if you’re mixing carriers.

Google Flights is the best free research tool. Its calendar view lets you see fare trends across entire months at a glance, and its price tracking alerts are reliable. You can’t always book directly through Google Flights, but it’s where we start every search to understand the pricing landscape before booking through Trip.com or Kiwi.com.

Booking.com has added flights recently. If you already have Genius status from hotel bookings, you may get small additional discounts. It’s not our first choice for flights, but worth a quick check if you’re already booking accommodation there.

Skyscanner is another solid aggregator. We use it as a cross-check, especially its “everywhere” search if you’re flexible on which Italian city to fly into.

Whichever platform you use, always compare the total price including baggage before committing. A flight that’s £20 cheaper on one site but charges £50 for luggage that’s included elsewhere isn’t actually a deal.

Booking trains within Italy

Once you’ve landed, trains are the best way to get between Italian cities. The high-speed network connects Rome, Florence, Milan, Venice, Naples, and Bologna with frequent, fast services.

We cover this in detail in our Italy train guide, but the key booking tip is this: high-speed train fares are like flight fares. Book early (2–3 months ahead for popular routes) and you’ll pay €19–€30 for journeys that cost €60–€80 last-minute.

Omio is the easiest way to search and compare Italian train options. It shows Trenitalia and Italo (Italy’s two main high-speed operators) side by side, along with regional trains and bus alternatives, so you can pick the best option without checking multiple sites. It’s also useful for booking airport transfer trains like the Leonardo Express from Rome Fiumicino.

A few sample journey times and prices (booked 2+ months ahead):

These are high-speed fares. Regional trains are cheaper but slower, and don’t require advance booking.

If your flight is delayed or cancelled, claim compensation

If your flight to Italy is delayed by 3+ hours or cancelled, you’re likely entitled to compensation under UK and EU rules, up to £520 per person depending on the route and delay length.

We use Airhelp and Compensair to check eligibility and handle claims. They take care of everything and only charge a percentage if you actually get paid, so there’s no financial risk to you. It takes a couple of minutes to submit a claim and then they handle the rest.

You can do it direct and not pay the commission, but it’s a lot more work to understand the process and write the letters.

This applies to any flight departing from a UK airport (regardless of airline) or any flight arriving in the UK on a UK or EU carrier. So it covers your outbound and, in most cases, your return too.

Worth bookmarking before any trip. We’ve claimed successfully once and the process was straightforward.

Our step-by-step booking strategy

To pull everything together, here’s the approach we use when booking flights to Italy:

Step 1: Decide your travel dates (or a flexible window). Check our best time to visit Italy guide if you’re still deciding when to go.

Step 2: Research on Google Flights. Use the calendar view to find the cheapest dates within your window. Check multiple Italian airports, not just the one nearest your destination.

Step 3: Set price alerts. Set them on Google Flights and Trip.com for your top 2–3 route options. Wait for a price dip if you have time.

Step 4: Search on Trip.com and Kiwi.com. Check Trip.com for the best standard return fares. Check Kiwi.com for open-jaw options, multi-city combos, and mixed-carrier itineraries.

Step 5: Compare total costs. Add baggage fees to any base fare. Compare the fully-loaded price across platforms before booking.

Step 6: Book trains for onward travel. If you’re connecting to another city by train, book through Omio or directly with Trenitalia/Italo. Early booking saves significantly on high-speed routes.

Step 7: Check compensation eligibility if anything goes wrong. Use Airhelp or Compensair to check and claim.

Final thoughts on the best time to fly to Italy

Getting the timing right on your flights means more budget left for the trip itself: better restaurants, an extra night somewhere new, or just less stress about the overall cost. Of all the ways to save money on an Italy trip, booking flights at the right time is one of the easiest.

For more on planning your trip, these might help:

➡️ Best time to visit Italy – weather, crowds, and what’s open month by month
➡️ Is Italy expensive to visit? – a full budget breakdown
➡️ First time in Italy? – our top 5 places to visit
➡️ Getting around Italy by train – routes, prices, and tips
➡️ Our 10-day Italy itinerary – Rome, Florence, Venice and more

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