LATEST
Ongoing problems
with Alitalia mean many people are avoiding this
carrier. There are plenty of cheaper
alternatives, however.
NEW
FOR 2009
Amidst
fears of schedule cutbacks, prospects for 2009
remain good.
Ryanair
resume the useful flights from Bari to
Pisa, and Tuesdays and Saturdays are operating
twice daily, with a helpful afternoon flight to
Bari, and flights at nil cost of seat plus taxes.
Pisa is now becoming a good connection for Bari,
with many flights from Pisa to the UK.
Ryanair
resume their previous summer schedule
from Stansted to Bari and Brindisi at the end of
March 2009.
BA
also resum their twice-weekly service.
NEW
for 2008
Easyjet
have started flights from Bari to Milan
(Malpensa), so now offering connecting flights to
the UK London Gatwick, Bristol and Edinburgh.
This adds to the existing list of cheap carriers
flying from Bari to Milan, Rome and Naples. They
will also be flying to Brindisi from Milan
Malpensa from October 2008.
Ryanair
is now also flying Bari-Pisa giving many
additional options for non-direct flights to the
UK.
British
Airways is now operating a summer schedule three
times weekly to Bari so making with Ryanair daily
direct flights UK-Bari.
Ryanair
added two flights a week from Stansted to Bari
for July August, now flying six days a week
(Thursday excepted).
Direct Flights to
Bari and Brindisi from the UK
RyanAir started
daily flights to Bari from London Stansted in
January 2004, and started direct flights to
Brindisi in April 2004.
There are frequent
special offers - bargain fares have been as low
as a penny each way plus taxes. It is not
necessary to book a return flight.
Prices otherwise
normally available from RyanAir's website (see
below) are from around a very low 50 pounds
return inclusive of taxes. Flights for summer
2008 are daily, late afternoon departure from
Stansted to either Bari or Brindisi depending on
the day of the week.
Further news in
2004 was that British Airways
started flying direct to Bari from Gatwick. There
is no winter service but flights (now three a
week) restarted in March and run until October.
The schedules are variable but fairly convenient
in timing, and flight time is around 2 1/2 to 3
hours. Seats can be booked at BA's online
website(see below) and each-way flights start
under 20 pounds plus tax if you are lucky. NEW! BA's budget prices are now
applicable to ONE-WAY flights.
Both Bari and
Brindisi airports are under an hour's drive from
the Alberobello/Ostuni area. See below for UK
direct flight schedules.
Alternative routes from
London and regional airports
Direct
flights
Prior to January
2004, Ryanair's nearest airport was Pescara,
about 4 hour's drive away. Naples is 3 hours or
so drive, and is served by direct flights from UK
Gatwick (Easyjet) and from regional airports.
Ryanair has now introduced flights to Lamezia in
Calabria, which is about 3 hours' drive from
Taranto.
Indirect
flights
RyanAir are
operating a list of new flights from Milan
(Bergamo) from winter 2007/8, including
3-times-weekly flights to Bari.
This is welcome,
illustrating Ryanair's commitment to Puglia, but
because of flight timings this might be more
helpful on the outbound leg from UK rather than
the inbound, where a night stopover may be
required. Flights from Milan also reach a number
of UK regional airports including new
destinations Bristol and Bournemouth.
Alitalia
has flights from London Heathrow to Bari and
Brindisi, with changes in Rome or Milan from
around 130 pounds return. They have been
unreliable for delivery of baggae, and now they
are in difficyulties are best avoided.
It is also
possible to get budget, charter or discounted
airline flights, not only from London but from
regional UK airports, to and from Milan and Rome,
from where there are budget flights to Puglia.
However, beware Ryanair's "Milan"
destination. This in fact Bergamo airport, some
40 miles from Milan and its main Linate airport.
Easyjet currently fly to Linate (and Malpensa)
from London Gatwick.
New for 2008 -
Ryanair have introduced flights Bari to
Pisa, with a good number of flights available
from Pisa to/from the UK.
Volare,
the budget Italian flight company, are now back
in operation and fly Bari or Brindisi to Milan
Linate, which might help those for whom the
Ryanair Stansted connection is inconvenient - try
Easyjet connections from Linate
to the UK.
Also flying from
Bari to Milan Linate or Venice, or from Brindisi
to Milan, the carrier AirOne (a
pun - airone is Italian for heron) offer daily
flights. They also offer Bari to Rome (Fumicino),
and connections onward to London City airport.
But their outward flights from London City go via
Rome then to Milan and to Bari!
Also flying from
Bari to Rome Fiumicino is low-cost carrier Blu-express.
Easyjet fly,
however, UK to/from Rome Ciampino.
From Manchester or
Leeds Jet2.com fly to Rome
Fiumicino, where it is possible to get
connections to Bari, as above.
The Venice route
might be an option for anyone wanting to fly from
Bristol or Nottingham East Midlands, served by
Easyjet flights to Marco Polo. Thomson fly from
Coventry to Venice (Marco Polo) and Naples. Note
Liverpool is served by Ryanair to Treviso, about
50km from Venice.
From Milan Linate
or Rome it is also possible to fly Alitalia to
Bari, but the cost of these flights can be more
than the budget international flights. However
Alitalia can sometimes offer good deals - ie
through but not direct flights - from the UK,
including to/from Manchester.
The SEAP web site
gives timetables for flights from Bari and
Brindisi, very helpful for flight planning, also
has real time departure and arrival information.
Bari
Airport (Palese- BRI)
Is situated about
11 km west of Bari, just off the state road SS16
(E55). In 2005 a new terminal building opened,
regarded as a great improvment and a sign of
Puglia's investment.
It will normally
be necessary to hire a car, as getting around
rural Puglia is not very easy by public
transport, which is still relatively undeveloped
outside the main train lines.
Car hire companies
present in the airport terminal include Europcar,
HolidayAutos, Avis and Herz. Cars are best and
easiest ordered in advance from the UK through
the internet. Herz offer special prices to
RyanAir customers - see the RyanAir web site.
AutoEurope also offer good value.
From the airport
it is a straightforward journey to Alberobello
and the Itria Valley, on dual-carriageway for
most of the way, continuing down the SS16 as far
as Fasano. Alternatively from the Bari ring road
you can take the SS100 towards Taranto and cut
across-country from Casamassima. For the Ostuni
area carry on further down the dual carriageway
Brindisi Airport (BDS)
Is situated a few
kilometers north-west of Brindisi, off the state
road SS379 (E55). It is due for reconstruction
this year of its terminal buildings, we
understand.
Car hire companies
are present in the airport terminal. Again cars
are best and easiest ordered in advance from the
UK through the internet - try Herz and AutoEurope
for good prices. Because of the times of the
Stansted flights not all offices are open at
arrival time.
From the airport
to Alberobello and the Itria Valley is on
dual-carriageway for most of the way, continue up
the SS379/SS16 as far as Fasano. For Ostuni the
travel time is less.
Rail
Bari is served by
express trains northward via Pescara (3 hours) to
Milan or Venice, also across to Rome (about 4
hours). Trains from Bari continue along the
Adriatic coast down via Fasano and Ostuni to
Brindisi, and from Bari there are trains via
Alberobello and Martina Franca to Taranto.
By car
If you want to
bring your own car, it will take about 20 to 22
hours driving time from Calais by motorway
through France and Italy, or
France(Belgium/Luxembourg)/Switzerland/Italy,
perhaps best done over three days.
If you drive at
maximum legal speed on motorways, Rome is about 4
hours from Bari, Pescara about 3 and Naples under
3.
New Ryanair
destination Lamezia in Calabria is about 3 hours
drive from Puglia.
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