PSGMARTINO

We are attending a wedding next year in San Sebastian (from San Francisco) and from there want to travel to Italy for a few weeks, and we'd like to go to Puglia.

It's looking a little difficult to get there... Does anyone have any recommendations on budget airlines and which airlines to fly in and out of? There are not many options going from Santander or Bilbao, and getting to Madrid is 5 hours away. Even then, I'm not seeing very direct flights to Brindisi or Pescara.

Any suggestions are appreciated!

Thank you.

jamikins

I don't think there will be any direct flights between the two. You will likely have to do transfer in Rome.

It looks like Vueling flies Bilbao to Rome. From there you can drive, fly or train to Puglia.

carolll

I have also been searching for flights from Bilbao to various cities in Italy - Genoa, Pisa, etc. Vueling has flights but all seem to go through Barcelona with extensive waiting time for the leg into Italy. An email to Vueling got me a nice response but in the end not very helpful...the company posts its flights in Oct and March. I want to map out a trip now in November.

Does anyone know of shorter flights, costing between $100-200 that take less than 2 or 3 hours from Bilbao into Italy?

jamikins

In my post above I noted they fly to Rome.

Check out www.whichbudget.com to see where budget airlines fly.

suec1

Here comes the post that does not in any way answer your question - the unasked for advice. But really why not do something closer - there are alot of great options you could do that are much closer and save Italy for another trip. Are you spending some time in the San Sebastian area? then you could go on to other parts of Spain, France or Portugal - all would make a great second part of your trip and much easier to get to than Puglia.

Steve_James

Bilbao airport website also lists flights (- Volotea) to Venice. Might be another option ..

Hope this helps ...

Steve

Ferkin

I live in Puglia so quite understand your desire to get here. Might seem odd but fares are cheap so look at Easyjet from Bilbao to London Stanstead then Ryanair to Bari or Brindisi . If you are there in the summer then Easyjet from Bilbao to Rome and Ryanair Rome to Bari. You will however often find flights via London cheaper as it is a more aggressive market. Easyjet also serve Bari but from London Gatwick so you could cross London from Stanstead and do some sights on the way ! Be careful though with both carriers luggage limits are tight 15KGS in the hold and very little inside the cabin unlike US low cost carriers which seem to encourage you to cram as much in the cabin as possible. You also need to do everything on line and watch the add ons on Ryanair. This is the guy that keeps talking about charging you to use the restrooms on board !! Easyjet are way better and even have seat selection at check in so no running to the plane to get seats together.

Kate

Endorse Ferkin's post. Frequent cheap flights with Ryanair via Stansted, even though I hate them, they can't be beat on price.

jamikins

The only thing to be aware of is if you put two low cost flights together (Bilbao - London then London - Bari) if the first one is late, delayed etc and you miss the 2nd flight you will be stuffed and have to pay the rate on the day to rebook your 2nd flight. They are under no obligation to get you to your next destination, even if they are both booked through the same carrier.

Also you will need to leave time to go out and recheck in (dont forget you have to do this about 2 hours before your 2nd flight and they are VERY strict on cutting off the check-in at a certain tmie) and get through security again at the London airport as the generally dont check you through - each flight is an separate entity.

I personally never book connections with budget airlines for this reason unless there is an overnight. They also may not fly every day to each location, so if you miss the conencting flight you may be stuck in London for a day or so until the next flight.

Just some things to think about...

PSGMARTINO

I wasn't sure that I'd get a response to this question, so I really appreciate all the advise. Thanks to you all.

Suec1 - I have thought about doing something closer, but am really interested in this part of Italy that I haven't done before.

I've found a Ryanair flight from Santander to Rome - I'm thinking then we'll get a car and drive to Puglia - staying overnight somewhere along the way (as it will be getting late). Any suggestions on a good place to stop for a night? Our final destination will be near Lecce or Ostuni.

Thanks again..

ekscrunchy

Possible stopovers would be Matera, Bernalda (each about a 5 hours drive from Rome) and near Andria/Trani/Castel del Monte (about a 4-hour-drive from Rome)

If any of these are of interest, I/we will be glad to offer recommendations of hotels, sights.

If those represent too far to drive from FCO, perhaps you could consider staying near Benevento,
Caserta, or other Campanian locations.

Ferkin

I guess we need to know what month you are coming over and the flight times for Ryanair. A couple of hours down the autostrada will take you to Montecassino and there are plenty of hotels in the town and restaurants open till late. Further on obviously then Benevento . After that you are probably best pressing on to Ostuni . Either that or stay the night in Ciampino and take the early Ryanair the next morning ,across the road from the hotels is the Via Appia antica .

lincasanova

Re Ryanair flights withut EU passport.

One must still take printed boarding pass to ticket office to get it STAMPED before passing through security the day of the flight. Make sure you have extra time to do so, and unless a Ryanair staff member tells you otherwise , this is still their policy. They are the only airlines that requires this and MANY people are left stranded forcing them to buy a new ticket when they arrive at boarding with NO stamp on their Non EU passport.

Please share.

This was NOT the case in Frankfurt Hahn, Germany, but WAS the case at Stansted and is the case in Spain.

PSGMARTINO

ekscrunchy and Ferkin -

Wow, I was thinking the entire drive time from Rome to Puglia was 5 hours. Not? How long would it be to get from Rome Ciampino to Ostuni?

Our travel date is September 8th - and of course I can't check the Ryan Air schedule this far out, but if I check current schedules, there is one flight on Sunday that gets in at 4:35 pm. By the time we get a rental car it will be 5:30 or 6:00 no doubt, so I'd like to find a place to stop where we could have a meal, so maybe a 3 hour drive from Rome? And then how much travel time would it be on the following day to Ostuni?

Thanks again.

ekscrunchy

From Ciampino to Ostuni, five and a half to 6.5 hours, depending on your route; ViaMichelin gives a choice of three routes.

Most likely would be the combo of A1 and A16. so, using that route, stopover for dinner might work in the general area of Benevento. Do you happen to have the SlowFood guide? If not, once we decide on a route, I could try to look up a few likely places.

Using another of their suggested routes, the A14, would take you east across to Pescara and down the Adriatic Coast to the Bari area. This puts you in reach of some well-known eating options between Roma and the Coast, in ABruzzo.

Again, best decide first on the rotue and then we will get to the fun part of choosing the restaurants.




Also, take a look at options for travel from Rome to Matera; I just posted some ideas on another thread about Puglia:


http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...uglia-area.cfm