I have just booked a week in the Bari area in mid April. I am now trying to use FF miles to get me to an Italian hub city. It was my inclination to fly to Rome but when I look at train/plane links I wonder whether Milan isnt better. Does anyone have any opinion. Venice would be great for tourism but again the connections look iffy. I have been to all 3 cities so the hub city isnt as issue as I would like to return to all! Of course the final decision will be ultimately up to the "FF gods".

funny you should ask...I was just looking into direct flights into Bari this morning for a page on a blog I have about Southern Italy and our vacation home
go to http://www.seappuglia.it/default.asp...p;page=Airport

and you will find all the flights that fly into Bari (the officlai airport site)

You may also want to consider Pescara -It's not that far.

http://www.abruzzoairport.it/eng/orariovoli.php

...or even Naples
http://www.portal.gesac.it/portal/page/portal/internet

AS for direct flights...they're are not many (but I was only looking for flights from the US and UK - there are a lot more from within Europe)

Here's the list from my site:
Naples International Airport
Direct Flights:
From London Gatwick - with British Airways
From London Heathrow - with BMI
From London Heathrow - with Lufthansa
From London Stansted - with Easyjet
From Manchester - with Thomasfly
From Dublin, Ireland - with Aer Lingus
From New York, JFK- with EuroFly

Bari International Airport - Puglia
Direct Flights:
From London Stansted - with RyanAir
From London Gatwick - with British Airways
From London Heathrow - with Alitalia

Pescara International Airport
From London Stansted - with Ryanair
From New York, JFK- with EuroFly

thanks. I cant seem to pull up the first link though. Have you looked into train connections from Rome and Milan? I think the Milan is long and Rome inconvenient but I am still working on things.

Perhaps you might like to check: www.trenitalia.it, frequent direct trains from Roma to Bari takes about 4 1/2 hours, it isn't too bad.

hmmm...sorry about the Bari Airport link (I'd just copied and pasted...thry this:

http://www.seap-puglia.it/default.as...idcontenuto=25

if not...just google "Bari Airport" and the official site should come up.

Just curious what you'll do in Bari for a week. I was there 3 years ago and the city didn't seem prepared for tourists. Not much to do.

I have to agree that Bari is not a tourist town...but I think the week can easily be spent by using it as a home-base and day-tripping around Puglia and even into Basilicata and Campania.

It is a start of a bicycle trip...thanks Casa for the airport info,