How best to get to/from the ports in Savona and Taranto from the UK

[Raj.K]

Any tips on the best way to get to/from the ports in Savona and Taranto from the London, UK please? We are looking at travel early June 2024.

 

Thank you.

[Oggiabordo]

Genoa is the nearest airport for Savona, but it is not particularly well served from the UK, with just Ryanair and Vueling offering direct services in 2023. Costa offer transfers from Genoa and the train is also an option, although Savona train station is a long walk to the cruise terminal. But you can also get the bus from the station to close to the cruise terminal. 
Costa also offer very affordable transfers from Nice airport and Milan Linate and Malpensa. These can offer a wider variety of flights, and often better prices too. The drive from Nice to Savona along the coast is beautiful !

I’ve never boarded or disembarked in Taranto though, so can’t help with that one.

 

[Raj.K]

11 hours ago, Oggiabordo said:

The drive from Nice to Savona along the coast is beautiful !

Thank you.

 

Would you say take a taxi/bus/train from Nice to Savona? 

[Island2Dweller]

2 hours ago, Raj.K said:

Would you say take a taxi/bus/train from Nice to Savona? 

It's almost 100 miles from Nice....  Taxi will need a mortgage.  Also, I'm not sure whether a Nice taxi driver is licensed to take a fare into Italy.

In comparison it's only 30 miles from Genoa.

[Raj.K]

53 minutes ago, Island2Dweller said:

Taxi will need a mortgage

😂

 

Flights to Genoa not showing for the month of June 2024 yet. Will look for trains from Nice and Milan too. 

[At7Seas]

Train from Nice to Savona is possible, but it is a regional train on the French side and you need to change trains at the border station Ventimiglia. Airport Nice is close to town and connected by tram. French train is okay, Italian trains are (may I say surprisingly) good. I know both trains in the UK and Germany and Italians are way better. If you fly to Milan Savona is sadly not on the Milan high-speed line, either you change in Genoa or you take one of the direct intercity trains - a bit slower, but you don’t loose time by changing train. There are three airports, two in Milan and one in Bergamo, although Ryanair calls that Milan as well. The old airport Linate is closer to town, but hardly used internationally. Malpensa is the main airport and just as Bergamo about one hour by shuttle bus, no stops, ends directly at the central station.
 
I never cruised from Taranto, which is a new cruise destination for Costa as well. Hard to say how you can fly there, nearest international airports should be Bari and Brindisi. I flew on Bari once and despite the new terminal it makes a quite rural impression. Local train to Bari main station. I don’t know the train network there not good enough to say something useful about a connection. The very south is a bit neglected by all the other Italians. If you have an idea where to fly to you can check with www.trenitalia.com, the Italian train company. In most cases they sell tickets - or show connections - only two months in advance but do large changes to the timetable only once a year in early December. If there are no delays with loading the new times you should be able to look at the possibilities after October 9th, just use the same day of the week.

 

[SunnyDe]

I would always advise arranging flights and transfers through your travel agent/Costa where possible, so that they are responsible for getting you to and from the ship on time. But I recently returned from a cruise departing from Savona and did not have this option (it was a last minute booking). So I decided to travel to Savona five days earlier than cruise departure and explore the area. I found flights from Manchester to Genoa. I pre-booked all train travel via Trainline (the app seemed easier than Trenitalia) including Genoa airport to Savona. The first part of that journey is a five min bus transfer from the airport to Genoa station, then by train to Savona. Tickets were about £6 each, Italian train tickets are cheap. Bear in mind, you will only have 5-15 mins to get from the bus stop at the railway station to the platform - ideally you need 15mins to find the lifts and the right platform. When you get to Savona, there are taxis which will take you from the train station to the port for £15-£20. A wise taxi driver will drop you at the embarkation point by the harbour rather than go through to the tunnels as embarkation day creates queues of traffic. We stayed in Savona for two days, then two days at Ventimiglia as it’s easy to get a train into Nice from there. We didn’t miss any of our pre-booked trains but it wasn’t easy lugging around cruise sized cases! I had printed out all the train tickets which meant I didn’t need to “check in” on the machines on the trains/bus. But if you are using electronic or open tickets, do remember to do this. The ticket inspectors are many in number and will fine anyone who has not used those machines onboard. It happened to others on the same bus as us. Anyway, this issue, plus lugging cases up and down carriages and the risk of missing trains, finding the right platform and the lifts - all very good reason for getting your transfers included when you book. Also it was hard work trying to guess how long it would take to get through passport control etc or to get a taxi. I often overestimated the time to be safe and as a result spent a lot of time waiting and drinking coffee in Savona railway station, I certainly know my way around that station now!

[Raj.K]

4 hours ago, SunnyDe said:

I would always advise arranging flights and transfers through your travel agent/Costa where possible, so that they are responsible for getting you to and from the ship on time. But I recently returned from a cruise departing from Savona and did not have this option (it was a last minute booking). So I decided to travel to Savona five days earlier than cruise departure and explore the area. I found flights from Manchester to Genoa. I pre-booked all train travel via Trainline (the app seemed easier than Trenitalia) including Genoa airport to Savona. The first part of that journey is a five min bus transfer from the airport to Genoa station, then by train to Savona. Tickets were about £6 each, Italian train tickets are cheap. Bear in mind, you will only have 5-15 mins to get from the bus stop at the railway station to the platform - ideally you need 15mins to find the lifts and the right platform. When you get to Savona, there are taxis which will take you from the train station to the port for £15-£20. A wise taxi driver will drop you at the embarkation point by the harbour rather than go through to the tunnels as embarkation day creates queues of traffic. We stayed in Savona for two days, then two days at Ventimiglia as it’s easy to get a train into Nice from there. We didn’t miss any of our pre-booked trains but it wasn’t easy lugging around cruise sized cases! I had printed out all the train tickets which meant I didn’t need to “check in” on the machines on the trains/bus. But if you are using electronic or open tickets, do remember to do this. The ticket inspectors are many in number and will fine anyone who has not used those machines onboard. It happened to others on the same bus as us. Anyway, this issue, plus lugging cases up and down carriages and the risk of missing trains, finding the right platform and the lifts - all very good reason for getting your transfers included when you book. Also it was hard work trying to guess how long it would take to get through passport control etc or to get a taxi. I often overestimated the time to be safe and as a result spent a lot of time waiting and drinking coffee in Savona railway station, I certainly know my way around that station now!

Thank you for all the detail 🙏

[mustafabalcony]

We are flying into Milan, then getting a Flix bus to Genoa and a train to Savona.

We've booked 2 nights in Savona before our cruise.

As we've visited Savona a few times, I now wish we'd booked a couple of nights in Milan instead and then caught a Milan to Savona train.... Maybe next time 🙂 

[TheAlex94]

I know there is also a direct FlixBus line from Nice Airport to the Savona train station, it takes around 2 hrs. 

 

 

 

 

[At7Seas]

And there is a Costa bus from Milano Centrale railway station directly to the terminal. Just for the next time when Milan might be explored. It was about the same price as the train ticket for a direct train from Milan to Savona. Last year it started at 9:15 AM.

[dritan]

I have disembarked from Taranto last summer.  I checked train times on trenitalia and was able to walk to the station from the ship ( about 10-15 mins), got the train to Bari and then a tram/train to the airport from there.  ( the train to Bari was around 80 mins and then 15 min journey time from Bari Centrale to the airport.  Not too bad.  Costa did not offer a shuttle to Bari.

 

I have also booked a cruise that is starting in Taranto next year.  We are flying into Bari the afternoon before and catching the train to Taranto and staying overnight there. 

 

I've done the journey to Savona many times and most regularly get a flight to Milan and either stay near airport overnight  and get a Costa shuttle from airport to ship the next day.  Or I stay in Milan if we are staying a few nights and catch the train to Savona directly from there.  

 

I also love the option of Nice for a short pre cruise stay.  I've got the train to Savona from Nice and it's a beautiful journey.  I've also got the Costa shuttle from Savona to Nice airport and it's a stunning way to end the holiday. 

[Raj.K]

On 11/12/2023 at 11:58 PM, dritan said:

I have disembarked from Taranto last summer.  I checked train times on trenitalia and was able to walk to the station from the ship ( about 10-15 mins), got the train to Bari and then a tram/train to the airport from there.  ( the train to Bari was around 80 mins and then 15 min journey time from Bari Centrale to the airport.  Not too bad.  Costa did not offer a shuttle to Bari.

 

I have also booked a cruise that is starting in Taranto next year.  We are flying into Bari the afternoon before and catching the train to Taranto and staying overnight there. 

 

I've done the journey to Savona many times and most regularly get a flight to Milan and either stay near airport overnight  and get a Costa shuttle from airport to ship the next day.  Or I stay in Milan if we are staying a few nights and catch the train to Savona directly from there.  

 

I also love the option of Nice for a short pre cruise stay.  I've got the train to Savona from Nice and it's a beautiful journey.  I've also got the Costa shuttle from Savona to Nice airport and it's a stunning way to end the holiday. 

Thank you. 

 

Flights to Genoa are not showing yet for June 2024. Will this be an option to Savona?

 

[At7Seas]

20 hours ago, Raj.K said:

Thank you. 

 

Flights to Genoa are not showing yet for June 2024. Will this be an option to Savona?

 

 

Sure, flying to Genoa is an option. Just that it is a small regional airport and in opposite to Milan and even Nice you have only a very few direct international flights. So you need to have luck getting a direct flight. If you need to change plane in Rome you might end up paying more for travelling longer compared to taking the train from Milan, distance between Genoa and Milan is just about 150 km.

[Raj.K]

Ship arrives at Taranto at 9am. What is the earliest we can catch a flight from Bari or Brindisi please? We will check-in online but will need to check-in luggage. We can pre-book van/taxi as we are a small group. (late afternoon flights are so expensive that paying for a taxi will be worth it!).

 

Would a flight from Bari or Brindisi at 12pm be risky?

 

Also, what is the latest time we can disembark from the ship at Taranto? There are cheaper flights very late at night but that will mean loitering at the airport with luggage. So if we can stay on the ship for as long as we can, then the waiting time at the airport will be minimised.

[Raj.K]

On 11/18/2023 at 3:15 PM, At7Seas said:

 

Sure, flying to Genoa is an option. Just that it is a small regional airport and in opposite to Milan and even Nice you have only a very few direct international flights. So you need to have luck getting a direct flight. If you need to change plane in Rome you might end up paying more for travelling longer compared to taking the train from Milan, distance between Genoa and Milan is just about 150 km.

Thank you @At7Seas @SunnyDe and @dritan for all your input.

 

I have booked a direct flight to Genoa. Thank you. Just need to work out how best to get back from Taranto (please see my post above).