How to Get from Milan Bergamo Airport to the City Centre (2026 Guide)
19 June 2026
Disclaimer: All prices, schedules and service details in this article reflect information available in June 2026. Transport fares and timetables change regularly — always verify the latest information on the official websites of each provider before you travel. The author and Faretus accept no liability for any inaccuracies, changes, or decisions made based on this content.
Milan Bergamo Airport (BGY), officially Il Caravaggio International Airport but known to almost everyone simply as Orio al Serio, is not actually in Milan. It sits roughly 50 kilometres east of the city, on the outskirts of Bergamo — a separate city in its own right, with its own beautiful old town, that most travellers passing through never see. If you booked a flight to "Milan Bergamo" expecting something close to the Duomo, this is the moment to recalibrate: you have landed nearer to the Alps foothills than to the Navigli canals.
This matters because BGY is the busiest low-cost airport in Italy and the primary base for Ryanair and easyJet flights into the Milan area. A huge number of travellers arrive here every day having booked the cheapest fare available, only to discover at the gate that the transfer into Milan takes nearly as long as some of their flights. The good news: it's a well-organised, well-served route, and once you understand the layout, getting it right is simple.
There are five realistic options for the journey. All of them are below.
The one fact that changes everything: there is no direct train
Unlike Vienna, Munich or Zurich, BGY has no train station of its own and no direct rail connection to Milan. If you see a guide or a booking site advertising a "train option," what they actually mean is: a public bus to Bergamo's own train station, followed by a separate regional train into Milan. It is a real option and it can be the cheapest, but it is not a one-step journey, and most travellers are better served by the direct coach services described below.
The quick comparison
| Option | Price (one-way) | Time to centre | Frequency | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Direct coach (Flibco / Autostradale / Terravision) | €8–14 | 50–60 min | Every 20–30 min | Almost everyone |
| ATB bus + regional train via Bergamo station | ~€2.60 + ~€6 | 75–90 min | Every 20 min (bus) | Absolute budget travellers |
| Taxi | €95–120 fixed | 50–70 min | On demand | Groups, late arrivals |
| Uber / Bolt | Limited availability | 50–70 min | On demand | Check before relying on it |
| Private transfer | from €70 | 50–60 min | Pre-booked | Families, business travel |
Option 1 — Direct coach to Milan Centrale: the obvious choice for most travellers
Several operators run direct, non-stop coach services between BGY and Milan Centrale (Central Station), all departing from clearly marked stops directly outside the arrivals hall, and arriving at Piazza Luigi di Savoia, on the side of Milan's main station. The main operators are Flibco, Autostradale (Airport Bus Express), and Terravision — all running broadly comparable services on broadly comparable schedules, so the choice between them mostly comes down to whichever has a departure time that suits you.
Journey time is 50–60 minutes depending on traffic on the A4 motorway. Flibco runs from as early as 03:15 until 23:20, with departures roughly every 20–30 minutes for most of the day; the other operators run similar hours. One-way tickets bought online in advance start around €8 with Flibco, with Autostradale and Terravision priced similarly, typically €10–14 depending on how far ahead you book. All three include free luggage in the hold, free Wi-Fi, power outlets, and — a genuinely nice touch from a couple of operators — a complimentary self-guided audio city tour loaded onto your phone for the ride.
Buy tickets online before you fly for the best price; walk-up fares at the airport kiosk are usually a few euros more. Your QR code ticket is typically valid for any departure that day, so if your flight lands early or is delayed, you can simply board the next available coach rather than being locked to a specific time.
The honest take: This is the right answer for the vast majority of people flying into BGY. It is direct, frequent, affordable, and delivers you to the heart of Milan's transport network at Centrale, where you can connect onward by metro, tram or train to anywhere else in the city. Book online a day or two in advance if you can; the saving over a walk-up ticket is real and the process takes thirty seconds.
Option 2 — ATB bus + regional train via Bergamo station: cheaper, but a genuine detour
For travellers on a strict budget, or those whose destination is actually Bergamo itself rather than Milan, the ATB Line 1 airport bus runs from BGY into Bergamo's lower city (Città Bassa), including a stop at Bergamo train station, in about 15–20 minutes, departing every 20 minutes. The fare is approximately €2.60 for a Three Zone ticket (the zone required to cover the airport-to-city stretch).
From Bergamo station, a regional Trenord train continues to Milan, with a journey time of around 50–55 minutes and a fare of roughly €6. Combined, the total journey — bus plus train, including the change at Bergamo station — takes 75–90 minutes door to door, depending on connection waiting time, for a combined cost of around €8.60, similar to the cheapest direct coach fare but considerably slower and requiring a transfer with luggage.
The honest take: This route rarely makes financial sense purely as a way to reach Milan — the direct coach is usually about the same price or cheaper once you book in advance, and it's a single seat the whole way. Where this option genuinely earns its place is if your actual destination is Bergamo's historic Città Alta (Upper City) rather than Milan at all — in which case the ATB bus alone, without the onward train, is exactly what you want, and Bergamo's funicular up to the old town is a worthwhile detour in its own right.
Option 3 — Taxi: fixed but expensive, given the distance
Licensed taxis at BGY operate on largely fixed rates for the standard Milan city centre run, given via local radio taxi cooperatives. Expect to pay in the region of €95–120 for the journey, which takes 50–70 minutes depending on traffic and your exact destination within Milan. The taxi rank is clearly signposted outside arrivals; as with every airport in this series, ignore anyone approaching you inside the terminal offering a ride at an unofficial rate.
The honest take: At 50 kilometres, this is simply a long and expensive taxi ride — among the priciest airport-to-centre taxi fares in this entire guide series. For a solo traveller it is very hard to justify against an €8–14 coach ticket doing essentially the same journey. For four people splitting a €110 fare, it comes to around €27.50 per person — still considerably more than the coach, but workable if you have substantial luggage or are arriving very late and want the certainty of door-to-door service.
Option 4 — Uber and Bolt: check before you rely on it
Ride-hailing availability at BGY is more limited and less predictable than at most other airports in this guide series. Uber operates in the Milan area but coverage and wait times for an airport pickup at BGY can be inconsistent, and pricing for the 50km run is comparable to or higher than the fixed taxi rate. Bolt has a more limited footprint in Lombardy generally. Check both apps for live availability and quoted price the moment you land — don't assume either will be there, and don't plan your whole transfer strategy around a ride-hailing app being available at this particular airport.
The honest take: Treat this as a backup option to check on arrival, not a primary plan. If a reasonable quote comes up, it's a reasonable choice for one or two people; if the app shows no cars or an inflated price, the direct coach remains the more reliable option regardless of group size.
Option 5 — Private transfer: worth it more than at most airports on this list
Given the distance and the absence of a direct train, a pre-booked private transfer is genuinely more compelling at BGY than at, say, Vienna or Copenhagen, where public transport is fast enough that a transfer rarely earns its premium. Here, the journey is 50+ minutes by any method, and a transfer removes the only real source of friction: finding the right coach stop, validating tickets, and managing connections with luggage after a long flight.
Prices for a standard sedan to central Milan start at around €70–90; larger vehicles for groups or families run higher. Several operators serve BGY with flight tracking and a fixed price agreed before you land.
The honest take: For two people, a transfer at €75 split between them is about €37.50 each — a real premium over the coach, but a smaller one than at most airports given how comparatively close it sits to the taxi fare here. For a family of four with luggage, a transfer at €90 split four ways is €22.50 per head, putting it within striking distance of four individual coach tickets while removing every logistical complication. This is one of the few airports in this series where the private transfer genuinely competes on value, not just convenience.
Which option is right for you?
- Solo or pair, heading to Milan Centrale or central Milan → Direct coach (Flibco, Autostradale or Terravision). Book online a day ahead for the best price.
- Absolute budget priority, no time pressure → ATB bus + Trenord train via Bergamo station, only if the price difference is meaningful to you — it rarely beats the coach once booked in advance.
- Actually heading into Bergamo's old town, not Milan at all → ATB Line 1 bus alone, then the funicular up to Città Alta. Don't bother with Milan-bound transport at all.
- Group of three or four with heavy luggage → Taxi or private transfer. Per-head cost narrows meaningfully and the door-to-door delivery is worth it at this distance.
- Family with children → Private transfer. The fixed price and single uninterrupted journey matter more here than at airports where the train does the job in 20 minutes.
- Arriving very late at night → Check Flibco's last departure time before relying on the coach; outside operating hours, a pre-booked transfer or taxi is the only realistic option.
The detail worth remembering before you book your flight
"Milan Bergamo Airport" is a marketing name, not a geographic promise. The airport is closer to Bergamo than to Milan, there is no direct train, and the journey into the city centre takes about an hour by the best available option — not the 15–25 minutes you'd get at an airport that's actually inside city limits. None of that makes BGY a bad choice; it's an efficient, well-run airport with excellent coach connections and some of the cheapest flights into the wider Milan area. It just means the transfer should be part of your cost-and-time calculation when you compare it against Malpensa or Linate, not an afterthought you figure out at the gate.
Budget the extra hour, book your coach ticket online before you land, and you'll be on Milan's metro network with money left over from whatever you saved on the flight.
If you haven't found that cheap flight yet, the Faretus deals page is where to start.
All information in this article is based on publicly available data from official transport providers as of June 2026. Prices, schedules and service arrangements may change without notice. Always verify directly with the relevant provider — Flibco (flibco.com), Autostradale (autostradale.it), Terravision (terravision.eu), ATB Bergamo (atb.bergamo.it), Trenord (trenord.it) — before travelling. The author and Faretus bear no responsibility for any decisions made based on the content of this article.