Bergamo Is Proving You Don't Need Milan to Fly Into Northern Italy

For two decades, Bergamo has mostly been known to travellers as the airport you land at when a budget fare to Milan is cheaper than the one landing at Malpensa or Linate. Ryanair made Orio al Serio its Italian base back in 2003, and the airport has grown into one of the country's busiest for low-cost traffic, with well over 150 destinations on its summer schedule and passenger numbers still climbing. What has changed more recently is how many of those arriving passengers are staying put rather than transferring straight on to Milan, an hour away by road.

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A walled town that outranks the reason people first flew in

Bergamo's Città Alta, the walled upper town reached by funicular from the newer city below, has a Venetian-built fortification circuit, a compact web of medieval lanes and a Piazza Vecchia that Le Corbusier once called one of the most beautiful squares in Europe. None of that is new, but for years it sat in the shadow of the low-cost flights that happened to touch down nearby, treated as a possible day trip rather than a reason to book the ticket in the first place.

What the airport's growth has actually done

Milan Bergamo Airport's operator has forecast a multi-billion-euro tourism impact for the region in 2026, and airlines including Ryanair have continued adding routes and aircraft based at the airport rather than simply using it as a Milan proxy. That scale of connectivity has made Bergamo itself a realistic weekend booking from across Europe, not only a cheaper way to reach Milan's shops and galleries.

A trend worth watching, not yet a verdict

It would be an overstatement to say Bergamo has replaced Milan as the region's draw; Milan's museums, fashion and scale of choice are not going anywhere. But the growing habit of building a short trip entirely around Bergamo, with Milan as the optional add-on rather than the other way round, says something about where low-cost aviation is quietly redirecting attention: toward the airport town itself, once enough travellers stop rushing straight through it.

Traveller tips

• The funicular between the lower city and Città Alta runs frequently and is the easiest way up to the walled town.
• Milan Bergamo Airport (BGY) is about 45 minutes from central Milan by bus or train, making a Bergamo-first trip easy to combine with a Milan day.
• Bergamo's Venetian walls are a UNESCO World Heritage Site; a walk along the ramparts gives wide views over both the old and new towns.
• Book Città Alta accommodation ahead in peak summer months, when the upper town's small hotel stock fills quickly.