Flights
Getting to Italy can be quite cost effective as many budget airlines fly from most airports in the UK but as you know prices can fluctuate greatly so shop around and if required why not consider flying out with one airline and back with another.
The closest airports to Barga are as follow.
Pisa - 1 hour
Bologna - 2.5 hours
Genoa - 3 hours
Milan - 3.5 hours
Rome - 3.5 hours
If flying in to one of the further away airports why not look at some of our suggested Itineraries and take a chance to see some of the country
www.ryanair.com fly to Pisa, Bologna, Genoa and Milan
www.easyjet.com fly to Pisa, Bologna, Milan and Rome
www.jet2.com fly to Pisa and Rome
Daily flights to Milan with Easyjet (from Edinburgh) and to Pisa with Ryanair / Easyjet (from London) allows you some flexibility should you have to travel on specific dates. Connecting flights to London are very cheap if you book well in advance (roughly £20 one way from Scotland) so this could still work out as a cost effective way to travel although bear in mind you will have to pay for a case for each leg of the journey so travel light if you can.
Trains in Italy are fantastic value with a return journey from Pisa to Barga being around £12 for a return journey. The website for booking Italian trains can be viewed in English www.trenitalia.com/tcom-en
You can now get to the train directly from Pisa Airport using the "Pisa Mover" which is a shuttle connecting the Airport to the train station and will be included in your overall ticket price. You can buy tickets online or in the arrivals hall at Pisa Airport. To find the 2Pisa Mover" come out of the Terminal, turn left and walk towards the green building under the covered walk way. It is next to the multi storey car park
If you are getting the train to Barga then the best stops would either be Fornaci Di Barga or Gallicano. You would still be around 5 km away from the station to Barga so we would suggest pre booking a taxi (see below) to save you hanging about. A 9 seater mini bus taxi costs around 20 euros from Fornaci in to Barga so is good value if there are a few of you
Hiring a car is a good way to get around,. We can recommend using www.doyouspain.com as they are very inexpensive compared to some other sites and use different car hire companies. They also offer cut price insurance if you buy online, alternatively do what we have done and buy excess insurance which can work out as little as £20 per year covering all of Europe and the UK.
In Italy they have tolls on the motorways so keep some money handy if you hire a car. To get to Barga from the airport costs about 3 euros so its not expensive. When approaching the tolls use the lanes for cash which has a symbol of a banknote and some coins DO NOT use the Telepass as this is a local pre paid system. When entering the toll you will need to take a ticket and then when leaving the motorway at the next tolll you simply insert the ticket and it will tell you how much it is, the machines accept coins and notes and you pay whilst in the car.
Taxis are available in and around Barga / Albiano - 0039 33133 78051