Trieste Airport: Information for travellers

About Trieste Airport

Trieste Airport is officially called Aeroporto Friuli-Venezia Giulia, named after the Italian region in which it is located. The airport is also sometimes known as Ronchi dei Legionari after the immediate locality. Its IATA code is TRS. Trieste is a handy airport for visiting this north-eastern corner of Italy, or for travelling into Slovenia. Since Ryanair flights from London Stansted to Trieste are usually cheap, it’s an alternative to the area’s more popular airports like Venice and Verona, and makes a good budget start or end to a travelling holiday. You may end up here by chance, as we did once, since weather conditions can deteriorate in this foggy part of Italy, and Ryanair sometimes divert flights between their north-eastern airports of Venice Treviso, Verona Brescia and Trieste. Trieste is worth a visit in its own right, though, perhaps as part of a longer tour.
> About the city of Trieste

The airport has an empty and dated feel to it – aided by dusty roped-off artworks – but it’s reasonably smart and has seemed efficient on our two visits. There aren’t many flights – little more than a few internal flights to Rome and Milan, and a handful of international flights including Ryanair’s London Stansted flights.

In the airport

There’s a small selection of shops and services on the ground floor, on a long hall connecting the arrival and departure areas. These include a small gift shop selling books and newspapers, and a bar with drinks and snacks. A fuller range of food and drink is available up an escalator, in a first floor area with views over the empty tarmac and runway. This is the nicest place to sit, and there is another bar up here as well as a self-service restaurant (open only at mealtimes). A pay wireless internet (wi-fi) service covers these public parts of the terminal building.

Once you’ve passed the security controls things become less comfortable. On our last visit there was just a small duty-free shop. The only refreshments were chocolate bars or drinks from a machine. There was also a shortage of seats.

Arrivals

Travelling onwards from the airport is happily straightforward. There are the usual car-hire desks in the terminal building, a small taxi-rank outside, and a reasonable range of public transport options.

A number of buses serve the airport, with a row of stops to the right as you leave the terminal building. A board with timetable information is helpfully displayed opposite the arrivals gate, alongside an automatic ticket machine. Tickets should be bought before you board buses (this is normal in Italy), although you may be able to buy them at a greater cost from the driver. Bus tickets are also on sale at the airport’s Post Office, to the left along the terminal’s little ‘mall’. Read on for more information on bus destinations and timetables.

Travel into Trieste

If you’re travelling to or from Trieste itself, 20 miles away, the easiest way to travel is to take the number 51 bus which runs along near the coast to Trieste bus station (which is alongside the railway station). Buses are generally half-hourly on weekdays, and the journey takes approximately 50 minutes. Look out for Castello Miramare on your right as you journey along the coast.

To and from Venice and the Veneto

The airport lies between Venice and Trieste – the nearest station on this line is Monfalcone, 3 miles away. Train tickets between Venice and Monfalcone cost little, and the journey takes around an hour and a half. A local bus service, the number 10, connects Monfalcone station with the airport. You can buy tickets from the news-stand in the railway station; the bus stop is on the far side of the road. It runs roughly every 20-25 minutes and the journey takes around 20 minutes. There is also a bar opposite the station where you can get a hot drink and sandwiches.

More public transport options

Local buses are run by APT Gorizia: see our links panel for the latest airport timetables in pdf format, which at the time of writing you can download by clicking on “Scarica PDF linee aeroporto”. As well as the 51 to Trieste and the urban bus 10 to Monfalcone, they also operate services to Gorizia (bus number 1), Udine (the 51: check you catch the service towards Udine not Trieste) and to seaside resort Grado (bus numbers 1 and 26). Occasional services of the 26 also stop at Aquileia – check timetables for more information.

> Hotels close to Trieste airport
> About Trieste
> Accommodation throughout the region