I'll be traveling to Matera from Salerno in May (mid week). The train and bus system is quite difficult to navigate. Does anyone have any information about the most reliable option to get there? Train from Salerno to Ferrandina, then bus to Matera? Has anyone taken the Miccolis bus that leaves from Salerno at Largo Monpellier - Parco Pinocchio and goes to Matera Villa Longo? We are staying in Amalfi the night before and will have to reach Salerno by ferry, hydrofoil or bus in order to get to Matera. If anyone has taken any of these travel methods and has information about them that would also be greatly appreciated.
Posted by
16 posts
We did that same trip in March 2014. We took the bus from Salerno to Ferrandina and then the train to Matera. The bus left Salerno early in the morning (before breakfast was served at the youth hostel). I can't remember the time exactly but I would guess 6:30 or 7:00. The bus left from the train station. It was full of commuting workers who almost all left the bus at the first major stop. We changed from bus to train at Fernandina Scalo and the bus dropped us off at a café next to the train station. I seem to remember buying the train tickets at the café. We had some time to wait for the train but it was a pleasant day to wait. We were the only people around. We arrived in Matera fairly early in the day (about 10:00 or 11:00) but our hotel allowed us to check-in early. It was an easy trip for our family of four (two teens). The only difficulty was getting out of bed early but then we had the whole day to explore Matera.
Posted by
OP
2 posts
Thank you for your reply. Do you know where I can find the schedule for the train going to Matera from Ferrandina? I was also wondering what bus company you used to get to Ferrandina. I could only find one bus going to Ferrandina from Salerno called Miccolis Autolinee with buses going to Ferrandina at 7am and 3:45pm, leaving from a park in Salerno that was 1.5 miles away from Salerno Station called Largo Monpellier - Parco Pinocchio. Is this the bus you took?
Posted by
Toledo, Ohio, US
11613 posts
The train to Matera is a short-run private line, you can try rome2rio.com.
Posted by
16 posts
The bus that we took left at 6:50 and arrived at 9:04 in Ferrandina. I booked it through the trenitalia website.
https://www.lefrecce.it/B2CWeb/search.do?parameter=searchOutputViewer&cFID=BMMEdoos3vdv
I believe that the train schedule for Ferrandina to Matera was on the FAL website. I can't find it anymore so I am wondering if maybe my memory is bad and we actually took another bus.
I found this: By train – FAL (Ferrovie Apulo-Lucane) shuttle buses from Ferrandina Scalo station to Matera (35 Km). from this website:
http://www.sassiweb.com/matera/how-to-reach-us/
I found the pdf copy of the bus schedule from Ferrandina Scalo to Matera train station. The bus left at 9:45 and got to Matera at 10:23. I had saved this schedule on my Blackberry in the fall of 2013. I assume that the schedule is the same but I would verify that the times have not changed. It is an FAL bus that starts in Montalbano and ends in Matera. The bus we took runs daily from Monday to Saturday.