Car Hire/Trains/Buses which ones better in Puglia

You could base somewhere on the main train line along the east coast for a few days to visit places by train as day trips. This is a fast and easy option and no point in driving. Places which are worth seeing or staying on the main train line are Monopoli and Polignano a Mare (both very popular with international tourists), Bari - a very nice city to base in, since there's the old town to visit, big choice of eateries and the tourists just merge with the locals without predominating, Trani - my personal favourite and here is why: https://slowtravelitalyspain.blogspot.com/2023/04/why-i-love-trani.html , or smaller towns like Giovinazzo, Molfetta. It's also easy to get to Lecce by train.
Once you've got your bearings you could rent a car to visit places which are more complicated to reach by public transport like Valle d'Itria (Alberobello, Cisternino, Martina Franca, Locorotondo) and maybe continue on to Matera - just outside Puglia, but a fascinating place.
Puglia also has a host of small towns and villages which are splendid and ignored by international tourism. Here are some of those: https://slowtravelitalyspain.blogspot.com/2023/12/hidden-gems-of-puglia.html
How long will you be staying, and what time of year? Avoid July and August if possible. Apart from the heat, hordes of Italians head to Puglia

Thanks Tinac,
For the great, all around feedback, good mix of transport too.
I appreciate the sprinkling of spots a little off the beaten track will be great to build my itinerary .
Currently looking at either November this year or May of next, time about 14 days or more if necessary.
As I currently have two upcoming international trips, May seems more likely.
Is that a good time or would April or another month be better.
Once again, appreciate you taking the time to respond.
Take care

Hi John,
May is the ideal time in my opinion. It may start to get warm in May but not up to extreme temperatures and most areas are still green. We visited the Valle d'Itria in May 2022 and it was incredibly beautiful for the olive groves full of flowers - red poppies contrasting with olive trees, the trulli etc and some flowers still on the coast. Also the days are long so you can make the most of the evenings because it's light until late. The season starts with Easter so everything open but no crowds.
In November it gets dark quite early, the risk of rain is higher and while I love Puglia in September and October, November feels a little more melancholic, although there can still be beautiful days.
April is better only in theory (cooler). In practice and especially in 2025 the Easter school holidays join on to the long weekend of Liberazione on the public holiday on 25th April and the other long weekend of 1st May public holiday which will finish 4th May. Many Italians travel during this time and the other risk in March/April is that of school trips - large groups of bored teenagers crowding out places you'd hope to enjoy. Not so many in May.
I'd definitely choose May, after 4th May, if it suits your other plans.

Hello Tina,
Thank you so much.
Will start planning, thought Bari waterfront looked a little like La Spezia.
Do you have thoughts in some of your articles on restaurants in the Puglia area, no problems if not.
Thanks again.
BTW, apart from Lake Garda, one of our favorite place in Northern Italy was/is Bergamo.
Take care

We found the book "Lonely Planet Puglia & Basilicata" useful in describing Puglia and for planning our visit last fall. It's about 15 years old but the towns haven't changed that much (the train times in the book are mostly wrong though). We also looked for blogs with stories from travel in Puglia and watched YouTube videos such as walking tours. If you search there have also been a few threads on Puglia within the last year here on the forum.

Figure you can visit one town a day. Restaurants were open until around 2pm and then closed until dinner at around 7-8pm. Stores closed by 1pm and didn't reopen until 4-5pm or so. Often churches and museums are closed in the afternoon as well. So for most tourists they get out in the morning and visit, have lunch, then relax in the afternoon (at the coast, at the hotel, etc). A car isn't absolutely necessary but is convenient, and the rural nature means driving won't be difficult. Along the coast you can also travel to most towns via train, some inland towns would probably be by bus.

Bari to Lecce is about 90 miles so with two weeks available having more than one base would probably make daytrips easier.

Hi John, Welcome to the forum.

There are some travel destinations where a car rental is optimal because public transit is minimal with transit schedules mostly designed for commuters going to and from work. Puglia is one of those places where a car rental is the optimal way to go. To travel between some of Puglia’s interesting towns, it can take 3 hours by bus or train. With a car, that same route can be driven in one hour.
The towns—such as Locorotondo, Alberobello, and Cisternino featuring the “Trulli” houses with conical roofs—may be 10 minutes from one another by car, but taking the bus can mean you’ll only visit one of these destinations because of limited bus schedules.
Another example is the drive from the oceanfront town of Monopoli to Matera— the ancient town with cave houses—takes 75 minutes. But if you take the bus it will take 2:45 and if you take the train it will take 4 hours! Having a car means you can daytrip from Lecce to Gallipoli ( a beautiful medieval town with gorgeous beaches) or Otranto ( another photogenic oceanfront town) without worrying about bus schedules.

Another big factor mentioned in the post above, is Puglia’s “Riposo” custom— which is the Italian version of a siesta during the heat of the afternoon when restaurants, shops and attractions close for several hours in high season between 1 pm and 5pm. With a car, you have flexibility to work around this. You can drive to any of the stunning beaches in Puglia. If you rely on public transit, you can suddenly find yourself in a town with very little that is open during the afternoon.

If you fly into Bari, check www.AutoEurope.com for car rentals at Bari’s airport. Auto Europe is a consolidator for big car rental companies ( Hertz, Avis, Sixt etc) and offers discounted rates below the published rates of the car rental agencies.
With two weeks, you’ll want to have more than one base in Puglia while visiting. For southern Puglia, LECCE is a good base town with decent bus and train links to OTRANTO and GALLIPOLI. Closer to Bari, MONOPOLI has great access to ALBEROBELLO and LOCOROTONDO, CISTERNINO, MATERA and POLIGNANO A MARE.

Have a great Trip!

Hi John
Bari seafront much nicer than La Spezia, all the pale cream local stone of the old town, castle, and palazzi heading south....
We mostly selfcater in Puglia. We stay in apartments and I like cooking so the fresh produce, especially fish, is an enormous temptation. You could start a thread about restaurants in Puglia here, or on Fodors. On fodors a user called ekscrunchy describes her meals in detail and she's very knowledgeable about local products. A bit out of our (low!) budget, but fascinating reading anyway.

Thanks Tina, John and Kenko,
I have now sent for a Puglia Travel Guide to add to all the great information provided to me.
John, I did look for the Guide you mentioned but gosh aren't they expensive, must be an old, out of print guide.
I have started looking at flights and may start in Bari for a few days ( this may involve trains and public transport plus maybe a car) and then take the train to Lecce and use public transport where and when possible but definitely rent a car in Lecce for travelling around.
FYI, I normally use Trip Advisor Forums, but I have many Rick Steves books, DVD's and always watch his TV shows, so thought this would be a change, so pleased I joined.
Once again, thanks all so much.
Like Rick says "Keep on Traveling" and I will for as long as I am able, born in Wales, UK in 1941, moved to the USA in 1979 and have loved travel from an early age and I have enjoyed every trip.