Parco della Murgia Materana, Sassi di Matera

Ask your hotel for a guide recommendation. I am sure the guide could either drive you there or meet you at the park headquarters (which has a nice little restaurant by the way, with delicious bean soup, plus they sell food products of the area). It does not sound like you would enjoy the walk, which while not extremely strenuous, does involve some elevation (going up the gorge). If the suspension bridge is damaged, that is moot anyway! I do recommend scrambling around a bit at the top of the gorge, as the views are stellar on both sides, especially at sunset.
I recall it being about a 20-30 minute drive, as you have to loop around the town. I recommend a GPS, but google maps also worked well for us if you have free data (yay, T-Mobile!). The turn-off can be easy to miss, otherwise it is an easy drive.
Or, even better, look at the park website for tour guide information: http://www.parcomurgia.it/
(This may require some playing around with google translate, which is why asking the hotel is always an option.)
We just walked around and peeked inside the bars, as we had seen some similar cave paintings in the sassi. We even hopped inside with one tour group to see some of the cave paintings.
By the way, we had a great tour of the sassi with Antonio: http://www.materatourguide.it/public/
He may be able to advise on the park tours also. Enjoy Matera, one of my favorite places in the world!

Hi valadelphia
thanks so much for the insight :)
What is the best time to visit the Sassi as I read the sun could make shadow of them? I'd be visiting in June and someone in July said morning is good for the sun position

If that's the case, I might drive there firsthand from Bari (at first I thought to visit while enjoying the sunset as well). The view of the Sassi with lit lights is amazing.
I also find the tour operating in Jazzo Gattini up in the park. I think with the suspension bridge being inaccessible (since 2016 and intermittently opened then closed), this tour would be a good choice without having to start a tour from city centre. that must be one hella long tour.

Now I'm looking for a tour operator in the city. It's quite hard to find a tour less than 2 hours and could cover both Sassi Barisano and Sassi Caveoso. My chiesa preference are Madonna del Idris; San Pietro Barisano and San Nicola dei Greci which i doubt any walking tour would cover 3 of them. I've heard a lot about Antonio too. Is it a customized tour only with him or it's a normal group tour? I don't have the budget for a customized tour.

My itinerary plan would be morning Tour with Jazzo Gattini up in the park then walk around the Sassi then later city tour in the Sassi that hopefully could cover the 3 churches :D

Sorry I can't answer all of that, but my husband and I had a tour with Antonio and we just let him lead us. We are usually not tour doers (we usually just read a Blue Guide to prepare), but in this case it was quite worthwhile--for one thing, we repeatedly got lost and went in circles otherwise!

that's exactly what I'm thinking too. the Sassi is like a maze. definitely going to get lost. we normally don't do guided tour unless it's necessary either. thanks so much for the info. I'll contact Antonio for more detail :)

valadelphia,

do you remember which side gets shadowed by the sun? We plan to go to the Parco in the morning but i just read that for the sunrise it's good to be in Piazza Pascoli or Vittorio Veneto side which means if we see the Sassi from the Muria Timone or the Parco, it would get shadowed?