Hello, All! My husband and I are booking an April/May 2024 trip (yep, just around the corner) to southern Italy. We would either fly into Rome or Bari and our first 'big' stay would be at Agriturusmo Masseria Aprile (near Locorotando) for a week. From there we would visit Alberobello, Locorotondo, Cisternino, Ostuni, Martina Franca, Polignano al Mare, Monopoli at least. For the southern region of Puglia we are debating between staying at Roof Barocco Suite B&B in Lecce or someplace in/near Otranto (which I prefer but where?). From there, we would visit Gallipoli, Otranto, Cave of Poetry, Torre Sant' Andrea, etc. (FYI - On our trip we are staying in Matera for 3 nights at the B&B al Convento.) As it it currently, we end our trip in Salerno at the Hotel Plaza where we will stay 6 nights to ferry to the various Amalfi coast towns and hike the Path of the Gods trail. I like the idea of seeing the Amalfi coast/towns from the water. Sparing you ALL the details, my questions are:
1. Choose Otranto over Lecce if we prefer the sea and if so where to stay?
2. Is Salerno a good base for seeing the coast and hiking the path of the Gods? I saw that the TravelMar ferry seems to make that hike easy to do.
3. Out of curisosity, and in your opinion if you've been there, should we add Vieste on the Gargano peninsula to the mix? It's still doable.
Thanks, All!!!
Posted by
North Italy
374 posts
Your trip sounds great
1. Yes, Otranto would make a good base, can't help about accommodation.
3. Vieste is superb but it's very much out on a limb compared with the rest of Puglia. Also April/May is still very low season.
Here's something more about Vieste.
https://slowtravelitalyspain.blogspot.com/2023/10/why-i-love-vieste.html
If you want to add somewhere, to see another side of Puglia, I'd add a few days in Trani, much easier to reach than Vieste, and another of my favourite places!
https://slowtravelitalyspain.blogspot.com/2023/04/why-i-love-trani.html
Posted by
Atlanta, GA, USA
795 posts
Salerno is a GREAT base for seeing the coast and doing the path of the Gods.
I will warn you though, getting to Amalfi to then get the bus to Bomerano.....it was craziness. I wanted to "see Amalfi" before we left as it is my favorite between Positano/Amalfi and I didn't want to miss my favorite places. That meant that the first available very infrequent bus was 12:30 up to Bomerano. We were standing in front of the buses with probably 130 other people waiting for the SECOND that the bus would turn on its directional sing so we could all stampede to the door. I think the day I went was probably around April 29 or 30, so between the two busy holidays, but it wasn't the crush of people that are there in the summertime. They ended up doing two buses, no idea if that is an all the time or specific day thing, but it wasn't fun. I used my "Italian line squishing" skills and got a seat for me and my friend (who from standing right beside me about 3 feet from the door ended up about 10 people behind me) where many other people had to stand for the 30-45 min (possibly an hour?) ride up the mountain.
When we arrived, I don't know where the entire bus went, but we stopped into a store to grab some sandwiches and snacks (as it was already after 1 and we needed sustenance along the hike) and 10 min later we were on the train and only probably saw another 8 people total the next 2-3 hours (I guess they ran off the bus and sprinted along the trail). We got to the town before the stairs down about 3 hours later and just in time to catch the bus to Positano! We were done with the hiking :) And we didn't feel the need to go down ALLLL THE STAIRS. We spent about an hour in Positano (at the MOST) walking down the hill from the 2nd bus stop (is it halfway down? no idea), bought ferry tickets and then toodled around the waterfront before taking the ferry back. We were kinda done with the day by then.
I would HIGHLY suggest, if your budget allows, getting a taxi to Bomerano (or even a private driver? do they do that?) so you can explore Amalfi without being tie lengthy bus rigamarole.
Salerno is great for other things too! You can get to Paestum (the most well preserved Greek temples outside of Greece) and Capri (albeit a long ferry), Vietri, and though farther, Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Naples from there. It is a great place to take day trips from as well as a great place to come back to after all the touristy things and take a passiegiata with the rest of the town and have wonderful shops and restaurants all around. There are even neat things in Salerno to pop into like the duomo, the gardens, and even a museum or two!
OH and I just want to warn you about Hotel Plaza. It is a perfectly good hotel, awesome if you want to day trips out of Salerno with its proximity to the port and station. BUT the street outside the train station roundabout thingy is SO LOUD. I spent the first night when I moved to Salerno in that hotel and with the trash truck and all the business going on with the ins and outs of things in and around the train station, trying to sleep after sunrise after the trip from the US was NOT HAPPENING. We had the window shade closed but opened to the little holes to let in air so we did do it to ourselves, but man was it loud!