Hi fellow travelers,
I put together a rough itinerary for our trip to Puglia in September. I will not be renting a car. Hoping to this all by train & bus. Hiring a driver is only the last resort.
Bari Vecchia - 3 nights
Matera - 2 nights
Monopoli - 4 nights (day trips planned)
Locorotondo - 2 nights. (Day trip to Alberobello)
Ostuni - 2 nights
Lecce - 3 nights (day trip to Santa Maria de Leuca)
I have an extra night available to add to a town, if necessary. My plan was to head back to Bari & stay there for easy access to the airport.
In researching it seems train & bus travel is convenient enough. If anyone has traveled in this area by public transportation, can you please confirm this? Thank you for your help.
Posted by
11805 posts
You missed my favorite place, Polignano a Mare, a charming town on the Adriatic Sea.
I would replace Monopoli with Polignano a Mare. They are five minutes apart by train.
We loved Puglia but did not care for Matera which is in Basilicata, not in Puglia. We loved all the other places you list.
This remains one of our favorite trips.
Posted by
OP
30 posts
Hi, we have a day trip with a boat ride in Polignano a Mare. I’ve seen in pictures how beautiful it is there. Very excited.
Posted by
North Italy
424 posts
Your trip looks to be well-balanced and thought out.
It's true that Matera is not in Puglia but in Basilicata but it's so close that it makes sense to visit it. Of course, opinions differ but it's a unique and special place. The view across the sassi from in front of the cathedral, especially at night-time is unique.
As for the extra night, I'd add it on to Bari because thanks to the excellent train service up and down the coast you could have a day trip to Trani https://slowtravelitalyspain.blogspot.com/2023/04/why-i-love-trani.html , or Giovinazzo maybe
Posted by
CA, USA
1285 posts
I'd prefer to stay in Trani over Bari, although you'd have to research transit options for daytrips (probably more from Bari).
We visited Puglia and used trains/buses only two years ago. It worked out ok but if I was visiting again I'd probably lean towards getting a car. The issue is their schedule becomes your schedule and depending on which town you're in there might be a few hours between trains with more clustered in mornings and afternoons for commuters and schoolkids. It's doable, don't get me wrong, but a car adds convenience. I strongly recommend getting the Trenitalia app on your phone since many stations are not staffed and even the locals had trouble getting machines to work; some of them only accepted coins and not bills. You'll need data service in Italy to use the Trenitalia app. Some of the trains were on the regional train network but the Trenitalia app still sold tickets for them.
I suggest doing a careful day-by-day itinerary before you leave for daytrips. In Puglia we found restaurants were open for lunch until around 2pm and then closed until dinner around 7-8pm. Stores closed by 1pm and didn't reopen until 4-5pm. 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. If using public transit you'll want to look up train/bus times before you go. For example on one daytrip the trains back to Lecce were around 1pm and 3pm. If we didn't eat an early lunch and catch the 1pm train then we had time to kill with not that much open to see, and even in Sept the outdoor temperature was in the 80's or hotter.