Salzburg to Bari, Italy

As far as I’m concerned, to paraphrase the king of France Henry IV of Navarre, “Venise vaut bien une mess” (Venice is well worth a Mass). However it is entirely up to you if you want to visit it.

In addition to cars and airplanes, Europe has other efficient means of transportation, namely trains. So you could take a train from Salzburg to Venice and then one from Venice to Bari, or just take planes (Munich to Venice, then Venice to Bari) or a combination of trains and planes.

Check all options and then decide.

Bari is very distant from Salzburg. Going by train with an intermediate stop in Venice will mean spending the best part of two days travelling. Your choice.

Of course their is always the Salzburg-Venice night train.

And I always thought Henri IV said "Paris is a big mess!" But then I flunked French 101.

I see from your other post you have a 3 week European trip, but how much time do you have for Italy?

My personal feeling, having visited both Venice and Bari, would defiantly be the Puglia area. Which, after many many trips to Italy is now one of my favorites. So I vote to fly to Bari and rent a car there.

I do want to warn you that the "beaches" around and south of Bari to Polignano a Mare and Monopoli,are mostly large pebbles and rocks with just a scattering of sand.
There are some beach clubs which may be what you're looking for.

However, it's absolutely breathtaking!! Beautiful coves, crystal clear water and a photographic dream. If you want beautiful sandy beaches, either head north of Bari or south to the Lecce ( sugar sand beaches) area.

dnolan,

Whether you should skip Venice depends on a couple of factors.....

• how much time do you have? Can you spare a few days seeing Venice, including travelling times?
• how important is it to see Venice? Are you willing to give up a bit of beach time for that?

If you did decide to spend a few days in Venice, I'd suggest taking the direct train from Munich. There's a departure from Munich Hbf at 11:35, arriving Venezia Santa Lucia at 18:10 (6H:35M, no changes ). As you'll arrive in the evening, have a nice dinner and then spend a day or two after that exploring the sights.

For the ongoing trip to Bari, there are numerous departures from Venice however the trip will be about 8 hours, with one change (Bologna?). Trains on that route are usually high speed Freccia, so you'd be travelling at up to 300 km/h.

There are flights from Venice to Bari, but I didn't check the details. I believe there are a few direct flights and others with one layover. Given the extra time required to get to & from airports, security, check-in, waiting and the usual dog & pony show, I'd still prefer the train even if it's a bit longer in this case.

Thanks all. We are going to fly out of Vienna to Bari and save all that driving. We have a week and a half for Italy and the same for Spain. Definitely not enough time but it's what we have.

Enjoy your trip! We’ve been to Venice twice, but more than15 years ago, before massive cruise ships and massive crowds were inundating its serenity. We haven’t made it to the heel of The Boot yet. Hopefully you can get to Venice on another trip and we can see Bari.