After enjoying out RS Sicily tour we took Ryan Air on May 17th to Naples and enjoyed some time in Southern Italy. From the airport we took the 5 euro each Alibus to Napoli Centrale - the bus was very easy to find, just ourside the airport exit. The driver takes cash or cards. We bought the 3 day Campania Arte Card the night before we left Sicily and acitvated it when we got to Napoli Centrale. Because of the rainy weather, we spent the afternoon at the Naples Archeological Museum instead of Herculeam as originally planned. We used the Arte Card for the metro and for the 8 times we rode the Circumvesuviana. The app on my phone only worked once for transportation, but fortunately we were often at staffed stations, I would show them my app and they would let us in. The ARte card always worked at the sites that we visited, but it was very slow. What i would have done differently is to have my husband download the app and have his our Arte card, as waiting for it to load twice each time we went anywhere was painfully slow. After the museum, we took the train to the convent where we were staying in S. Agnello, one stop before Sorrento. The passengers on the Circumvesuviana seemed to be 75-90% toursits each time that we rode it. We rode a wide variety of trains, from old with no information about the stops to newer trains with reader boards telling you what stop was coming up - we never knew which type of train we would get until we got on.
Day 2 - we took the train to Pompeii and spent 4 hours there. We had heard there might be guides available, but didn't see any and used our downloaded RS Pompeii audio guide which worked great. We were really gald we had brought some trail mix with us to snack on and didn't have to find out way back to the cafeteria to eat. Since we had missed Herculeam the day before we decided to tackle that after Pompeii. Not the recommended way to do it, but it worked OK. We hopped on the train and then missed our station as it said Ercolano Scavi Vesuvio and we were surprised by the word Vesuvio. We were on an old train that didn't have the reader boards or the announcement. So we hoped off at the next station, waited 20 minutes and got on the train and off at the right station. By the time we had walked down the hill, it was 5 and Herculuem closed at 6. But we used our Arte card to get half off and felt we had enough time to look around as it is much smaller than Pompeii.
Day 3 - we took the train into Sorrento, bought the all day ticket for the Amalfi coast bus and spent the day on the bus, exploring Positano, and Amalfi town. As everyone has noted it is very crowded, but we were glad we got to go. We lined up to catch the 9:00 bus and got on the 9:30 bus. We stopped at Positano first, walked down to the shore and by the time we walked back up the hill, it was wall to wall people. We were able to get on the next bus to Amalfi town and walked along the shore and had lunch. We went to the Amalfi Cathedral and Monumental Complex and were very impressed with it. I had hoped to go to Ravello, but we ran out of time and decided to catch the bus back to Sorrento. We lined up and chose to wait for the 2nd bus so we could have seats. Some of us had had to stand on the way to Amalfi and it was pretty wild with all the turns and quick stops. We got back with plenty of time to catch the train back to S. Agnello. If I was to do it over, I might have done the Shared Mondo tours where you don't have to wait in lne so much for all the buses. The lines for the boats were really long too, but it might have been a fun way to travel one of the ways.
Posted by
OP
83 posts
Day 4 - Matera. We took the train to Napoli Centrale. I had planned to take the Flix bus from Naples to Matera, but when I checked 3 days before we wanted to go, it was sold out. So instead we took the train to Salerno and then to Matera. it was a fine way to go, but got us into Matera at 6:30 at night instead of in the afternoon. We had a tour of Matera in the morning, unfortunately it was pouring rain and we got very wet! But we loved Matera, it was so interesting! After we dried off, I spent the afternoon going into Rock churches and cave homes.
Day 5 - This was our most challenging transportation day, but it all worked out. We took the 8:00 Marino Bus (the bus station was about 1 mile from our BnB, but at least it was flat) which got us into Bari at 9:00. We caught the 9:10 train to Polignano a Mare and were there by 9:30. We had an 11:30 boat tour and had arranged for a Tuk Tuk to take us there as it was 2 miles out of town. We saw that every train was met by Tuk Tuks, so we didn't need to prearrange that. But since we had arranged for a 10:00 Tuk tuk we had time to walk the 5 minutes to the luggage storage place we had found on Bounce. We then walked back to the train station and caught our tuk tuk to the boat harbor. The boat tour was fabulous! We booked through https://www.polignanomadeinlove.com/. After the boat tour our tuk tuk picked us back up and took us to the town. We had lunch and walked along the shoreline. Then we had to find where the bus to Alberobello would pick us up. We ended up talking with a tuk tuk driver, the merry go round owner and a waiter to confirm we were in the right spot. We stood by the bus stop sign and the bus came by right on time. We had to transfer in Turi. The bus driver pointed to the spot where the bus for Alberobello would pick us up, but there was no bus stop sign. So we checked with some students and they told us the same thing as the bus driver, so we waited and the bus came on time and dropped us off at the Alberobello train/bus station. That was our last bus of the trip and we were glad about it!
Day 6 - Alberobello - we spent the morning walking around the town and we pretty much saw it all. it was very fun to spend the night in a Trulli, but one night would have been enough. We had thought about going to the Castellana caves, but needed a break from riding buses, so we chose not to and had a more relaxing day.
Day 7 and 8 - Lecce - We caught the 11:18 train to Lecce and arrived at 2:34. After dinner we bought the city pass for the churches in town and downloaded the app that went with it. Very worthwhile! In the morning we took a history/food tour which was fantastic https://www.viator.com/tours/Lecce/Lecce-History-and-Food-Tasting-Tour-with-Antonella/d22769-345423P1 and then spent the afternoon going to the rest of the churches on our pass and visiting the Jewish museum. I would have enjoyed another day in Lecce.
Day 9 and 10 - Naples - We took the 11:15 train to Naples and arrived at 4:35 with one change. We figured out where to buy a line 1 metro ticket from a person (just keep asking!) and made it to our hotel. We went to dinner at Trattoria da Nennella and it was a very fun place to eat. The next day we had reservations at 10:00 to see the Veiled Christ, the whole church was very interesting with many amazing sculptures. We rented the audioguide and were glad we did. Since it was a nice day, we decided to take the funicular up to the castle and really enjoyed the ride and the castle. After we came down, we started doing the RS walking tour of Naples, but part way through we pooped out, had a late lunch and an aperal spritz and called it a day! We did make it out for some nearby pizza for dinner.
Day 11 - We took a taxi to the airport and started our journey home. All of our flights were delayed, we ended up transferring in San Jose instead of Chicago, but only got home an hour later than planned! All in all, a great trip!
Posted by
11154 posts
Thanks for your detailed trip report. We spent ten days in Polignano a Mare and hope to return there.I especially enjoyed reading about your travels in Puglia. I had a hard time in Matera with its tragic history which our guide focused on. I bought Carlo Levi’s “ Christ Stopped at Eboli” which I recommend to those visiting Matera.
Posted by
Southeast US
3844 posts
Really nice trip report! I enjoyed reading about your adventures. Thanks for sharing!
Posted by
Martinez, CA, USA
1506 posts
Great report! Enjoyed reading it. We have been to most of the places you visited but it took us a lot longer. Agree about Alberobello. It’s tiny but has interesting history. Matera is beautiful but also sad when you think about the history. It seems that you had some great experiences!
Posted by
back in the Americas
677 posts
Thanks for all this practical and useful info. I have been wanting to go to Puglia and thought I would go this past spring but ended up in northern Italy instead, so I hope to get to Puglia in 2024. I always depend on local transportation so your train and bus info is very helpful. I have used Flix busses in Austria and Germany but hadn't thought about using one in southern Italy so I will look I into it when/if I start making those travel plans.
Posted by
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
4090 posts
I'm glad we weren't the only ones to have an adventure with the signage on the Circumvesuviana line. We found ourselves heading to Salerno from Ercolano when the train that showed up when ours was scheduled, didn't have signs inside or out. A group of 8 of us discovered our mistake too late and had to backtrack.
What about your Sicily Tour? Is a Trip Report coming for that?
Posted by
2494 posts
I was impressed by how well you used the bus transportation. I had done it at times but it always makes me nervous, especially when the bus stops are not marked!!!