HG001London

off to puglia on sat and just wondering if there are any tips re knowing where you can and cant park, particular town centres we should avoid?

Little nervous as first drive in italy for partner -we have done spain(mallorca) and france and they were not too bad but aprehensive for Puglia.

How are roads in general down there? busy?

What is the general limit?/ limit on unmarked roads etc etc? or a good website to advise?

Any tips would be much appreciated

nytraveler

Speed limits are clearly marked. And while highway limits are higher than is usual in the US, speeds on local roads are much lower. Assume that the center of any town is a pedestrian zone. BUT - you shouldn't leave without having good qaulity maps of any town you plan on entering - showing pedestrain zones and one way streets. If you can;t buy them - download them.

ekscrunchy

I doubt if you will encounter any zones that prohibit traffic, as the ZTL zones that are common further north. In general, I found the roads of the region to be excellent, well marked, and lightly traveled in comparison with more densely populated areas further north.

Do not trust Google maps, as we found quite a few mismarkings.

Make sure that any paper maps are relatively new, so as to reflect recent changes; this holds especially true, for example in the area around Mottola, which you might pass through if you go to Matera, since there is a lot of construction in that area, or at least there was when we drove through a year ago. (Could it be finished already? who knows!)

Apart from the autostrada which might be moderately busy, I would not expect that you would encounter much heavy traffic, except in the case of some kind of incident or recent construction.
I think the standard autostrada speed limit is 130 except where marked. Double check this, though.

Do you have directions on how to reach your first destination from the arriving airport?

ekscrunchy

I'll say, too, that the only area that might present some confusion is the entry into the city of Lecce, where there IS a nighttime ZTL zone. (There is one in Bari historic center, but most tourists on this forum are not headed there)


http://www.leccetaxi.it/en/ztl-lecce



And of course, the entry into Matera has been discussed here before. Are you staying in either of those 3 cities? (I forgot your exact itinerary; there are a few posters here heading for Pugliai and I might have gotten little confused with each individual plan; I apologize!)

tedgale

Agree with all the above RE specific cities. But generally it would be like driving in, say, Wiltshire. (Assuming OP is from UK) It's off season, too.

HG001London

hi there, thanks all this is really helpful. Yes am uk based,

ekscrunchy, thanks a lot for your help- this is very useful we are planning a trip to matera for sure and most likely to lecce too. We are probably going to shell out £50 to buy the europe sat nav extension unless anyone has any experience of it not being worth having sat nav in these areas?

Hoping we can just plug in the address and off we go but maybe wont be so easy??

We will be printing out directions to the major places as well especially to our destination.

Very excited but the driving does worry us a bit. Thanks for everyone advise, tedgate and nytraveller, much appreciated help.

HG001London

Have just discovered my hct phone has sat nav and looks really detailed for the area too!!
saves me £50!! (even showed me entire route from london!)

Just wondering now about parking, do they have a similar system to the Uk with lines on road or some other system, if so which colours mean what etc etc?

Many thanks again

ekscrunchy

Don't take my word for it, but I think that the blue lines indicate legal parking. You'll find parking machines in some places, and sometimes, at the edge of the historic districts there will be large municipal lots. There is one of these, for example, on the waterfront in Trani; it appears to be free but there are freelance parking "guides" who solicit a euro or two; we gave but I'm not sure that was necessary. When you near the center of the towns, keep an eye out for the signs indicating parking lots..a giant "P" on a blue sign. Again, that is as best as I can recall, so double check.

ekscrunchy

Also, even where there are blue lines on the pavement, look for the signs detailing the hours when parking is allowed. Sometimes there are dates as well, with no parking allowed in high season, in resort towns and near beaches.

HG001London

hi ekscrunchy, thanks for this-really helpful andyeah am going to google it properly, i just keep putting off

hoping our villa owners are going to help us out, they have been so helpful so far that kindoff relying on them a little...but i will defo google

Thanks again!

kawh

are currently finishing up our mostly-puglia trip.

we have been finding driving in puglia to be generally a little less busy than other parts of italy for the most part. we have been using garmin with a 5 year old europe map system and it has been WAY off in many areas. your phone should have a more modern version-- however sometimes our gps has reception, but not our phone. (i don't understand these things... maybe the nav on your phone gets reception like our gps??) we have been trying to keep the car out of the very centers of the old cities (often unsuccessfully) and just walking in a little farther.

the parking has all been comfortably marked-- just google the parking signs before you leave on your trip.

we are now in the gargano and our b&b owner told us that we should just throw our gps system into the ocean!! i guess they don't work well in peschici???
you will do fine with a combo of a big michelin map, gps and local maps when you can.

or-- as my husband has coined.... use the ITALIAN G.P.S.--- "Gentile Persone in Strada" (he's a gem, that hubbie of mine!)

we drop off our car in 2 days and go back to train. i won't lie. i will be glad to be rid of the responsibility (but will miss the freedom.)

HG001London

Hi Kawh

thanks for your help, i really appreciate it. It was actually a garmin we were going to buy the extension from but now the phone seems the best option (it found our tiny villa on a tiny one way street so that's a good start!!)

I am lucky to not be driving but trying to make it as least stressful as possible for partner.

thanks again, fingers crossed we wont get too lost

yestravel

What paper maps would u recommend for Puglia and Matera? Thanks

uhoh_busted

DO get paper maps as a backup. You may lose your phone signal while driving -- it happened to us occasionally last fall and it was a relief to have something to double check against. You can go to a bookstore in just about any sizeable town and find a regional map.

HG001London

hi there,

thanks, good idea we will definitely stock up on maps. Hoping the car rental with have one too

Doh

In general I've found the TCI (Touring Club Italiano) road maps to be very good. At a 1:200,000 scale you don't want to be on any road that doesn't show up (or, once in a while, on a road that does ). There's a map for Puglia, and an atlas for the entire south. I think they are worth getting ahead of time, but IME they are also not hard to find once you are there.

sundriedpachino

We were in Puglia in 2010 and my husband had an HTC phone at that time. He downloaded a Windows version of Co-Pilot Live, made by ALK Associates. It's a sat-nav application which downloads the maps directly on your phone. You don't need internet ie 3G in order for it to work. It was much cheaper than Tom tom and Garmin etc.

I did want to throw "Jane" out the window a few times, but she also saved our bacon a few times as well.

I would second that you also need a paper map though. And the one thing to be aware of, if using your phone as gps, is that it drains the battery fairly fast, so it is handy to have your cig lighter plug in for the phone.

HG001London

thanks sundried, i think his htc links to google maps somehow via satellite as e don't need the internet on. Great tip re the charger- thanks!!

Doh- off to google these now- thanks

Lanago2

Hi, Group,

I leave for Puglia Thursday, 18 nights there, and have reserved/paid for a rental car for 2 weeks through AutoEurope.

However, the only 2 times I've been totally stressed in Italy were the 2x I've had a car--once driving around Tuscany, near Florence, and the other, around Sicily, especially Palermo. OMG, what a nightmare.

I have the new Garmin Nuvi SD that I just now installed, which I understand isn't perfect, and have such anxiety over the dreaded ZTLs.

I plan to pick up the car at Bari airport, returning it in Lecce. I'll make sure the location to which I return the car isn't inside a Lecce ZTL.

Other than that, Matera: I expect a ZTL. Are the Puglian ZTLs very clearly marked with ample time to avoid them? Lecce, Matera,I assume Locorotondo, Trani, etc, all have them?

My travel companion is clueless with navigation (and driving!), though I also have a nice big detailed Puglia touring map.

Man, I wish that I could see Puglia by train/bus. For 3 weeks, I am only reserved for the 1st 2 nights in Polignano. I'm guessing that I'll love Polignano and stay for about a week there. She arrives next week---I'm guessing we'll base about a week in Polignano, another week in Lecce, and 2 nights Matera. Day trips driving.

Reassurance, please, or do I write off the map & GPS cost and relax by public transport?

Grazie mille,
Lana

Lanago2

Well, I can't edit, so the update is that I canceled the car tonight and I'll see how it goes in Puglia. If I like it, I'll stay, and rent a car. If not, I'll fly/train elsewhere in Italy.
Grazie.