Lecce or onwards? Plan my last smidge of Puglia va-cay WITHOUT CAR.
 

Basically, the thing to know is that we are in Lecce before noon on October 5 and we need to be on a flight out of Rome before noon on October 10. How to spend that bit of time wisely WITHOUT car is the crux of this question.

BACKGROUND INFO:
Up to this time, our trip has been defined by two things--our ability to use our FF miles to get flights to/fro Italy and abiding by the time constraints of a cycling trip in Puglia that will begin in Bari around noon on Sept 30. We will arrive in Italy on Sept 28.

I think I've done the first part right. We've been to Rome three times before. Instead of spending two days in Rome and instead of plopping in Bari for 1.5 days until the trip starts, we're flying FCO to Bari, and I've booked the shuttle from the Bari airport to Matera, where we'll stay for 1.5 days.

Then we have to find a way on a Sunday from Matera to Bari, but our B&B owners said they could find someone to get us there.

The cycling trip then takes care of some nice areas as we progress south:
Conversano
Alberobello
Cisternino
Ostuni
Torre Canne
Santa Maria al Bagno
Corigliano
Cape of Otranto/Otranto
Porto Badisco
Santa Cesarea Terme
Ponte Ciolo
Santa Maria Leuca

and then we end in Lecce before noon on October 5. I think the Eurostar to Rome leaves around 11:30 IF we would want to take that. My inclination is "no."

Along that line of thinking, I've made a preemptive reservations strike of reserving two nights in Lecce with the idea that we'd take the Eurostar to Rome Termini Oct 7, spend two nights in Rome, take taxi to the airport Oct 10, be done with it.

But...
Maybe you guys have better ideas. How should I spend this time WISELY? Should I spend THREE nights in Lecce, one night in Rome?

What would Fodors do?

I would strongly suggest that you consider renting a car if that it at all possible. It is going to be difficult to see most of those places easily with public transport, especially so late in the season. Would you consider that at all?

Barring the car rental, you could investigate an organized day trip; there is at least one well-reviewed agency, and probably several more, in Lecce..I have to dig deep to find the name, though.

Found it. But I do not know them personally:


http://www.experience-path.com/

I found Bari to be the most culturally interesting destination I experienced in Puglia, especially its old town, but also its 19th c. shopping streets during the evening passeggiata. So I would stay 2 nights in Lecce, then take the 2 hour train ride to Bari, spend the night, and then go to Rome. You could also see Bari as a day trip from Lecce, but I would try to get there before lunch to see something of the orecchiette-making scene in the old quarter. I wouldn't want to be in Bari during the long pausa, and in October, days are too short to think of going to Bari after lunch as a day trip.

But if you don't want to experience Bari, you shouldn't force yourself.

I'm guessing when your bike tour ends you won't have bikes anymore. While I enjoyed seeing the Roman ruins in Lecce and its baroque showpieces, I'm not sure I could find 3 days worth of things to do in Lecce, but maybe you would just like to rest up after your bike tour and enjoy Lecce for what it is. For day trips, Gallipoli, Martina Franca and Galatina have interesting sights to offer, but I don't know what the public transportation options are.

I'd start a slow train journey back to Rome via Naples. Stopping at
Taranto, The temple at Metaponto,Potenza (which I think is great but not all do), then through the ravines to Naples (Heculaneum)

Or you could train the other way and go via Gravina with the underground churches and into Potenza.

This might interest you http://www.mybikeguide.co.uk/Puglia_Guide.php

So your question is whether to spend 2 or 3 nights in Lecce? I found more than enough to keep me happily busy in Lecce for a busy full day + the preceding evening and there were some things I would have seen there had I had more time. Bari and Trani (with it's magnificently cited and very interesting cathedral) are both on the train line that goes through Lecce, so depending on your interests, you should be able to reach either of them quite easily. I didn't go further south of Lecce, but others on this board have.

BTW, I traveled from Matera to Bari by train. Does it not run on Sunday? And are there no bus options?

Hope that helps!

i think your plan sounds good-- however, if you've been to rome 3 times before, maybe longer in lecce and less in rome? 3 days worth of eating would go by in a moment!

Thanks, all. This has been helpful.

Matera2019: Thanks for the alternative plan. Will check out our times schedules just to see.

Ekscrunchy--I had looked at PATH. Might do so again. I also contacted two cooking schools to see if we could do a one-day class, but their schedules and ours don't align. Darn.

Bilboburgler--I was thinking about making use of our train back with stuff near Naples. Thanks for the "what you should see on the way" list. I'll check out your bike guide.

KJA--Transport on the ground is notoriously limited on Sundays from Matera. But I knew that before I booked our rooms.

Just keeping everyone up to date, and I'm hanging my head in shame for wasting anyone's time. Husband indicated that my dates were wrong (God Bless Him--since I am "never wrong"). We leave around noon from Rome on Oct 9, not 10.

That does change things. I was all psyched for a cooking class with Awaiting Table Cookery School (http://awaitingtable.com/) in Lecce. They had figured out how to get us in for one day at a week's course, and I had to cancel. I am, though, thinking about that as a grad gift for youngest daughter (and gift to me for birthing her).

Thank goodness I had not booked anything back to FCO yet. Now that my dates were straight, I explored 5+ hrs on a Eurostar that would get us in around 5 pm vs cheapie Alitalia deal to Rome that get us in around 1-ish.

My remaining problem is that our fave hotel, the Del Senato, is booked out. But then it was sold out the last time, and I got a last-minute cancellation. And then we ended up with this fabulous upgrade. One could only wish.

So onto my considerations:
I have stayed at the Santa Chiara, but I really never liked the front desk people there. Always felt they were running another business in that back room.

Am looking at Hotel Barocco, of all things. Different neighborhood, which might be good. If you've stayed there, weigh in.

Again, thanks for the help. Hope the link to the cooking school is sort of a compensation for my wasting your efforts.