Matera and Puglia by public transportation: Bus, train, driver
 

I wrote my Matera and Puglia travel story on another thread. Since there is no mention in the title nor the beginning of the trip report that we did this trip without renting a car, (including the Gargano peninsula!), I am taking the advice of fellow Fodorite, <i>linawood</i> and creating a new thread so I can provide a link for other travelers who rely on public transportation and want to visit this region.

In the link provided, you find that we started in Rome. We stayed one night in an upscale place and one night next to Termini in a modest place. Then we took off and spent:

Three nights in <b>Trani</b>
Three nights in <b>Matera</b>
Four nights in <b>Lecce</b>
Five nights in <b>Polignano a Mare</b>
Three nights in <b>Otranto</b>
Five nights in <b>Peschici</b>
Four nights in <b>Rome</b>

While we were in Lecce, we went on two different self guided tours to view other popular towns in the Salento. We had an hour to two hours on our own per town. The first day we saw:

<b>Galatina-Otranto-Castro-Santa Maria de Leuca-Specchia</b>

I failed to mention in the trip report that on this day we also had brief stops in <b>Ciolo</b> (remarkably gorgeous beach) and a brief stop at the ancient church called Santa Maria Della Croce in <b>Casarano</b>. It is considered one of the oldest places of Christian worship in the world. It is from the fifth century and it has well preserved frescoes from around the 13th century.

The second city tour brought us to:

<b>Ostuni-Martina Franca-Cisternino-Locorotondo-Alberobello</b>

We saw a lot of towns in our 30 days and loved every minute of it!!! In my report I speak of the wonderful encounters we had and the challenges we faced. As a result it's a very long report so you probably will want to skip to the towns you are interested in to get ideas on where we stayed or where we ate (we are vegetarians) or how we got there. Here it is:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...and-matera.cfm

Good idea to make this point clear! I'm always amazed by how many people think that Puglia (and lots of other places) can be seen only by car.

kja: Right on! It is such a <b>great</b> region that it would be a shame to avoid it just because you don't have a car.

When we got back I put together an email on each town we visited with the best photos per town and a one sentence caption (really I did!) over each photo. It was amazing to me how so many friends/family wrote me back having been blown away by the images of these "gorgeous towns that nobody has ever heard of". Both my brother and sister each wrote back saying, "I want to go!"

Hi Dai,
I am planning a short trip next April to Matera and in my researching discovered your trip report. I am now considering 2 nights in Trani on my way from Rome. Thank you for sharing!
zoecat

Your trip was a few years ago and there have been a few transportation improvements (at least for reaching the area).

Italo trains from Rome to Salerno have a bus connection on to Matera. You have to do the train/bus combo though (can't take the bus if you didn't use their train). There are also lots of Flix buses around Italy now.

@ zoecat: I thoroughly enjoyed Trani! It's cathedral is well worth seeing, IMO. Enjoy!

Kybourbon and kja, thank you!

zoecat, what a nice surprise to see your comment. Thank you for your post. So glad to see that this report left you with a good impression of Trani. I agree that their cathedral is definitely worth seeing. There is a door which I as remember takes you into a basement. This is a VERY picturesque town on the water, built with that beautiful stone as pavers and on the walls. Very nice and relaxing little place for a couple of nights.

>>>Kybourbon and kja, thank you!<<<

FWIW - Trenitalia offers a similar service - train to Salerno and catch their bus (called Freccialink).

http://www.trenitalia.com/tcom/Le-Frecce/FrecciaLink

http://www.italotreno.it/en/destinat...table/italobus

I was in Caserta (spent a couple of nights) before heading to Matera so I had to get to Naples first (had to take an old Trenitalia regional train from Caserta to Naples - about 1 hour). In Naples, I caught the Italo train to Salerno and only had a short time after arrival to catch their bus on to Matera. There were only a couple of other people on the bus (it was a smaller bus, but nice). It made a pit stop in Potenza (driver took a smoking/bathroom break)at Trenitalia's Potenza Centrale which also seemed to be the station for the FAL trains to Matera. I didn't go in as it seemed to down a long corridor/tunnel looking entrance cut into the hillside. Signs for both stations were outside.

http://eticket.ferrovieappulolucane....eb/mappa.xhtml

I did take the FAL train from Matera to Bari. There are 3 different stations together in Bari. The FAL arrives (on an upstairs level) a short block from the Trenitalia station. My FAL train was fairly new and comfortable, AC and a big handicap accessible bathroom.

"I did take the FAL train from Matera to Bari. There are 3 different stations together in Bari. The FAL arrives (on an upstairs level) a short block from the Trenitalia station. My FAL train was fairly new and comfortable, AC and a big handicap accessible bathroom."

I did take the FAL train from Matera to Bari. There are 3 different stations together in Bari. The FAL arrives (on an upstairs level) a short block from the Trenitalia station. My FAL train was fairly new and comfortable, AC and a big handicap accessible bathroom."

I bet that's the one we took too. Modern building with lots of glass, upstairs, new carrozza's. The weird thing was that ours had NO bathroom to access. And the connected carrozza to ours had no walkways between the two! We all thought it was weird.

Between the Bari Centrale Trenitalia station and the FAL station is this one.

http://www.ferrovienordbarese.it/times

>>>The weird thing was that ours had NO bathroom to access. <<<

That is strange. Perhaps you had to jump off at a stop and jump on the other car to get to the bathroom. While waiting for the train in Matera (you are underground), the electric kept going out and it would get totally dark.