ez1

Planning a 3 week trip to Italy next September with my husband. We're early 60's and relatively fit. The first week will be spent in Venice (a few nights waiting for friends to arrive) and then hiking in the Dolomites. The last 3 days will be spent in Rome from where we depart.. My question concerns where to spend the rest of our time. I was planning to head to the Amalfi Coast but having just read ekscrunchy's report, I think I have to go to Puglia. Questions: Is nine full days too much time to spend in Puglia? Is Puglia preferable over the Amalfi coast? (seems there's more to see in Puglia and easier to get around by car). Would I be totally remiss to skip Tuscany and AC for Puglia? By the way, if Puglia is the destination, we would fly from Verona to Brindisi (Ryan Air) and rent a car. Any input, comments, encouragement would be greatly appreciated.

qwovadis

Congrats on your trip I go a lot have been to all your areas.Was in Amalfi in May had a wonderful time views
are to die for FAR more to fo overall than Puglia/Apulia
which has btter beaches but is a drier flatter more remote
poorer location with few decent hotels. www.amalfiweb.com
In May we took the fast Train seat61.com/italy Rome to
Naples bout 1 hour then 4 euro shuttle (Circumvesuviana)
to Sorrento city of Limons and Limoncello,Majestic Palace
for us for a few days then Hotel Delfino in the Masa Lubrense
with awesome views over Capri and great food $80 www.otel.com
Positano Best Western Paidtea hotelsantacaterina.it great
if budget is good. Prefer to train car expensive and a hassle
in big cities.I like Tuscany Florence for a couple of days
on your way down to Rome what we usually do. So amalfi for me
and I have been to both unless it is just about a nice beach. Happy Travels!

qwovadis

dolomiti.it Cortina your best hiking base. www.sirmione.com
the Pearl of Lake Garda is one of our favs Castle Terme
Roman villa ruins make for great Hiking too...we stay at Hotel
Eden there where Orwell and Pound stayed 120 euro wonderful
lake views central with an awesome breakfast on the lake.

Sassafrass

Have not been to Pulia yet. It is on my "want to go there" list. The AC has more to offer than you might think due to the proximity to Naples and Pompeii. You can visit Naples, Pompeii, Herculaneum, Capri, Positano, Amalfi, Ravelo, Vesuvious and Paestum. You could actually split your time and give five or six days to Pulia and five or six to the AC.
IMHO, the AC is the most beautiful place I've been.

bobthenavigator

I did like Puglia but not as much as either Tuscany or the AC.
Given that time, I would spend 4 nites in Tuscany and then the AC prior to Rome.

zeppole

It is certainly easier to get around by car in Puglia. Most people absolutely advise against having a car along the Amalfi coast in September.

In addition, it is not easy to get to Pompei and its related sights or Naples if you pick a town on the Amalfi coast to stay.

Some people would think you are "totally re-miss" not to see the most famous tourist spots, but it all depends on what kind of experience of Italy you want to have.

You have lots of time to keep reading about these places.

By the way, just as an aside, Tuscany is a very large region with quite a variety of experiences, including a beautiful coastal area that not many tourists visit, and islands as well. Making choices in Italy is on the one hand never easy, but on the other hand, Italy is overflowing with beautiful destinations. I would really forget about what other people like to do and figure out what you want to take home with you as an experience of Italy. There is visual beauty everywhere, and the Dolomiti is the most spectacular of all, and you've already got that in your plans.

ekscrunchy

First of all, I would discount the nonsense posted by Qwo Vadis about Puglia, since he obviously has not spent much time, perhaps not any, in Puglia. "Few decent hotels" really makes me laugh! He's been bashing Puglia recently for reasons I cannot begin to fathom. And if I see one more of his shills for the Hotel Delfino (NOT in Sorrento and certainly not on the Amalfi Coast!) I think I will scream! The amount of misinformation that one poster can churn out on every conceivable destination across the globe really boggles the mind.

Calm down, eks........(to self)

Moving on, with apologies for my rant, nine days is a good amount of time to spend in Puglia, with a 1-2 night side trip to Matera, just over the border in Basilicata. I will not attempt to compare Puglia with the Amalfi Coast, or certainly not with Tuscany. Each have their myriad charms. I will be happy to give you tips if you do decide on Puglia. I plan on making another trip to the region next September.

I did write a couple of trip reports about the Amalfi area (one on Ischia; one on Amalfi) that you might like to read if you have lots of time on your hands! And I just returned from a trip that includes several destinations on the Amalfi Coast and will be glad to share my thoughts on that, too.

Enjoy!

wanttogo

We really enjoyed staying in Sorrento and doing day trips
on the bus from there to Positano, train trips to Pompeii and
Naples and a boat trip to Capri. If your trip is in the summer months, I believe that you can even take a boat to other spots on the Amalfi Coast by boat. At any rate, you can take the bus to other areas besides Positano on the bus. I simply would not drive on that coast road -leave it to the experienced bus driver and you don't have to worry about anything.

I have not been to Puglia.

Pat

ez1

You guys are the best. Have discounted QV so no worries there. We've decided to go for a month. . Venice, dolomites hiking 5 days, drive to Tuscany south of Siena and experience some hill towns. Then 8 or 9 days Puglia and matera. Drive to Naples and get a driver to take us to Positano for 4 days and back to Naples airport on day 5 for trip back to San Francisco... Leaving Rome for next time. Now i can book plane and spend the next year planning and learning basic italian (need to decpher those menus). Cannot thank you all enough for your valuable input. One question ... How long should it take to drive from say montepulciano area to Brindisi without too many stops... Or in the intterests of time is it advisable to drop car in Bologna and fly to brindisi ( cheap in Ryan Air). Eks, can i buy you a limoncello ( or two) in puglia next September?

bilboburgler

Puglia is very different to Amalfi, poverty striken for many centuaries you will find Greek, Roman, Norman buildings. Churches all over but interesting in Gravina where the churches are carved into the wall of cliffs to avoid the attacks of Saracens.

Great simple food and some very special wines. We rode bicycles over it 3 years ago and apart from some idiot putting the towns on top of steep hills the Murge is good and flat.

zeppole

You can use a website like ViaMichelin to calculate miles and drive times.

It might be simpler (and cheaper) if you drove from Puglia to Salerno, dropped of your car there, and then got taxi from Salerno to Positano. There are also buses and ferries that go from Salerno to Amalfi (where you can catch a bus to Positano).

If you are in Montepulciano, driving up to Bologna to take a flight to Brindisi is not going to save you any time. If you really don't want to drive, you might as well drive to a Roman airport and catch a flight. However, it is a 7-8 hour drive from Montepulciano to Puglia. If you stop for lunch the first day, spend the night somewhere, then complete the drive the next day with a stop for lunch, spreading out those 8 hours over two days won't be too grueling. You can use via Michelin to pick a scenic route for you.

Actually -- just so you know -- the Amalfi was poverty stricken for many centuries. It was only recently, in fact, it became a destination for affluent tourists, and it is still surrounded by poverty.