ekscrunchy

I would strongly urge you to rent a car. I did not find the driving any more challenging than other parts of Italy, and in fact it is much LESS challenging than many other areas. Public transport will severely limit your range, especially with limited time. I don't know about taxis.


Since you must do this before the bike trip, I think you should:

1. Fly into Brindisi and see Lecce before heading to Matera. If you spend one night at each place, you still have another to play with, and perhaps can venture to Trani. Or Cisternino, etc.
OR


2. Fly into Bari and head for Trani. If you do the latter, you can spend just the one night in Trani since you will have much of the first day to explore the town, and the next day you can see Castel del Monte en route to Matera. Then we can discuss if you should add Lecce as the last night of the 3 free nights.


This is fun--brings back memories of my own trips!! Once we get this part settled, we can move on to restaurants!

kja

There are many advantages to using a rental car, and the parts of Puglia I saw were flat, so driving should be reasonably easy. Trains could be an option if the places you want to visit are available by public transportation at times that work for your schedule. I like to have wine with my meals and I don't drive after drinking, so having a rental car wouldn't help me when it comes to ensuring access to restaurants! The meals I had in Matera, Trani, and Lecce were all within walking distance of the places I stayed; the meal in at the Grotte Palazzesse in Polignano a Mare was within walking distance of the train station. Hope that helps!