loan

Hi
I need help to plan my itinerary so thank you all ahead for any reply
I like to fly into Naple and out from Sicily or vice versa ( depend which way is cheaper)
We ll go at the end of May 2015
We like to stay in Sorrento as base to visit Napoli , Capri , Pompei and Herculaneum
Then stay in any town on the Almafi to visit the differents villages on the coast
Then from Salerno drive toward Matera , visit the town and continue to Puglia , there we dont which the best place to use as base to visit Alberobello,Locorotondo,Ostuni, Martina Franca. Monopli , Polignano a Mare
We would like also visit Castel del monte north from Puglia and Lecce south of Puglia ( Otranto and Gallipoli)
Can we still stay in Puglia and do day trip to Castel Del Monte and Lecce or we have to move to Lecce for the city itself and Otranto and Gallipoli ?
And where in this southern region we can take a fly to Sicily ? Bari ? Brindisi ? There is no fly from Lecce to Sicily , right ?
Sicilyn 7 or 8 days ( Palermo ! Cefalu , Syracuse, Agrigento )
If we have 21 or 24 days , are we able to cover all that !
Thanks and sorry for the long post

kja

"If we have 21 or 24 days , are we able to cover all that"

It really depends on your interests, but I think you would be pushing it to make it in even a 24-day time frame. I "managed" a similar 24-day trip in May of 2007 (May is a wonderful time to see these places!), but regret that I crammed so much into so little time -- and I travel solo and HARD. Here's what I did:

- Flew into Palermo, 3 nights;
- Picked up rental car and traveled from Palermo through Segesta and Selinunti before reaching Agrigento in time for dinner;
- Valley of the Temples and museum, then on to Enna;
- through the Villa Romana del Casale and on to Castelgirone;
- on to Siracusa; returned rental car; 1st of 3 nights in Siracusa (Ortygia);
- afternoon+ in Noto;
- on to Taormina for 1st of 2 nights there;
- day trip from Taormina to the Gole di Alcantara and Mt. Etna;
- ferry to Lipari and then (same day) overnight ferry to Naples with 2 nights there;
- Pompeii and Ercolano as a day trip from Naples;
- ferry to Capri in time for a walk before dinner;
- ferry to Amalfi and bus to Ravello in time for dinner and concert;
- Ravello and Amalfi;
- bus to Salerno and day trip to Paestum, returning to Salerno in time for sunset and dinner;
- Salerno and then mid-day bus to Matera;
- Matera and train to Trani by mid-to-late afternoon;
- Trani and train through Alberobello to Lecce in time for a sunset walk before dinner;
- Lecce and train to Pulignano a Mari in time for a sunset walk before dinner;
- on to Bari for a night before my flight back home.

I think you would be hard pressed to see as much of Puglia as you seem to hope to see, but maybe you aren't as interested in other areas as I was. I feel that I short-changed Sicily AND Naples AND Puglia, and even though I saw many, many wonderful things, I do wish that I had listened to the advice I got from other Fodorites as I planned that trip -- advice that said I was trying to do too much in the time I had.

FWIW, the most useful guidebook of the half-dozen or so I used when planning that trip was The Rough Guide, which has excellent information about transportation options. I urge you to spend some time thinking through your priorities, checking opening/closing hours, and marking up a calendar before you commit to a specific plan.

BTW, although I didn't visit all of the places you mention in Puglia, Castel del Monte was that only one that couldn't be reached easily by public transportation when I went, and although I ended up skipping it, I learned that one can easily and affordably get there from Trani by joining a tour or hiring a taxi / driver.

FWIW, I strongly recommend at least a night in Lecce -- it is a remarkable place, and is worth seeing in day light, as sunset warms is lovely stone, and when lit at night.

Hope that helps!

thursdaysd

You could easily spend 21 days on Sicily and not run out of things to do. I would drop Sicily and concentrate on South Italy, or vice versa.

sandralist

I don't think there are any non-stop flights from Puglia to Sicily. I could be wrong, but I don't think so.

About the only way I could see doing this trip would be to start in Sicily, drive to Matera, drive to Lecce (and do southern Puglia day trips), drive to Martina Franca area (and do northern day trips), then see Castel del Monte on the way to Salerno, drop of the car, head to Amalfi coast, finish the trip in Sorrento.

I'm not sure I would want to do all that in 21 or 24 days.

bilboburgler

There are odd flights into Palermo from Brindisi, http://www.aeroportidipuglia.it/defa...29&compagnia=0

if you use the aeroportdipuglia website you can also check Bari and for other times etc

sandralist

A flight would be better than driving. It also might be the case that a Sicilian car rental company would charge you for dropping the car off outside Sicily. One reason I think it is better to go to Sicily first is for reasons of weather, but it's a small advantage. Just in general I think the trip might be a bit more efficient that way. But I don't know if you would be happy with the pace of the trip.

Sassafrass

If your days include travel time from your home, how much actual time will you have "on the ground?"

If you end up with 21 days, I would choose no more than two of your destinations: Sicily and one other. With 24 days, you can squeeze in the three, but barely because Sicily is so large with so many places to see.

I would start in Sicily and allow a minimum of 10 days, then 1 day to fly to somewhere in Puglia for 6 days, if possible, another day of travel, end on the AC for 6 days. Rent a car in Sicily and another on the mainland.

loan

Thank you all for replying
I ll share that to my hubby because he is the one who will be driving and he think we can do that in 21 days on ground ! Me i want to take it slowly ! May be we can do all that in 4 weeks ! And if the choice is between driving , flying , ferry , i ll take flights !
Thanks again

isabel

I think you can do that in 24 days if you accept that you aren't going to see "all" of any of those regions. You have essentially one week for each area plus a few days to travel to and from each.

Last summer we spent 8 days in Puglia and covered all the things on your list except we never got to Castel del Monte (we did do Trani which isn't on your list so you could exchange that - we planned to do both but after Trani it was raining so we skipped the castel). We drove from Salerno to Matera - 2 nights/1 full day, then to Lecce - 2 nights, one day was a day trip to Otranto and Gallipoli (didn't have time to go all the way to the tip), then 4 nights based in Polignano for the rest of Puglia. Here's my trip report that details all that: http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ast-puglia.cfm

We have done two trips to the Amalfi Coast area, both times basing in Sorrento. One 8 day trip we did Capri, Pompeii, Naples, two day trips to Amalfi/Positano/Ravello. The other 5 day trip we did Herculaneum, Ischia, and Amalfi/Positano - then one night in Paestum before driving to Matera. So in a week with either half Sorrento/half Amalfi or the entire time in Sorrento you could do most of the things on your list.

We felt we covered Sicily pretty well in an 11 day trip but could have skipped a few things and still enjoyed a week.

How about if you flew into Palermo, rented a car for a week in Sicily. Then flew to Naples and did the Amalfi Coast (you do not need/want a car for that part), then rent a car as you leave Sorrento to drive to Matera/Puglia and then either return car in Bari and fly out, or just drive back to Naples or Rome to fly out.

My photos are here: http://www.pbase.com/annforcier There are galleries for Amalfi Coast region, Pugia, and Sicily

loan

Thank a lot Isabel, i ll look into your trip report and photos
Your propose itinerary is very close to what i would like to do ! ( might come back asking you about car renting and hotel info ! )