In short. Long-distance coaches reach Puglia from across Italy and from beyond the border. The journey takes an average of five to eight hours depending on where you start, and it is the cheapest way in.
Unfashionable, slow, and considerably better than it used to be: you get on, you sit down, and somebody else deals with the motorway.
Where the coaches come from
Services run from neighbouring Basilicata, from Tuscany, from Lombardy and from outside Italy. Operators such as FlixBus and Marozzi publish routes and sell tickets online, and between them they cover most of the country.
They set you down in the cities: Bari, Foggia, Taranto, Brindisi, Lecce and the main seaside towns, Gallipoli included.
What it is good for, and what it is not
- Good for: arriving cheaply, and for a first trip built around the cities — Lecce, Bari, Taranto and Brindisi are all reachable and all worth days of their own
- Not good for: the countryside. Once you are here, the buses between the small towns are infrequent, and the coast between them is effectively unreachable without a car
The workable combination. Coach in, then the local railways for the Valle d’Itria, and a hire car for the days you want the coast. It costs a fraction of flying and hiring for a fortnight.
Back to getting to Puglia.
