Southern Italy Puglia
Puglia is the main focus of this ride which follows the southeast coast of Italy known as Puglia. If there is a place that represents a Mediterranean climate this is it. Fairly dry and sunny the ride can be hot in the summer and mild in the winter. No dedicated bike trails here. This ride is on rural roads, sometimes with traffic but Italian drivers are used to bicycle travelers and the scenery is worth the annoyances. Some riders start this ride with a flight to Naples or to Bari and use the train system to position at one end of the route or the other.
This area is full of ancient towns and villages and swimming in the Med is a possibility. Vineyards and olive groves are everywhere. The coastal sections are easy to follow, just keep the sea to one side.
The highlight of this ride are the coastal sections along the Adriatic and Ionian seas, Matera and "trullo land".
Guides, Maps and Other Information
Italy Cycling Guide "An independent resource for cycle touring in Italy." This is the best cycling guide for Italy on the internet.
An Italian national bicycle network that covers routes with far-reaching links for cycling, a cross-regional dimension or connecting with neighboring countries.
Ferrovie del Gargano runs both trains and buses that travel to areas on the Gargano peninsula. Buses usually don't take bicycles, train definitely do take bikes.
Italy by Bike. Published by the Touring Club of Italy. Also, other helpful guides by the Touring Club of Italy can be found at this link.
See the Maps and Guides page for more mapping information.
Map information
There are many cycling apps with maps available for iphone and android. A couple of the better offline apps are listed here.
Can be used to follow this route (and other routes) Click here for a KML file that can be loaded into the app. Place the file in the maps.me bookmarks folder (MapsWithMe/bookmarks on your phone or tablet) or alternately, email/text it to your device and open the file with maps.me. Total Commander works great for managing and opening files.
Guru Maps has the ability to show map types other than OpenStreetMap, in particular it will display OpenCycleMap. KML files can be imported by "opening" the file with Guru. To import the KML file place the file in a folder or email/text it to your device, press and hold and open with the app. The route will appear in "collections." A user manual is available.
What it is Like
- Travel Tips
You can ride almost anywhere on the rural roads of Puglia. Use the small agriculture roads in the vineyards and olive groves to link up portions of the ride. There is little to no traffic in the olive groves and you may come across some very old truli.
- Ride Quality
This route is almost always on paved roads. Most of the roads are quiet and rural but some are busy. Following the coastal areas near the Med is great with the sea on one side and quite bathing beaches every so often. In a small number of places you might have to push your bike to link up rural roads. Just keep going, the route does work and the road will reappear.
A few spots are rough but these are not many.
- Elevation Change
The route is mostly level but in some areas along the Adriatic coast the route travels through hilly terrain. The Gargano coast definitely has hills and the area around Matera. Traffic is light in the hilly areas.
The coast north of Lecce.
- Best Season
Spring and Fall. Summer is way too hot and winter is cold and wet.
- Options
Naples and Bari are the main access points for this area if you are traveling by air. Naples and Bari are reachable by train from other locations in Italy.
Riding near Alberobello. Martina Franca, Alberbello, Ostuni and the surrounding area is Truli country. Riders could spend a considerable amount of time in this area exploring the rural villages on quite roads.
Matera. Plan on a couple of days to explore Matera and stay in a Sassi.
The coastal areas outside of the cities, including the Gargano Peninsula, are one of the features of this ride. Roads are fairly quite and the towns and villages have ancient port areas. The economic pillar of this area in the 1600's was olive oil, sent by ships throughout the Med area.