It is always downhill, and it takes longer than it looks

Puglia is reached by the Adriatic motorway from the north and the Naples to Canosa road from the west, but the motorway covers only the central part: on the Gargano and throughout the Salento you travel on two-lane trunk roads. They are not bad roads, but journey times need to be worked out generously, above all in August.

By car and motorhome

For the Gargano you leave the A14 at Poggio Imperiale or San Severo and carry on for some forty kilometres; the coast road between Rodi, Peschici and Vieste is scenic, narrow and full of bends, and with a long vehicle you go slowly. For the Salento you reach Bari on the motorway and then take the SS613 to Lecce.

The SS16 runs the length of the Adriatic coast and the SS100 links Bari to Taranto. You do not drive a large vehicle into the old centres of Alberobello, Ostuni and Lecce: there are car parks outside the walls, and you walk.

By train

The Adriatic line reaches Lecce and stops at Foggia, Barletta, Bari, Monopoli and Brindisi. From there the local railways set out: the Ferrovie del Sud Est for the Valle d'Itria and the lower Salento, the Appulo Lucane towards Altamura and Matera. They are slow but they go where parking is hard.

By plane and by ship

The airports are Bari and Brindisi, both with scheduled and low-cost flights; Brindisi is the handier one for the Salento. From the ports of Bari and Brindisi ferries leave for Greece, Albania and Croatia, and for anyone travelling by motorhome they are a way of going on rather than turning back.