My partner and I have had a several trips to Italy. We love coastal areas - we enjoy swimming and hiking/walking and day trips to other towns. Some of our favourite areas/towns include Amalfi, Tropea, Taormina, Cefalu,Lipari, Levanto and the Cinque Terre.
We will be visiting Italy in September this year, flying into Rome. Apart from Rome, we plan to explore new towns/areas. As we will not be driving, we need to choose areas/towns that are a good destination to visit and/or make a good base for exploring other areas. We have approximately 3 weeks in Italy.
Our draft itinerary is: Rome 2 nights, Maratea 5 nights, Scalea 3 nights, Monopoli 5 nights, Lecce 3 nights and a last night in Rome before we fly back home. I normally like staying at least 4 to 5 nights at a place and am not sure we are spacing this trip well and that our choices make sense.
The plan is to take a high speed train from Rome to Maratea and then from Scalea make our way to Monopoli. It seems like the trip from Scalea to Monopoli would take 6-7 hours depending on whether you use trains and a bus or just trains (Rome to Rio site). Does anyone know how reliable the public transport is to get from Scalea to Monopoli in mid September?
I have visited Matera on another Italy trip so I did not consider reaching Monopoli via Maratera as that would break up our travelling even more. Also, at the time, the public transport to and from Matera was a massive challenge. I am wondering if it is worth going to Monopoli and Lecce because it seems like a mission to reach these areas from Maratea/Scalea?
I'm wondering if we shouldn't just go to Tropea after Scalea because we loved Tropea and the beach there so much?
I also wondered if it would make sense to split the 8 nights after Rome between Maratea/Scalea and Tropea, and then to fly with one of the budget airlines from Lameze to Brindisi airport to reach Lecce? From there we could make our way to Monopoli by train and potentially fly from Bari back to Rome. Sometimes, flying can be a false economy of time as the transfer to and form the airport and the waiting period before flying can also 'steal' time.
We enjoy being active in nature and love having a swim at a beach every day in summer. Of course, we enjoy combining this with some day trips on some of our days in a town. Getting the balance right is tricky.
Also, I wondered if it was better to stay in Maratea's historical town and if we would be able to hike to the port and beaches from there or at least be able to easily access buses from the town to go to the port and explore nearby beaches.
We are both reasonably fit and can easily hike for 3 to 4 hours or even longer.
We had also considered visiting the area Vieste after we arrive in Rome but the public transport form Rome looked 'messy' as well. So we thought Maratea could work well.
On previous trips we loved Amalfi because it was an excellent base to swim, visit other towns and also to hike.I have visited that town and region several times. It was all very doable with public transport. I'm hoping Maratea and the other towns will also be good destinations for us. I'd appreciate your insights.
We will be visiting Italy in September this year, flying into Rome. Apart from Rome, we plan to explore new towns/areas. As we will not be driving, we need to choose areas/towns that are a good destination to visit and/or make a good base for exploring other areas. We have approximately 3 weeks in Italy.
Our draft itinerary is: Rome 2 nights, Maratea 5 nights, Scalea 3 nights, Monopoli 5 nights, Lecce 3 nights and a last night in Rome before we fly back home. I normally like staying at least 4 to 5 nights at a place and am not sure we are spacing this trip well and that our choices make sense.
The plan is to take a high speed train from Rome to Maratea and then from Scalea make our way to Monopoli. It seems like the trip from Scalea to Monopoli would take 6-7 hours depending on whether you use trains and a bus or just trains (Rome to Rio site). Does anyone know how reliable the public transport is to get from Scalea to Monopoli in mid September?
I have visited Matera on another Italy trip so I did not consider reaching Monopoli via Maratera as that would break up our travelling even more. Also, at the time, the public transport to and from Matera was a massive challenge. I am wondering if it is worth going to Monopoli and Lecce because it seems like a mission to reach these areas from Maratea/Scalea?
I'm wondering if we shouldn't just go to Tropea after Scalea because we loved Tropea and the beach there so much?
I also wondered if it would make sense to split the 8 nights after Rome between Maratea/Scalea and Tropea, and then to fly with one of the budget airlines from Lameze to Brindisi airport to reach Lecce? From there we could make our way to Monopoli by train and potentially fly from Bari back to Rome. Sometimes, flying can be a false economy of time as the transfer to and form the airport and the waiting period before flying can also 'steal' time.
We enjoy being active in nature and love having a swim at a beach every day in summer. Of course, we enjoy combining this with some day trips on some of our days in a town. Getting the balance right is tricky.
Also, I wondered if it was better to stay in Maratea's historical town and if we would be able to hike to the port and beaches from there or at least be able to easily access buses from the town to go to the port and explore nearby beaches.
We are both reasonably fit and can easily hike for 3 to 4 hours or even longer.
We had also considered visiting the area Vieste after we arrive in Rome but the public transport form Rome looked 'messy' as well. So we thought Maratea could work well.
On previous trips we loved Amalfi because it was an excellent base to swim, visit other towns and also to hike.I have visited that town and region several times. It was all very doable with public transport. I'm hoping Maratea and the other towns will also be good destinations for us. I'd appreciate your insights.
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