Puglia Grand Tour: Part 8 The Gargano coast

Published on:  | Last updated: 27 March 2017

Puglia coastline - Gargano peninsula

Puglia coastline - Gargano peninsula

The Gargano peninsula is the most dramatic section of the Puglia coastline and one of the most scenic sections of the Italian coast. 

In addition to the natural attrac­tions of the coastline look out for the trabucchi (or trabocchi) and ancient fishing technique said to have been brought to Italy be the Phoenicians. The net is submerged in the water ‚and when a shoal of fish pass over it it is quickly lifted out of the sea. You can see trabucchi all along the Adriatic coast from here to the Po delta.

Vieste is an atmospheric place to visit. It has had the misfortune to have been sacked by both the Venetians and the Turks - who had thousands of citizens decapitated. 

Rodi Garganico and Peschici are two other atmospheric towns on the coast.

Trains

There’s a station at Rodi Garganico. When I first wrote this guide, the trains on the line were old and didn’t take bikes. The line now has a fleet of modern trains that take bikes (maximum three). So the best option at the end of the route is to get the train to Foggia, and on from there. 

Trains on this line are operated by the Ferrovie del Gargano. The company now has a fleet of bike-friendly trains; for more inform­ation (in English) go to: ferroviedelgargano.com: Bike transport on the train.

You don’t have to pay to transport your bike, on the Ferrovie del Gargano trains, but note that if you are changing onto the trenitalia national network you may need a bike ticket, especially if you are travelling out of the Puglia region.

The next article describes the options if you want to continue by bike, so you can ignore it if you plan to get the train.

Map and altitude profile

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Distances
Mattinata - Vieste 48 kms
Vieste - Peschici 24 kms
Peschici - Rodi Garganico - 14 kms
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More information

Places to stay

Hotels and B&Bs

There’s a useful accom­mod­ation search facility on the parks.it website: Parks.it: Parco Nazionale del Gargano: Where to Sleep

Find and book places to stay with Booking.com

Booking.com pages for places on this section of the route:

About these links

If you use these links to book accom­mod­ation Booking.com will pay me a small part of their commission. This helps support the costs of producing this site.

I use Booking.com to find and book places to stay when there are no campsites in the area. The large majority of hotels and many hostels are now on ‘Booking’. I like it because it means that I can get almost-instant confirm­ation. The rating system is also a reliable guide to the quality of the accommodation.

I’ve never had a problem finding places to keep my bike —even if it’s a cupboard or store room. I always use the ‘special requests’ field on the booking form to tell the hotel that I’m travelling with a bike, which gives them the oppor­tunity to let me know if there’s a problem.

Many properties offer free cancel­lation but it’s a good idea to check the condi­tions as these vary from property to property.

Campsites

  • Camping Baia dei Campi on the Gargano. A large site (one of many on this coast). Bar. Restaurant. Great location.
  • Camping Capo Vieste the other one on the Gargano. Big site, lots of space. Beach Restaurant and bar.
  • Camping 5 Stelle Isola di Varano near Lesina. One of those campsites that’s fast becoming a village of bungalows. There is an area for camping but it’s clear that the main focus of the business is the bungalows. OK for a night though. Restaurant and bar.

  Map of campsites along the route:  PGT-campsites-map-show map in overlay    |    PGT-campsites-map-show map in new window 

Articles in this series

Trabucco - Gargano peninsula (Puglia)

Trabucco - Gargano peninsula (Puglia)

Get in touch

Please get in touch if you find any errors in the information, or if there’s anything, good or bad, that you’d want other cyclists to know.

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