Driving in Puglia
Driving in Puglia
Puglia is a large region and the coastal areas are chaotic during the summer season, in particular July and August. These are some tips based on my own experience driving in Puglia. I usually visit low season, so May or September/October.
The main dual carriageway down the east coast of Puglia is quite busy and oncoming cars expect you to move over and let them on. Traffic here is faster and more aggressive but you avoid all the town centres. Country roads through the olive groves are generally quiet and pleasant and make for relaxing driving. If you're on a narrow country road and admiring the olive groves and taking your time and there's somebody in a hurry behind you it's nice to pull over or signal to let them pass when it's safe to do so.
ZTL means limited traffic zone so don't proceed (sometimes it's only active certain times of the day/night/year). This will usually be in historical centres or areas where there's the passeggiata in the evening. It's usually not advisable to proceed into the narrow streets of the historical centre anyway. Streets are narrow, parking will be impossible. You will never have to go through a ZTL to get to a large public car park.
If you're nervous about driving in towns and parking and want to avoid traffic get where you're going at about 2.30/3pm. It's the quietest time of day in Puglia.
Street Parking
If you want to park along the street or in a car park check the colour of the lines and any information boards. They're simple to understand in Italian but nowadays are mostly in English too.
Blue lines means you have to pay but it's worth checking the signs. There may be exemptions over lunchtime (so from maybe 1.30 until 4pm in Puglia), or they may be active only during the summer season. It's useful to always have a few 1 euro coins handy. You should find a metre fairly near. Sometimes you have to input your car registration number so keep a photo handy on your phone.
Yellow lines usually indicate temporary loading/unloading parking for commercial activities or residents' parking.
White lines means parking is free. But sometimes white lines are together with a maximum time limit, so you need a 'disco orario'. That is a little cardboard clock you put inside the car on the dashboard so it's visible from the windscreen. You put it to show your arrival time. It should be in your rental car. If not, write your arrival time with "orario di arrivo" and put it clearly in sight in the windscreen.
Obviously there are also privately-run car parks or municipal car parks 'multipiano'. In the multipiano usually you pay when you leave - you get a ticket as you go in and pay at the cash desk or machine before you leave. Sometimes you put your ticket in, pay, ticket comes back out and then you need it to feed into the machine to get out of the car park.
Safety
Don't leave anything in view, luggage or important items in the car!!! Anywhere......And especially not when you want to visit an isolated beach. Listen to your hosts' advice about whether it's safe to park in the street or whether secure parking is better. Ok, you've got a rental car and full insurance. But do you want to spend a day of your holiday with the Carabinieri and Insurance filling in forms...?
Respect the speed limits and other restrictions just like you would in your own country. Use your car when you need to....if you're staying along the east coast between Barletta and Polignano a Mare it's faster and easier to reach any of the towns between, plus Brindisi and Lecce, by train. That service is fast, modern and efficient.
I don't find driving in Puglia stressful. I use Google Maps for navigation, because they show real-time issues like roadworks or accidents. Puglia is fantastic. I'm sure you'll have a great time!
Comments
Post a Comment