The motorway stops short, and the last stretch is slow

The Gargano has no motorways: you leave the A14 and enter the promontory on trunk roads that climb, wind and cross the forest. It is seventy kilometres that feel like more, and in August they can become two hours. That is why the Gargano has kept its character, and also why it is worth arriving without hurrying.

By car and motorhome

From the north you leave the A14 at Poggio Imperiale and take the SS693, which runs along the coast through Rodi Garganico and Peschici: eighty kilometres to Vieste, nearly all of it single carriageway. From the south you leave at Foggia or Cerignola, go to Manfredonia and climb the coast road through Mattinata to Vieste, which is the most beautiful and the slowest.

The third possibility is to cut inland, from San Severo or Manfredonia, by way of Monte Sant'Angelo and the Foresta Umbra: you climb to nine hundred metres and come down again, and the road is narrow but fine. With a caravan the north coast is better.

In high season the coast road between Vieste and Mattinata is busy and the beach car parks fill early: anyone camping out of town should leave in the morning or use the summer buses.

By train

The nearest station on the main line is Foggia, on the Adriatic route, an hour and a half by bus from Vieste. The Ferrovie del Gargano run from San Severo to Peschici Calenella on the north coast, with a connecting bus to Vieste: it is a long journey but it can be done without a car.

By plane and by sea

The most convenient airport is Bari, two hundred kilometres and three hours away; Foggia has a small airport with few flights. In summer fast boats leave Vieste harbour for the Tremiti and, in some years, for the Croatian islands: these are seasonal services and they change, so check first.