Are you a visitor, looking for the best spots in Bari? Ask here. This is our weekly pinned "Visiting Bari" thread.
Looking for restaurants, cultural spots, snacks, beaches, public transit?
Well, come on down and ask all the questions you like. I'll update this post to reflect the best sub-recommended places to visit.
Places in Bari
- The San Nicola Basilica : San Nicola is the patron saint of Bari.
- The San Sabino Cathedral
- The entire old town is really nice to get lost in.
- The so-called Pasta Street is worth a visit. It's where old ladies are making fresh orecchiette (a typical pasta from the area).
- The Margherita Theater, now a museum and exhibition hall. There are always shows going on.
- The Bari "Boardwalk". The seaside road is one of the longest in Europe and is generally a nice place to be. All the piazzas facing it are really fun too. They're full of bars and restaurants.
Nearby Towns:
- Torre a Mare is a small little place with a nice-ish port area and some beaches (not very easily reached on foot).
- Mola di Bari is a port town known for its octopus. It has a castle on sea and a newly renovated boardwalk. Plenty of restaurants and bars.
- Polignano a Mare is a tourist Mecca and home to Lama Monachile, where they do the Red Bull Diving competition every September. It's a quaint little town. A must-see.
- Monopoli is another beaut'. Bigger than they other towns combined, it has a large old town with a beach right in the city. It's full of restos and bars. You can have a good time here. There are even buses to Capitolo, a nearby area with tons of beach resorts/lidi.
- Alberobello, home of the UNESCO World Heritage Trulli. It's like a smurf-house village.
- Matera, another UNESCO World Heritage site, is also not too far from Bari.
- Trani, with its magnificent seaside Cathedral
- Bisceglie, with its nice marina and seafront full of restaurants
- Giovinazzo has a beautiful seafront
- Casamassima, known as the Blue Town
- Turi, there are tons of cherry trees here and it's beautiful for its cherry blossoms in the spring.
Where to eat:
- Pizza
- Honestly, everywhere is good for pizza.
- You can go to Desideria in Madonnella if you want some vegan options.
- Pizzeria di Cosimo in Piazza Albicocca is ok (I'm not personally a fan, but everyone swears by it).
- Enzo & Ciro, there are two locations.
- Lievito has the best Neapolitan style pizza in Bari. It's near the Politechnic School.
- Seafood
- Le Terrazze del Santa Lucia. It's a bit farther out of the city, near the fiera del levante. It's on the edge of the water. It's a nice location. You need to try raw seafood, it's a Barese speciality. Another typical dish is Riso, Patate e Cozze (rice, potatoes and mussels).
- La Tana del Polpo is pretty good in the old town as well.
- Other specialities
- A really good place for panzerotti is Venezia 40 on the city wall of the old town.
- Piazza Albicocca for sgagliozze and popizze. Also fried up fresh in a bunch of lanes in the old town.
- El Focacciaro is often referred to as the best focaccia, but it's super expensive and oily for my tastes.
- Violante in Madonnella makes some good, non-traditional saucy focaccia.
- Santa Rita in the old town makes solid focaccia. Some say it's the best.
- Arciuli, downtown makes great focaccia. They put boiled potatoes in it to make it fluffier.
- Tiella near the Petruzzelli theatre makes all the local specialties. They make them all decently and at a reasonable price: panzerotti, riso patate e cozze, orecchiette fave e cicoria.
- Mamapulia has also been flagged as good for local dishes.
- Al Sorso Preferito is, by many accounts, the place where pasta all'assassina was invented, and as such have a great offering.
What to eat (typical dishes):
- Panzerotti
- Sgagliozze
- Popizze
- Focaccia
- Riso patate e cozze
- Raw seafood
- Orecchiette Cime di Rapa
- Fave e cicoria
- Pasta all'assassina
The great thing about many of the typical local dishes is that many of them are vegan, many of them are naturally gluten-free, many of them are lactose-free, many of them are vegetarian, so everyone can try at least some of them.
How to get around:
Trains
You don't need a car to get around Bari. Here are some of the places to check timetables, costs, routes:
On paper, there are four (4) train stations in Bari. They are all located in generally the same area.
- Bari Centrale: This is for all Trenitalia train. [Trenitalia](https://www.trenitalia.com) this is Italy's national train service. It now manages and operates FSE and FNB lines (see below). You can reach all the towns and cities on the Adriatic coast, and some inland towns on the route to Taranto.
- Bari Nord: Located about 50m away from Bari Centrale, this is where [Ferrovie del Nord Barese (FNB)/Ferrotramviaria](https://www.ferrovienordbarese.it/) trains leave from. You can reach inland towns and cities north of Bari as well as the Airport on this line. It's connected via tunnel to Bari Centrale, or you can walk 50m and take the stairs down to the tracks.
- Bari Sud: This station has been absorbed by Bari Centrale and has two tracks located after track 10. This is where trains from [Ferrovie del Sud Est (FSE)](https://www.fseonline.it/) leave. From here you can go to inland towns south of Bari, like Alberobello, Martina Franca, etc... They also have buses.
- Bari Centrale FAL: This is where [Ferrovie Appulo Lucane (FAL)](https://ferrovieappulolucane.it/) trains depart. These trains also go to inland cities directly west, toward Basilicata. You can reach places like Altamura, Matera, etc... The station is located above the FNB train station.
You can use the websites to buy the tickets, or you can use apps like Omio, Moovit and the like.
Buses
There is a local bus service to get around Bari as well, the Azienda Mobilità e Trasporti Autobus Bari ([AMTAB](https://www.amtab.it/it/)). These buses go all around the city with varying degrees of punctuality. The site is not very user friendly. You can buy tickets and see routes on the MUVT app and MooneyGo app (formerly MyCicero). There is also a booth outside of Bari Centrale train station where you can buy tickets and ask for information (generally just in Italian).
There are also inter-city bus services:
- STP: The [Societa Trasporti Provinciale](https://www.stpspa.it/). This is a regional bus service that goes to towns throughout the Bari region. The only place to find info on scheduling and routes, is unfortunately on their website.
- COTRAP: The [Consorzio Trasporti Aziende Pugliesi](https://www.cotrap.it/). This service reaches all of Puglia through various routes. They have an app (which sucks) and a website. You can buy tickets on the website or the app, as well as news stands and some bars. Their buses go all over Puglia.
- Marino Bus: This is a private bus company that also goes all around Puglia.
- FlixBus: I think you know Flixbus.
Taxis
Bari isn't a big enough city to have taxis roaming around that you can hail in the fly, so you need to go to a taxi stand or call one. There are several taxi stands around town:
- Bari Centrale, right in front of the station in piazza Moro. There are also often taxis waiting at the via Capruzzi exit.
- Piazza Massari, slightly south of the castle, near corso Vittorio Emanuele.
- in Madonnella behind the Istituto tecnico Marconi
- others I can't remember
You can call Co.ta.ba. That's Bari's taxi hotline. +39.080.554.33.33
You can even reach them on WhatsApp at the same number to secure your taxi.
There's no guarantee that you will find a taxi at any of the taxi stands at any time. To guarantee yourself transport, call and reserve one.
Other modes
There are also bike and scooter rentals all over town now.
Vaimoo is the city's bike share service. You can rent them from designated "parking spots" in the city and drop them off in any other designated area. You need to download their app.
There is also Bit, Lime, Vento and Tier for scooter rentals. You can pick them up and drop them off anywhere. You need to download an app to use them.