Two motorways and one line across the Apennines

Geography decides the roads too. The Apennines run north to south and cut the region in two, so you enter Abruzzo either from the west, over the mountains from the Rome side, or from the north or south along the coast. There is no third way, and that makes the choice simpler than the map suggests.

By car, from Rome

From Rome you take the A24, which leaves the ring road and climbs into the Apennines: it is the highest motorway in Italy, reaching thirteen hundred metres at the Gran Sasso tunnel, and a considerable piece of engineering, all viaducts and tunnels. At Torano the A25 branches off, dropping towards Sulmona and running on to Pescara. For the Gran Sasso and Campo Imperatore leave at Assergi, for the National Park at Pratola Peligna or Cocullo, for the coast keep going.

Two practical warnings. These are mountain motorways, with reduced-speed stretches for the earthquake-proofing works that have been going on for years: the times your satnav gives are often optimistic, and with a motorhome you should allow more. And in winter, above a thousand metres, chains or winter tyres may be compulsory.

By car, along the Adriatic

From the north and the south you arrive on the A14, which runs parallel to the sea for the whole length of the region. The exits serve the shoreline one after another, from Val Vibrata down to Vasto, and it is the road for almost every campsite: most sites are a few kilometres from a junction. From Bologna it is about four hundred kilometres, from Bari three hundred and fifty; from Naples you come across the interior instead.

By train

The coast is served by the Adriatic line, which stops at Giulianova, Pescara, Ortona and Vasto-San Salvo: it is the same spine that links Milan and Bologna to Puglia, so from the north you arrive without changing. From Rome the line crosses the Apennines by way of Avezzano and Sulmona and takes about three and a half hours: slower than driving, but the stretch between Sulmona and Popoli is one of the finest in Italy. The Transiberiana d'Italia also leaves from Sulmona towards Roccaraso and Molise, running as a heritage train in summer and at weekends.

By air

The region's airport is Pescara, with domestic connections and some European routes, mostly seasonal. From there the Teramo or Chieti coast is within an hour's drive. Travellers from outside Europe more often land at Rome Fiumicino: from Fiumicino to Pescara is a good two and a half hours by car, or the train changing at Roma Tiburtina.

By motorhome

The coastal sites are all reached on wide roads, but the interior is another matter: many park roads are narrow, with hairpins and dry-stone walls right at the edge of the tarmac. It is worth looking at the route before you set off rather than following the satnav, which on these roads tends to pick the shortest rather than the widest. The rule of thumb: the coast as a base, the interior by the day, ideally in a smaller vehicle.