Pisticci is best reached by car from Matera (about 50 kilometres) or from the Ionian coast near Metaponto (about 20 kilometres). The town is not on a main rail line, though the Metaponto railway station on the Taranto–Reggio Calabria line is the nearest useful railhead and is served by connections to Bari, Taranto, and points south.
By car, the drive from Matera through the Lucanian hills is one of the better approaches to the town — the road passes through a landscape of calanchi and isolated masserie that prepares you for what you will find in Pisticci itself.