seeking ideas for special places to stay in Puglia, and special experiencec

[milgreen2]

we've booked our tickets for a May trip to Puglia and now need to figure out a great itinerary. we'll be flying into Brindisi on April 30th and flying back to Milan from Bari on May 17th, to connect with our flight back to the States the next day. So, we'll have 14 "sleeps" in Puglia and plan to spend 3 nights in Matera as well. moving from place to place doesn't present a problem for us -- we're happy to experience different, or exceptional (though not over-the-top pricey) hotels and/or apartments or masserie.
spending our first few nights in Lecce, after landing in Brindisi, seems like the best place to start, and then we want to add in some countryside days and some coastal days. the Gargano peninsula seems very appealing for some hiking and birdwatchin. we love walks and meals alongside the sea, but don't really care about having beach days, per se.
would love to hear from the community about favorite places to stay, visit, eat and perhaps a cooking experience, as well. we fly from Bari in the early evening on May 17th, so a daytime cooking class nearby would be a great way to end our vacation :~).

 

[Penn251]

We will be in Lecce from March 23 through April 8. We are staying here: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/18994691?source_impression_id=p3_1704670712_vMNWRH6qaN0zD3VT

We haven't been to Lecce before, but would be happy to let you know what we experienced when we return.

 

[milgreen2]

thanks so much for your reply -- the apartment looks great, but is not available for any of the dates we'll be in Puglia. looks like you'll have a lovely stay! will look forward to your recommendations for things to do, places to eat, etc.

 

[Ian Sutton]

We certainly enjoyed the subtle variety of places like Locorotondo, Martina Franca, Ostuni etc. The coast around there didn't much appeal to us (excepting the little gem that is Trani), but for others it might appeal more.

Driving an odd mix of very relaxing / easy for the majority of the time, punctuated by rather stressful moments passing through each town. Very few 'bypass' roads here.

 

[Fioridave]

Y

we've booked our tickets for a May trip to Puglia and now need to figure out a great itinerary. we'll be flying into Brindisi on April 30th and flying back to Milan from Bari on May 17th, to connect with our flight back to the States the next day. So, we'll have 14 "sleeps" in Puglia and plan to spend 3 nights in Matera as well. moving from place to place doesn't present a problem for us -- we're happy to experience different, or exceptional (though not over-the-top pricey) hotels and/or apartments or masserie.
spending our first few nights in Lecce, after landing in Brindisi, seems like the best place to start, and then we want to add in some countryside days and some coastal days. the Gargano peninsula seems very appealing for some hiking and birdwatchin. we love walks and meals alongside the sea, but don't really care about having beach days, per se.
would love to hear from the community about favorite places to stay, visit, eat and perhaps a cooking experience, as well. we fly from Bari in the early evening on May 17th, so a daytime cooking class nearby would be a great way to end our vacation :~).

you are just a short distance from Matera. It’s not in Puglia, but easy to get to. It’s also very different, so it’s a special treat. We were in Puglia for 2 week last year and loved it.

 

[Tina]

The most interesting places to stay in the Gargano area are:
Vieste - for the town, walking along the beaches/coast and a trip to Foresta Umbra

Why I love Vieste

A blog about travel, vacations and holidays in Italy and Spain with advice, tips and trip reports

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Gargano in September 6 Hiking along the coast from Sfinalicchio to Torre Calalunga

A blog about travel, vacations and holidays in Italy and Spain with advice, tips and trip reports

slowtravelitalyspain.blogspot.com

Gargano in September 8 Foresta Umbra

A blog about travel, vacations and holidays in Italy and Spain with advice, tips and trip reports

slowtravelitalyspain.blogspot.com

The Mattinata area for hiking to Monte Sant'Angelo etc: https://slowtravelitalyspain.blogspot.com/2019/10/hiking-near-mattinata-in-gargano-in.html
A car is essential for Gargano

But for me Gargano is almost separate from the rest of Puglia.
Maybe for a first trip it would be worth concentrating on 'classic' Puglia - so, yes Lecce and then maybe the other two areas I would choose Valle d'Itria for Alberobello, Locorotondo, Ostuni etc (great walk to and along the coast in the nearby Torre Guaceto reserve) and then one of the towns along the coast north or just south of Bari, or even Bari itself.
Trani is my favourite but most people would suggest Monopoli or Polignano a Mare which are more picturesque in their opinion. I adore Trani https://slowtravelitalyspain.blogspot.com/2023/04/why-i-love-trani.html
These three bases would allow you to get a taste of Puglia. If you are going to Matera as well I think the Gargano is too much of an outlier. Matera is unique.

 

[NoSpin]

Last year we stayed at San Michele Suite in Poliginano a Mare ( https://www.sanmichelesuite.it/en/ ). We happened to stay there during the Red Bull Cliff Diving championship.

For dining recommendation, Giovinaazzo is a lovely town on the Adriatic coast, try Ristorante Romanazzi's, https://www.romanazzis.it/

In case you roam into Basilicata, I recommend this book - https://www.sloweurope.com/community/threads/new-basilicata-travel-guide.5529/

 

[milgreen2]

thanks so much for all of your replies! since we'll have 17 nights on the ground, so to speak, we are definitely planning to include Matera, and were thinking that from there we'd do a longer drive to Vieste for a couple of nights, where we'll focus on some hiking/walking, then move to Trani for our last two nights to soak up the atmosphere and relax a bit. prior to that, we'll be spending at least 3 nights in each spot. we don't mind moving that frequently, as it affords us the opportunity to try different types of accommodations and wake up in different settings.

 

[Alpinista]

Lots of good suggestions. We also enjoyed Locorotondo. Whitewashed buildings, local wines, and narrow streets that reminded us a lot of being in a Grecian town. A lot of the fun of being in Puglia was the difference in the menus from other areas of Italy and learning to deal with a different dialect in our interactions.

 

[Ian Sutton]

... prior to that, we'll be spending at least 3 nights in each spot. we don't mind moving that frequently, as it affords us the opportunity to try different types of accommodations and wake up in different settings.

If you'll be hiring a car, I'd say it's not a bad region to do this, with some good agriturismi, often well-priced, and some decent variety, from Gargano national park, to castel del monte, trani, Bari/Brindisi, Lecce, Matera, the trulli towns, coast and some quirky other stuff like archaeological sites and Gravina in Puglia (a pleasingly humdrum town, split in half by a huge gorge).

Whilst we prefer 4-5+ days per base rather than 3, if covering Puglia from top to toe, and also taking in Matera, I do see the logic. There's plenty to see / experience.

 

[milgreen2]

thanks to all for your input, but now we're totally confused: we don't love the accommodation choices in Vieste, so we're not sure whether to just suck it up, or change the itinerary. right now we have 6 nights between Matera and flying home from Milan (MXP) at around noon on Saturday May 18th. Any ideas? we could head over to the Amalfi Coast or Sorrento, add some nights to Trani and maybe stay over in Bari for a night or two, or fly to Milan early and do a small excursion from there. decisions, decisions.....

 

[Penn251]

Hmmm...for something off the beaten path you could consider the Isole Termiti off the coast of the Gargano. We have never been but its on our list. If you decide to go, we will be interested in a report.

 

[Tina]

What is your itinerary exactly for the other nights? - to know what to suggest adding....

 

[Ian Sutton]

thanks to all for your input, but now we're totally confused: we don't love the accommodation choices in Vieste, so we're not sure whether to just suck it up, or change the itinerary. right now we have 6 nights between Matera and flying home from Milan (MXP) at around noon on Saturday May 18th. Any ideas? we could head over to the Amalfi Coast or Sorrento, add some nights to Trani and maybe stay over in Bari for a night or two, or fly to Milan early and do a small excursion from there. decisions, decisions.....

One option is to forego the awful experience of modern airports, and take the Frecciarossa train from Bari to Milano. Example times and stops below.

This could either be a single direct trip, where you go prepared with a healthy picnic and maybe a bottle of wine, kicking back and enjoying the view/experience... or doing something more unusual and getting the overnight equivalent train (we did this once in reverse from Ferrara to Bari). Finally there's the option of selecting one of those stops en-route for the additional location. We've stayed in forli, bologna and reggio emilia before, and would certainly recommend the latter two, with Reggio a pleasingly slower paced pace, but still in easy reach of other places on the main via emilia (via road or train).

Bari Centrale
Fermata: Bari Centrale
Partenza: 11:30


Barletta
Fermata: Barletta
Arrivo: 12:04
Partenza: 12:06


Foggia
Fermata: Foggia
Arrivo: 12:33
Partenza: 12:36


Termoli
Fermata: Termoli
Arrivo: 13:18
Partenza: 13:20
14:07
14:10

Pescara Centrale
Fermata: Pescara Centrale
Arrivo: 14:07
Partenza: 14:10


S. Benedetto Del Tronto
Fermata: S. Benedetto Del Tronto
Arrivo: 14:39
Partenza: 14:41


Ancona
Fermata: Ancona
Arrivo: 15:22
Partenza: 15:25


Pesaro
Fermata: Pesaro
Arrivo: 15:50
Partenza: 15:52


Rimini
Fermata: Rimini
Arrivo: 16:13
Partenza: 16:15


Forli
Fermata: Forli
Arrivo: 16:40
Partenza: 16:42


Bologna Centrale
Fermata: Bologna Centrale
Arrivo: 17:15
Partenza: 17:18


Modena
Fermata: Modena
Arrivo: 17:35
Partenza: 17:37


Reggio Emilia
Fermata: Reggio Emilia
Arrivo: 17:51
Partenza: 17:53


Parma
Fermata: Parma
Arrivo: 18:07
Partenza: 18:09


Milano Centrale: 18:55

 

[milgreen2]

We've nailed down our itinerary, for better or worse. Would love to hear about any interesting places to visit, hike and/or eat, as well as winery and olive oil visits:

Otranto: 4 nights, including arrival day, after picking up our rental car at Brindisi airport. we'll be staying at Masseria Longa. looking forward to getting used to the time change, visiting Otranto and some coastal areas, including caves, perhaps driving to Castro area, visit to Galatina.

Lecce: 2 nights, staying at Palazzo Charlie. plan to stay put, walking tour of the city (not sure if we'll book a tour or do it on our own). we thought about 3 nights but ultimately decided we want this trip to be more country than city

Martina Franca vicinity: 3 nights, in an Air BnB trullo outside the city. we'll use this as a base for visiting Martina Franca, Locorotondo, Ostuni. we've booked a visit to dairy farm w/cheese making workshop for one of the days.

Matera: 3 nights in an Air BnB apartment in the Sassi. would like to do a walking tour in Matera, as well as some hiking in the nearby ravines

Vieste: 2 nights, in B&B Cumma Mari. walking tour around Vieste on our own, hike in Foresta Umbra and visit to Monte Sant Angelo. on departure morning, we have a gelato workshop in Peschici, so a little extra driving

Trani: 3 nights in an Air BnB trullo home south of the main part or Trani, on the coast. explore Trani, spend some time on the beach, hiking.

we have a 6:00 pm evening flight from Bari to Milan on departure day, so we're thinking of a private cooking class in Bari for lunch, which gives us something fun to do after checkout, and obviates the need for a regular dinner when we arrive at MXP

MXP: 1 night in a B&B very close to the airport, with shuttle service, before noon flight back to the States. hope to get to the airport with enough time to hit the duty free shops for Campari and Parmigiano Reggiano :~).

 

[Tina]

A few thoughts:
Galatina is nice, especially for Basilica di Santa Caterina di Alessandria. This superb church was completed in 1391 and is a rare mix of Romanico Pugliese with a bit of Bizantino and Gothic styles. Galatina is also the town where the pasticiotto leccese was invented at Pasticceria Andrea Ascalone. Don't be put off by the menacing signs in the window!
More here:

Puglia in September 2023 - Galatina and Porto Cesareo beaches

A blog about travel, vacations and holidays in Italy and Spain with advice, tips and trip reports

slowtravelitalyspain.blogspot.com

Matera involves a lot of walking up and down anyway, just to explore. In this post: https://slowtravelitalyspain.blogspot.com/2022/01/matera-what-to-see-and-do-free.html
there are also the three hikes we did, but a word of warning - we were there in October but even so, down in the Gravine and coming back up, it gets seriously hot, be very careful in May when the sun is even stronger.

Vieste - the roads in the Gargano area narrow and full of bends. If you only have two nights in Vieste, that means one full day - I'd visit Monte Sant'Angelo on the day you head to Trani or maybe spend a night there. There are hikes near there and the Abbazia di Pulsano near Monte Sant'Angelo is a very special place. Trani is good for a lot of things, including the walk from the cathedral right down to the beach to the south, but not hiking.

Puglia - Daunia in September - Pulsano Abbey and Siponto Basilica

A blog about travel, vacations and holidays in Italy and Spain with advice, tips and trip reports

slowtravelitalyspain.blogspot.com

 

[magicedars]

Hi! So I know that some friends of mine went to Matera and took part in an amazing cooking class there that is called 'Matera Cooking Class' (www.materacookingclass.com). It sounded like an amazing experience and the reviews are also fantastic! Could be a wonderful day out!

 

[Ashley1985]

Hi, I was in Puglia in September, and I took part in an amazing cooking class in Lecce at a historic and famous restaurant in the city (www.alleduecorti.com/reloaded). It was an intimate, family-like experience, with the chef Giorgio Grassi and his unforgettable mother, Rosalba De Carlo. I ate dishes that my grandmother used to cook. We were moved as we reminisced about the past.

Anyway, the whole city is beautiful. It's small, elegant, and very clean, with truly refined architecture. A week is the perfect amount of time to visit, taste its typical dishes, and explore the surrounding towns.

 

[Fioridave]

Yes, Lecce is a great city.

I’ve been doing the lesser visited regions for a few years. Le Marche is also very good. We were just in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region a while ago, and it was wonderful. Trieste is a wonderful city with many amazing things to see. After many trips to Italy, it’s a treat to visit areas where English is not the overwhelmingly language.

Also, the local tongue, Friulani, is considered a separate language, so it’s especially fun. (Of course, everyone does speak Italian.)