Puglia travel guide: expert, practical travel guide to Puglia covering the best things to see and do, practical tips to visit Puglia and the best travel resources for the area.
Puglia, or Apulia as it is known in English, is one of the most beautiful regions in Italy and one of the most beloved as a vacation destinations by locals and visitors alike.
Puglia is the heel of the Italian boot and it’s a large region with plenty to offer.
In Puglia you find delightful historical towns, stunning architecture and art, Unesco sites, outstanding food and some of the best beaches in Italy.
In Puglia, you also find fabulous olive groves (and olive oil tasting opportunities!), country stays and kids’ attractions, a combination and variety of places and offering that makes Puglia an idea destination for all ages.
I adore Puglia.
I find the region beautiful, welcoming, easy to explore, safe and quintessentially Italian.
I love that the region is varied in landscape and that you have countryside towns and sea all within a short distance.
I also love that is manages to mix the warmth of the people of the Italian with with well functioning structure, something that makes it easier to explore than other nearby regions.
Why visit Puglia
I recommend visiting Puglia if you are looking for:
Beautiful, charming small historic towns with walkable city centers, impressive churches and slow pace feel
Stunning sandy beaches (summer)
Impressive coastal areas with cliffs and opportunities for boat trips
You want to visit the trulli of Alberobello or one of the famous white towns of this area
You want a region that allows to experience countryside, town visits and time on the coast without traveling long distances
You are visiting Italy with kids, especially in the warmer months
Why not to visit Puglia
The only reason I can think for not visiting Puglia is lack of time.
The region has plenty to offer and it is rather far from ‘classic’ Grand Tour locations such as Rome or Florence.
I therefore only recommend coming to Puglia if you have at least three full days to explore it (excluding travel days), ideally a week or more.
How long to stay in Puglia
I recommend you stay in Puglia a minimum of three days and aim at a stay for anything between one and three weeks to do the region justice.
With three days in Puglia I recommend you focus on one area, for instance the Bari region. You can have a look at this three day Puglia itinerary for inspiration
With one week in Puglia you can spend half the time in the area of Bari and the rest near Lecce. You can have a look at this one week itinerary in Puglia to see how we did it.
With longer time and use of a car (recommended, see below) you can see the areas of Bari, Lecce, enjoy the beaches of Salento and experience the stunning high coastline of Gargano, its national park and the islands, getting a very good feel and understanding of the region, its variety and soul.
How to get to Puglia / How to get around
You can reach Puglia by plane, ferry, train or car.
By plane, the biggest airports are Bari and Brindisi. From them, you can easily rent a car for a reliable rental agency and explore Puglia in your own time.
By train: Bari, Brindisi and Lecce are connected to Rome by fast and efficient high speed trains.
All these cities are excellent jump off points to rent a car and explore in your own time. To an extent, Bari also allows for some local exploration by train (see below).
Only some parts of Puglia have local train connections and this means relying on public transport in Puglia is limiting and potentially frustrating.
The best areas to explore in Puglia by train / bus / tour is the area of Bari, while the province of Lecce is significantly easier with own transport.
By ferry: in the good season, ferries connect Puglia to Greece (Igoumenitza, primarily) and are a popular choice for visitors who have their own car and want to cross the Adriatic with it
By car: Puglia has an excellent and well kept network of roads that connect even the most remote locations to large driving arteries and the rest of Italy.
By far, the best way to get around Puglia is by car.
A car allows you to reach all the towns, beaches and places of historical interest as well as country stays, farms and rural locations. As mentioned above, the roads are well kept and traffic low: this is one of the easiest areas to drive i Italy even for first times.
The best time to visit Puglia
Puglia is wonderful all year round but it is also very seasonal, which means the best time to visit Puglia depends on what you are hoping for.
The best time to visit Puglia for sightseeing is fall (September to late November) and late spring (May and early June).
The best time to visit Puglia for beaches is the summer.
July and August are the busiest months but June and September are usually nice enough to swim and not being swamped by people.
Christmas is a nice time to visit Locorotondo, which gets very cute decorations
The best overall time to visit Puglia to have a bit of everything is early June and early September.
The best places to see in Puglia
From north to south, by selection of the best places to visit in Puglia is as follows.
Gargano
Gargano is a beautiful peninsula in the north of Puglia and it is famous for a fabulous national park, tall white cliff formations that plunge into crystal clear waters and the opportunity to go to the pretty Tremiti islands.
Gargano is best explored by car and it in the good season when you can enjoy the coast at best. Great place to stay here are Vieste and Peschici and the main activities here are boating and enjoying the sea.
Trani
Trani is a delightful town on Puglia’s Adriatic coast, to the north of Bari.
A pleasant small city, Trani stands out for having a historic Romanesque duomo in a unique position on the town’s main pier, a real treat for art and architecture lovers.
Trani is also close to Castel Del Monte, Unesco world heritage castle dating from the times of Frederick II (1240 AD). Trani is fabulous town to visit as a day trip or to have as a base to explore the area by car and train.
Ostuni
Ostuni white city is one of the prettiest towns in Puglia and one of the most popular tourism destinations in the region.
Perched on top of a hill and surrounded by walls, the city is made of whitewashed houses that gleam under the Apulian sun. As soon as you get a glimpse of Ostuni from afar, you know the place will be special and indeed, it doesn’t disappoint!
Ostuni is just what it promises to be: a little jewel of whitewashed alleys, flowery balconies and pretty corners that make you feel you entered into a Puglia postcard.
Monopoli
Monopoli is a small, pretty, whitewashed coastal towns to the South of Bari and one of my favorite towns not just in Puglia but in Italy in general.
The city develops around a small historic port and has a center made of pretty alleys with Grecanic atmosphere and flowery balconies and whitewashed homes.
Monopoli has the train and is a fantastic base to visit the area by train or car as it is close to many other locations on this list which you can easily reach and explore even just over a long weekend.
Alberobello
Alberofello is one of the most famous places in Puglia and the site where you can see trulli, the unique white round houses with pointy roofs typical of this area, now UNESCO world heritage site.
You can see individual trulli all over this area, yet Alberobello is the place with the highest concentration of them and the only actual trulli town (there is even a trullo church).
This makes it unique, all other iterations of trulli being isolated constructions or a small cluster of them at most.
Alberobello has now a strong tourism vocation and is a popular destination for day trips; yet despite this popularity and the frustrations large buses of day tripper inevitably cause, is still very much worth seeing as the trulli neighborhoods truly are a unique sight.
Polignano al Mare
Polignano al Mare is a pretty and small town with white houses perched on stunning cliffs that plunge vertically into the sea.
Before gaining social media fame, Polignano was a delight of a place, the vision of the cliffs with the whitewashed houses on top taking your breath away for its uniqueness.
Nowadays, the numerous and overly doctored photos of Polignao on social media have largely taken away the wow factor of the place and and it is not unusual for visitors to leave the town with mixed feelings.
Yet, no matter how busy it gets, there is no doubt that Polignano’s position is spectacular and that the pretty town center still retains some charm.
Locorotondo
Locorotono is a small, absoltely delightful whitewashed town on a hilltop in Val d’Itria, the beautiful olive tree dotted area between Bari and Brindisi.
Despite being just beside Alberobello, Locorotondo receives a fraction of tourism than nearby towns and this means it retains a mellow, tranquil and quintessentially local atmosphere.
The town is wort seeing for its whitewashes houses, stunning churches and its flowery balconies, of which the town is rightly proud (In this sense, it reminded us of Spello and its balcony beauty contest).
The town is tiny and it is perfect for a day trip of if you want a small center where you can settle a few days, slow down and take day trips from.
Martina Franca
Martina Franca is a beautiful hilltop town in Puglia famous for its architecture.
Here, part of the town is whitewashed, and part is dominated but stunning baroque churches in a the so unique it took its name from the town: Martinese Baroque (if you’ve been to Sicily, you may find it reminiscent of elements of Baroque from Val di Noto).
Martina Franca is small, beautiful, pleasant and a great place to visit for a day or use as a homebase to explore the area.
Lecce
Lecces is a historic, stunning art city in the south of Puglia, famous for its ancient Roman ruins so rich of art, it is referred to as the Florence of the South.
Lecce is a larger town but has a wonderful and walkable historic town center largely closed to car, easy to enjoy if you want to stay in a well served town yet still be able to go for a stroll, shopping or dinner without driving.
Lecce itself requires a couple of days but it is also a great base for local trips. Use of a car for locations out of town is a must.
Galatina
Galatina is a beautiful small center on a hilltop in Salento, close to Lecce, and a fascinating, unique place for a day trip ot if tou want to stay in a town that is largely outside of the main tourist track.
There are three main things that bring people to Galatina. Foodies love the fact that this is the town where pasticciotto was born – so if you love baked good, Galatina is unmissable!
Art lovers will fall head over heels in love with Galatina’s churches.
Antrhopologies and lovers of the human psyche will love to learn about the tradition of the taranta, and the local dances and ritual to ‘cure’ the women bitten by the (metaphorical) taranta spiders.
Gallipoli
The small town of Gallipoli is one of the cutest towns in Salento and a sought after summer holiday resort town.
The ancient part of town still retains its ancient fortifications and feels like a delightful small village of cute alleys, local restaurants and fish markets, with pretty views over the port.
The modern town surrounding it is large and nondescript but teems with services and shops, which means if you are in of Gallipoli you have the best of both worlds: an ancient village and close proximity to all modern comforts.
Gallipoli has a small beach but it is close to many of the most beautiful beaches in Puglia, which makes it a great base for a summers stay.
Otranto
Otranto is a pretty town in the extreme south of Puglia with something special: a duomo with an ancient pavement mosaic of the Tree of Life that is guaranteed to enchant art lovers.
The town has an ancient small center and a larger modern area along the sea and it is famous for being the Eastermost point of Italy and therefore being the first place in the country with the first sunrise of the new year, and event the city loves to celebrate!
The modern part of Otranto is well served and works well as a base to explore the area. However, for me the main reason to visit the town is that outstanding church: truly unique!
Puglia beaches
Puglia is home to some of the best beaches in Italy, beaches that actually rival the beauty and appearance of those in Sardinia and futher afield destinations, some even being comapred with the Maldives!
Beaches in Puglia are almosy all overt he region but in general, you find small and rocky coves in the northers area and large parts of the Adriatic coast while you get large and sandy ones in the area of Otranto, Santa Maria di Leuca and Lecce.
Among the best beaches in Puglia there are Punta Prosciutto, Maldive del Salento, Torre Lapillo, Torre dell’Orso, Baia di Macconara, Baia delle Zagare, Punta della Suina, Baia dei Turchi and Torre Guaceto.
Puglia with kids
Puglia is an exceptionally family friendly place and one of the regions I recommend to families with kids of all ages, including toddlers.
Puglia is save and well served and it allows for easy vacations mixing sightseeing, beach time and having a base in the country.
If you are looking for lovely accommodation with garden and pool, beaches nearby, country restaurants and kids attractions nearby, Puglia is the place to be!
In terms of things to do for kids, top kids’ attractions in the area are Fasano Zoo, Castellana Caves and the local water parks, although usually kids are more than happy with the many opportunities to enjoy the beach and the small playgrounds easily found in many if the towns.
Where to stay in Puglia
Puglia offers a wide variety of options for accommodation ranging from country stays to all inclusive resort to rentals and B&B.
Puglia Food
Puglia has some of the best food in Italy and is a delight for not just for foodies but for anyone who enjoys authentic, genuine Italian cuisine.
Among the many specialties of the region, must try are orecchiette (pasta), cime di rapa (vegetables), pasticciotto (baked good), iced coffee (yes, a local specialty!), taralli (crunchy ‘cracker’ type of snack with distintive round shape), burrata (dairy), broad beans and of course the wonderful seafood from the Mediterranean.
I hope you enjoyed this quick travel guide to Puglia and it helped you plan your trip! Safe travels!.
