Puglia Road Trip: Mini Guide
Caleb and I LOVED road-tripping across the Puglia region! It’s not as “touristy” as other spots in Italy (although it is up and coming!). The food is SO fresh and amazing, and the scenery is just stunning!
Oh, and it’s Italy’s 2nd biggest wine-producing region. What more could you ask for?
OVERVIEW
We think the best way to experience Puglia is to rent a car (it’s cheap!) and drive around, staying in multiple cities. We decided to stick mostly to the coast, since the Adriatic sea is just so stunning.
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PRO TIP: MANY people decide to stay in Bari and use it as a base but we don’t recommend this. The public transport isn’t as good as other places in Europe and having a car gives you SO much more flexibility to travel around and see the less touristy villages like we did!
Below, you’ll find CLOSE to our itinerary with where we stayed in each city (they have parking)! with the hotel accommodation, that would have been our second/third pick for variety. We’ve picked options that balance comfort with affordability, so you can save your euros for all the delicious food & wine that Puglia has to offer!
*our actual itinerary was a bit random due to needing to do some things for Youtube, so we tweaked it to make sense for you if you’re not filming 🙂*
ITINERARY
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DAY 1: Land in Bari, pick up your rental car & immediately leave (you’ll come back to Bari & this way you can drop your car off sooner & save $.) Head to Polignano a Mare for the night
WHERE TO STAY:
B&B Casa Laforiga Soffio Mediterraneo (we LOVED this spot for location + parking) OR Affittacamere Luluc
DAY 2: Explore Polignano a Mare for the morning then drive to Monopoli for the evening and dinner.
WHERE TO STAY:
Dimora Pietrabianca OR Stelle d’acqua
DAY 3: Drive to Lecce and stay the night. Make sure you do this cooking class. It’s one of the best we’ve ever done!
WHERE TO STAY:
BNB FICO (the host stood in a parking spot for us for 15 mins so we could get a free spot!) OR Trilogy Prestige – Central Premium Suites
DAY 4: Drive to Ostuni and spend the day (you could also stay in Lecce for the day or even just the morning and do Ostuni for night)
WHERE TO STAY:
We liked Relais Trulli Le Icon. GREAT and gorgeous breakfast in the garden! OR The doors, Apulia, Ostuni OR Casa Francesca.
DAY 5: Head to Ceglie Messapica for the day and night. You MUST do this mozzarella experience. It’ll be a bit of an early day but it’s worth it. Make sure to get their traditional biscuit (Biscotti Cegliesi) at Forno San Lorenzo.
WHERE TO STAY:
Masseria LoJazzo if you don’t mind being a bit outside city center, WE LOVED our stay here SO MUCH. THE BREAKFAST!! OR Casa del Bicio OR Nido nella storia
DAY 6: Drive to Locorotondo because it’s less busy and has some of the best white wine in the region – do an early afternoon wine tasting Then head to Alberobello for the rest of the afternoon and night. It’s super touristy so you really don’t need all day. You could even just do a walk around and then head to Matera for 2 nights cause its amazing
WHERE TO STAY:
Trulli in corte OR Trulli Holiday Albergo Diffuso
DAY 7: Drive to Matera and stay the night. Technically, it’s not Puglia but you HAVE TO GO. It’s STUNNING and the oldest city in Italy.
WHERE TO STAY:
MUST stay at Sole Di Paglia. THE VIEW AND BALCONY. WE LOVED IT! Bring wine to sit on the balcony at night with that view. OR Limen Matera Guesthouse
DAY 8: Drive to Casamassima for the morning (you don’t need long, but it’s blue and so pretty!), then Bari for the evening (can drop the car off here!)
WHERE TO STAY:
A Casa Di Malu OR Felicità – My cosy house OR Ginevra Rooms (no parking, which is fine if you’re dropping off your car)
DAY 9: Explore Bari
DAY 10: Fly home!
What to Eat:
CLICK HERE for our ultimate Google Map of all the spots we ate at. If we didn’t LOVE it, we didn’t put it on the map…and you know we spend lots of time doing food research!
What to Do:
We’ve linked some of our favorite tours along with some of the must-see spots. Don’t miss any of the spots we outlined in the itinerary either!
- This cooking class in Lecce was one of the best we’ve ever done!
- Take this stunning boat tour of the caves of Polignano a Mare with aperitif!
- Keep things easy by going on an organized day trip to 4 adorable towns!
- Experience cheese making in a gorgeous Puglian farm
- Do a street food tour in Bari to get all. the best street eats without you having to research/plan it. We wish we did this!
- Visit a winery in Martina Franca (you would have to do this on the way to Locortondo and likely skip Locorotondo)
- Visit a winery in Locorotondo (we loved the one on our map)
- Stay in a trulli (the Masseria on our map was awesome!)
- Visit the pasta making grandmas in Bari (but honestly, we found this awful and a total tourist trap. Most weren’t even grandmas and one told Caleb that if he wants a picture, he has to pay. Our cooking class host told us it’s a total tourist thing and they don’t even know how to make the pasta right!)
- Have a drink in a cave bar in Matera. Saved to our map!
Our Best Travel Resources:
Here are some of our best overall travel resources to make your trip better/easier! These apply to anywhere you visit in the world:
- Our ultimate Europe travel guide with EVERYTHING you need to know.
- Check out our master list of all the best activities we’ve done across the world.
- Check out our master list of hotels we’ve stayed at across the world!
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- These are all the traveling essentials that we use and recommend!
- Our favorite platform to find tours – from bucket list items to cheaper admission to popular attractions.
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- Or, our favorite SIM card company if you don’t want to change phone service carriers.
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If you use any of our tips, please tag us on Instagram @culturecravingcouple!
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