Travel in Puglia
Now clearly, Lonely Planet and Trip Advisor will give you much more than we can, but for what it's worth, below are our six favourite places in Puglia (plus a wild card just outside Puglia's boundary). Travel is so easy here and car hire is cheap (although tip, best not to hire a big car, some roads are incredibly narrow), if you were to visit all of them, you'd travel no more than an hour between each one and still reach the very tip of the Italian boot's heel at Leuca. They're listed below in no particular order
Locorotundo
Locorotundo is a stunning hillside town, popular with tourists but with enough locals to give it the feeling of a 'proper' fully functioning town. There are more fabulous little bars and restaurants than you can shake a stick at; it's really quite hard to go wrong
Tip: buy a pizza :-)
Alberobello
Alberobello is utterly unique for its 'Trulli' houses; tiny little cone roofed buildings which look like they've been designed for gnomes.
Tip: very touristy here - possibly best as a day trip
Ostuni
Ostuni is a breathtakingly pretty little hillside town with Roman roots, which twinkles at night. We found it a very romantic destination. We walked the town's walls and sat in cafes watching the world go by
Tip: you could try lunch here, and dinner here (which is where the photos above right were taken)
Lecce
The 'capital' of Puglia, Lecce is a mini-Florence; a small city full of beautiful architecture, boutique shops, cafes, restaurants and bars, with a lovely laid back feel about it.
Santa Maria de Leuca
The 'lands end' of Italy, this pretty little seaside town sits right at the very bottom of the Italian boot's heel.
Polignano a Mare
A pretty little seaside town with a roman bridge enclosing a small, popular beach. Behind the beach there are narrow streets with bars and restaurants, which become quite lively in the evenings
Matera
This last one is cheating, because it isn't actually in Puglia - not quite, but Matera is utterly unique, and well worth a visit if you're able. Situated just outside Puglia's border, as if a mafioso deliberately drew a curved line around it when dividing up the county, Matera's tiny streets and houses are other wordly - Biblical looking. Unsurprisingly it's been a film location many times, including for 'The Passion of the Christ', 'No Time to Die', 'Wonder Woman' and many others - see here
