Nina15

Flights are booked but not accommodation as I would like to check with the experts here if our itinerary is using our time in efficiently.

September 2015

Friday, arrive in Bari from Dublin at 17 15, collect car and drive to Fasano. Book into Masseria San Martino for 3 nights
www.masseriasanmartino.com/index_ing.htm

Saturday: Alberobello, Locorotondo, Martina Franca

Sunday: Polignano a Mare, Monipoli and Ostuni

Monday: drive to Lecce and book into Istituto Antonacci for 4 nights

Tuesday: Explore Lecce

Wednesday: Round trip Ortranto, Santa Maria Leuca, Lecce

Thursday: Round trip Gallipoli, Lecce

Friday: Drive to Matera and book into Sextantio Le Grotte della Civita Hotel for 2 nights
http://www.microsofttranslator.com/b...otte-civita%2f

Saturday: Explore Matera

Sunday: drive to Trani via Castel Del Monte (no accommodation as yet- suggestions?)

Monday: Explore Train in morning and drive to Bari airport for 19.50 flight to Dublin.

Is this a good round trip Bari- Bari using our time efficiently?

Thank you

yestravel

I think this looks like a good itin. Be aware that everything pretty much shuts down between 1-4 or so. That may effect how long you spend exploring each town. We were there in Sept in 2013 and had great weather. Loved Puglia--have a great trip!

kja

As yestravel notes, do plan around the VERY long siestas in this part of the world.

Enjoy!

bilboburgler

Welcome to Fodors, do get GPS in your car and a local map some of the roads are tricky. Yhe Masseria looks nice but not sure what "Depilant" is.

Look out for both wine tastings and olive oil tasting.

bilboburgler

1pm to 3pm Lecce and all other towns close down, restaurants disappear etc so plan around siesta or driving to the next spot.

Nina15

Thank you, good advice about the siesta which we hadn't thought about. I didn't think restaurants would close is 1-3pm, is this not lunch time? Is the closure also museums, Churches etc.?

Looks like we will need to head to a market and buy a picnic lunch (not a bad idea and if the weather is nice that could be very enjoyable)

GPS - I have never used it, is it in English?

No idea what 'Depilant' means but the Masseria produces its own Organic Olive Oil.

palatino82

"depliant" is French for brochure. Glad you are going to Matera. It is a spectacular place. Restaurants are open during the 1-3 time. Many don't open til 8 pm for dinner. Your trip seems pretty well thought out and logical to me. Have fun!

bilboburgler

Thanks palatino,

Restaurants 12 to 3, if you still eating they stay open but they want to close up to rest 2-3, if customers leave early they will close up. It is amazing, you walk down streets that have been heaving and 2 hours later you will find nothing but steal barriers. Churches close 12 to 3 or 4. Shops mainly 12-3

If you are booking a car you can get it with GPS or you maybe able to book one out for extra when you get there (less likely now adays) the pictures will be in any language and nearly all are multiple languages.

Puglia is basically one great big olive oil farm, so when you get off the main roads it can be a bit confusing, so you will find GPS a bit easier.

yestravel

We did fine during our time in Puglia mostly with maps and no GPS. Occasionally we used our iPad mapping to direct us. The map on a phone would work also.
We had no trouble finding restaurants open to eat duirng siesta.

Nina15

Thank you all. Looks like we will have to fine tune a little nearer the time but no one has criticised our itinerary so that is excellent news. I will go ahead and book our accommodation as lots of Masseria and the Sextantio Le Grotte della Civita (our one splurge as we are normally budget travellers but saw this on a TV programme and we MUST visit) get booked up very quickly and some have no availability for September.

I will look into GPS, we will have a good map but as two females (research shows women can't maps!!) GPS might be something we consider - probably will as it is not expensive.

Good to hear that as long as we are in the restaurant for lunch they won't throw us out come 1pm However, I am now looking at the prospect of lots of picnic lunches!

Thanks again but might have more questions nearer the time.

Nina

raincitygirl

We were just there in October, we took our GPS from home with Italian maps loaded in. It's a good idea to have paper maps as well; sometimes the GPS took us on some very strange out of the way routes.
There was no trouble driving there really, my husband found it pretty easy.

Don't worry about lunch either, we had no trouble finding lunch. In Locorotondo we had a very good lunch at this place: Trattoria Al Vecchio Arco in the Centro Storico.
Via Antonio BRUNO, 5. All home-cooked by the owner's wife and mother and he serves the tables.

It seemed like the shops definitely closed for the pausa but many of the shops (especially in the coastal towns) seemed to be full of pretty awful tourist junk. There were some nice shops in Ostuni for clothes etc.

I will have a look through my notes for some other restaurant recommendations.

It is a gorgeous area, I am sure you will have a good time Nina.

isabel

Your itinerary looks pretty good, we did a very similar one last summer. Here's my trip report, might give you some ideas of how long things take to see. It's not that hard to work around the afternoon closing time, and in fact we used it to our advantage several times to drive into and park in towns with less crowds/traffic.

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...m#last-comment

kja

"It's not that hard to work around the afternoon closing time" -- as someone who doesn't eat lunch, I respectfully disagree! I spent 2 hours in Lecce in the worst of a VERY hot day just trying to find a cup of coffee! Nonetheless, I'd go again in a heartbeat.

bilboburgler

The Masseri that claim no availability in Sept may just be closing up for the end of season holidays. If you find one you want like that just drop them an email and they may well extend their season. Always worth an email.

sandralist

"It's not that hard to work around the afternoon closing time" --

We got around it by delaying all of our day trips until after lunch. For a town like Otranto, we showed up at 4 or 5, and saw what we wanted (it doesn't take long), and then headed back. Most people in Puglia eat dinner later too, so getting not getting back for dinner until 8 or 9 was fine.

We dislike being in towns that are closed during the pausa, devoid of people and life. We are not just interested in facades of buildings, but how Italians live in their own towns, and also church interiors and small museums and local shops. So for us, walking through a town where all the doors are shut and the people have disappeared is next to pointless. If all we saw was the inside of a restaurant and the fronts of buildings, we figure we could have stayed home and looked at pictures.

finzidad

I think you're fine with two nights in Matera. You are going to love that place. Don't forget to go across the gorge to see Matera from the other side... and to explore the more ancient caves and sassi churches.

As for the rest, slow it down a bit. We tried to do 2-3 towns each day and it's just too fast a pace. Slow it a bit to savor each town. Also, remember that you will not find places open for lunch, so pick up stuff from alimentari or supermarkets or open air markets (if you find them on the right day... they move from town to town) and have picnics. Or hit the bars... they will have snacks or sandwiches. If you can, book yourself into a Trullo Ana amazing experience.

--Jerry

JustineA

Thank you.