Kmd01

I am planning a trip to Puglia at the beginning of May 2015 and would appreciate some tips from those who have been before or live in the area. I have read most of the posts on here and have picked up some great information but undecided on the best base for our stay.

We are flying into Brindisi,will hire a car and will fly out of either Brindisi or Bari.
There are 4 of us (no kids), our interests are food, wine & local culture. On this trip we plan to stay in villages/towns so we can walk to dinner etc but will have a car to do day trips.

We plan to have 2 x 5 night stays and would like some tips on where to base ourselves. Being early May, being beachside is not high on our list but we do enjoy a nice water view so plan to have one stay on the coast and one stay inland.
We are thinking either Polignano or Monopoli (or around there) but can’t decide and the other stay south of Lecce in a village/town with good dining options and located well to trip around the Salento region. Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

As we are arriving on Thursday 30th April – with Friday 1st May being a public holiday, making for a long weekend, I am also interested to know how the long weekend and festival in Bari 7-9 May should factor into our plans ie: places to avoid and or not to miss?

sandralist

I was in Bari around the time of its festival of San Nicola (although I was not there for the actual procession day). There were lots of decorations but no overwhelming crowds. However, if you were thinking of a destination restaurant in Bari during those days then I would suggest making reservations, and ditto booking early for your hotel. I enjoyed Bari.

Apart from nice sunny weekends, you might find the seaside towns of Puglia eerily quiet in May, with restaurants closed or doing works to get prepared for the summer season. So you might want to arrange your trip to be at a popular and sizable seaside town on weekend days, and you can probably book last minute rather than get stuck there if it is raining. Even on a sunny weekend you still won't see crowds but will probably enjoy at least a little company.

Any plans to go to Basilicata? Matera is one of the extraordinary sights of Europe and the food and wine of Basilicata is very good.

isabel

Here's my trip report from this past July. http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ast-puglia.cfm

We based in Lecce and Polignano and were happy with the choices. Another trip report recently, they were in Polignano in May I think and said it was less crowded than it seemed in July but not dead. I thought Polignano had a lot more personality than Monopoli but it was nice as well and larger so might have more people besides the vacationing beach crowd.

Lecce is a city and you said you wanted small town, but the historic center of Lecce is quite small and if you want choices of restaurants you can walk to for five nights I'm not sure where else in that region you'll get it. Otranto was great as well, that would be my second choice.

bilboburgler

We did a bike tour of the area in May/June and lots of places are dead or slow. If I was doing it again I'd chose our bases more carefully. I would look at Lecce old town seriously, whoever rents you rooms can sort out where to leave a car safely.

Seaside places were dead, so I might look say at Ostuni as being a bit more active that early in the season

Lois2

I would fly into Brindisi and fly out of Bari if that works out...why backtrack? I would probably do a stay in Lecce and day trips from there or Otranto and moving North check out Ostuni..not right on sea but visible in distance and at that time of the year more open and going on...good for seeing the Itria Valley including Alberobello. As for Polignano we spent time there but off season I think it may be pretty quiet and not much open during the week...you need to hit that on weekend...we have had experience with similar coastal towns and honestly they don't look the same when everything is closed...Monopoli has some really nice areas and could be a better choice as it is more of an all year town. You might also consider a trip out to Matera which is a distance but well worth it.

raincitygirl

I am in Puglia at the moment, we are in a Masseria near Ostuni now but had four nights in Lecce prior to this. I can highly recommend the BandB we used in Lecce, called Five rooms, it is a ten or fifteen minute easy walk to the old part of the city. Lovely good sized rooms, good breakfast, free parking, was easy to find from Brindisi airport with our Garmin, easy to walk in at night for dinner, we would stay here again.

We did day trips to Gallipoli and Otranto from there.

Kmd01

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions and comments, we have never been to the region so your help is greatly appreciated and it helps to narrow down the endless options.

isabel - your trip report is such a great read, thanks

sandralist - we have considered visiting Basilicata/Matera for 2 nights and spending the other 8 nights in Puglia, I just don't want to pack too much into the 10 nights. But you have me thinking it really is something not to miss.
We actually arrive in Italy via cruise ship into Civitavecchia early AM on the 30th April and have considered hiring a car at the port and driving to Matera, then head into Puglia but thought flying may be a better option then trying to drive the 500 or so km's on our arrival day. So much to see and so little time !!

bilboburgler

The flights down from Rome to the two Bs are a great idea, I've taken one. I wrote up our wedding in the area if you follow my name

sssteve

KMD01:

Please check out my web page on our trip to Puglia. I hope it can help you in your planning.

http://www.travel.stv77.com/puglia/puglia.htm

As for bases, we stayed in Lecce, Trani, and a rural place near Ostuni. We also stayed one night in Matera, but that's not really in Puglia. We loved Puglia. It's very authentic with very little foreign tourism.

sandralist

Kmd01,

I tooI would not want to commit myself to a 500km drive. Matera is really not so far out of the loop of the most popular sights in Puglia. Some people visit Matera as a day trip from central Puglia or even Bari, but spending a night there is more rewarding I think (partly because local food and wine is very good).

bvlenci

I've been to Puglia three times, but never in May. However, I live further north on the Adriatic coast and I'd be very surprised if the beach towns were "shut up" or "empty" in May. Where I live, Easter is the traditional opening of many beach restaurants and May 1st is the traditional opening of the bathing season, although there may not be many bathers except on weekends, until mid-June. I would consider that a good reason to go in May.

The last time we were in Puglia, just last month, we ate amazingly well, without reserving restaurants in advance. One of our favorites was Ferro e Fuoco in Trani. I'm not recommending you make a detour to eat there, because we found many other good restaurants, but if you happen to be in Trani, it's worth looking up. On an earlier trip, we had a great lunch at a masseria, but I don't remember the name.

This was the first time I visited the Gargano, Where we drove along the coast from Manfredonia to Vieste, and I found it much more scenic than I expected. (I had the mistaken impression that it was just a long extension of bathing establishments.) Instead, for scenery, it's up there in the ranks of the Amalfi Coast and the Ligurian coast.

The weather in May is not always conducive to spending time on the beach, but if your main interest is scenery and dining, I think it's one of the best months for a visit.

Alberobello is very interesting, but also somewhat overrun with tourists. I would try to go there midweek.

I strongly recommend you visit Castel del Monte, the starkly beautiful 12th century castle constructed by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II. It's inland from Bari.

I'd been told that Puglia, and especially the Gargano, is one of the favorite summer holiday spots for British tourists. I just went in search of numbers, and see that Germans far outnumber visitors from other European countries. There were 640,000 German presences (person/nights) in Puglia in 2014, and only 165,000 UK presences. Other countries with high numbers of visitors were the Netherlands and France (both ahead of the UK), and Austria (behind the UK). The most visited areas were Lecce and Brindisi. I think it's mistaken to say that there's very little foreign tourism there. There are nowhere near as many foreign tourists as in Rome, Florence, and Venice, but the numbers are significant.

bilboburgler

I have seen very few Brits on my various visits. On the otherhand I have ridden past lines of closed hotels in May, while being the only guests in others, so maybe some areas are better than others

sandralist

bvlienci,

I also live in Italy, near the sea, and I too was very surprised to find how very spookily quiet the coast of Puglia was when I visited in May. This was not only the case around the Gargano peninsula, but also between Taranto and Gallipoli, and around Otranto and Brindisi. Someplace very much on the tourist map in terms of pictures you see in guidebooks -- like Polignano a Mare -- might have a tourist infrastructure that operates year round, but these other places do not. They are shuttered or under renovation for the next season. One seaside hotel where I stayed in May couldn't offer me any room with a sea view -- even though we were the only guests in the hotel -- because they were all being painted. Another time, driving along the coast between Gallipoli and Taranto, I erroneously assumed I could wait until the next town to get gas for my car, only to find myself facing 50 kms of closed structures -- hotels, gas stations, summer homes. (If you ever want to commit the perfect crime, head to the western coast of Puglia in May to dump the evidence)


It is a peculiar problem of the Fodor's "experts" (hah!) that people who have never been to Tuscany in winter opine about it in misleading ways. Ditto the Italian Riviera in August. If you have never been to the coast of Puglia in May, yup -- you would be surprised at how totally DEAD and SHUT UP it is. This person needs accurate info, I think.

jamikins

We were there in late June 2012 and even then found the coast of Puglia fairly empty compared to what we expected! Many restaurants were still closed along the coast - although were starting to open. I would expect May to be quiet there.

We also found that the afternoon closures were longer than in other areas - sometimes running 12 - 4 or later and everything shut up tight! Be sure to take this into account when you are planning your days.

You can see our pics here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/pug_gi...7635047994978/

Have fun!

Kmd01

sssteve - Thanks for the link - some great information for our planning

jamikins - great collection of pics - I am getting excited !!

We generally prefer to travel in shoulder season so pleased to here it will not be too busy but we also don't wan't to be staying in a ghost town...it is great to have feedback and recommendations from people who have been before, thanks!

I wonder what the Aussie visitor numbers are, would be a few I imagine.

kja

I used Lecce as a base and was very pleased with that choice.

And I add my voice to the recommendation to visit Matera while in the area -- it is amazing.

Enjoy!

jagger

Another vote for Lecce as a base. It is a fabulous small city and driving anywhere from there is totally reasonable for day trips. We stayed in Matera for two nights and then drove to Lecce for five more. We wanted a base where we could walk to dinner. We ate late every night and the town was always hopping with activity. I recommend staying in a B&B so the owners can help plan your day trips and recommend restaurants for dinner and lunch.

Kmd01

Lots of votes for Lecce, it really must be a good option.

We had read parking/driving & getting in and out of town can be a bit of an issue if you are doing day trips each day but I guess it all comes down to were you stay, so I have started checking out accommodation people have mentioned.

Would love to hear feedback on Galatina if anyone has visited or stayed there? The driver in our group thinks this looks to be a very central place to stay and easy to get in and out of.

Matera is working its way into the itinerary- we just need to decide where to drop a night or two!!

kja

Jagger wrote: "I recommend staying in a B&B so the owners can help plan your day trips and recommend restaurants for dinner and lunch." While I agree that B&B staff can do that, I must note that, IME, staff at other types of lodging can also do so (and are often happy to help out).

sssteve

Lecce is known as the "city of art", and as the "Florence of the south". It's really a very nice city.

We stayed in a B&B (with its own parking) right in the center called Palazzo Rollo. Here's the URL:

http://www.palazzorollo.it/palazzoro...ex.php/en.html