Puglia itinerary - need help!

Old Jan 30th, 2014, 10:00 PM
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Puglia itinerary - need help!

In early September we will be spending 2 1/2 weeks in Southern Italy. We will train to Naples from Rome then pick up a rental car, spend a night in Sorrento then 3 nights in Positano/Ravello then here is where I am stuck. We have 9 more nights before we fly from Bari back to Rome. My thought was to spend 3 nights in Maratea, 3 nights in Alberobello (using that as a base to see Ostuni, a few grottos, etc. then head to Monopoli and stay 3 nights and use that as a base to tour some of the coastal villages like Polingnano. We don't want an aggressive trip where we are driving every day. We would like some time to just walk villages and hang out a pool or the beach. Any suggestions?
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Old Jan 30th, 2014, 10:18 PM
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I'm not sure I understand your plan and think it would be helpful if you clarify a bit so we can better respond to your needs and interests. What is the reason for spending a night in Sorrento before moving on to Positano/Ravello? Why are you picking up a rental car in Sorrento rather than after your time on the Amalfi Coast? Have you a specific interest in Maratea? Are you committed to skipping Naples, Capri, Salerno, Matera, Trani, and Lecce? Are you committed to flying into and out of Rome? Again, I ask just so we can respond in a way that acknowledges your interests.
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Old Jan 31st, 2014, 12:04 AM
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I'd try and stay in a Masseria for the pool days, these places are old fortified farms and tend to have restaurants on site, a pool, bikes and land to walk in.

Just pull up google maps and put Masseria in the search and all these blue dots pop up
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Old Jan 31st, 2014, 05:36 AM
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At first glance, apart from the logistics of the rental car (maybe pick up in Salerno at the end of AC stay, and skip Sorrento as mentioned by Kja, above, the plan looks good.

I would swap Alberobello for another town, I think, but even if you stay there, you can get away from the bus tourists by basing outside the main trulli zone and closer to the town center.

Where are you thinking of staying in Maratea?

The drive from Maratea to Alberobello takes just over three hours. If you are interested in food, I would include two stops en route. One for lunch in Bernalda, and one near Senise at an agriturismo that grows the famous Senise peppers, impossible to find in the US and easy to bring home. If you are a cook, you will want to do this.

You could also detour through the Albanian villages in the mountains not far from Senise, if you take a whole day to make the transfer from Maratea to Puglia.

If you want details on any of this, let me know--I was in Maratea a couple of years ago, in September, and I am sending my sister and her husband there this spring as part of a month-long southern Italian sojourn.

We visited Bernalda and Senise as part of a Puglia trip in 2012. LOVED that area of Basilicata and dream of a return!
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Old Jan 31st, 2014, 05:45 AM
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I am in the process of planning a trip to Puglia and your itinerary looks strange to me unless you have specific reasons for doing certain things. Your are "cavergirl" and yet have not included one of the highlights of the area Matera?? Staying 3 nights in Alberobello which by all accounts in a very tourist mecca and maybe worthy of one night for the experience...not seeing Lecce and then Monopoli rather than the more picturesque Polignano?? I would do more reading. Again I have not been there so feel free to discount my comments but it really misses the high points that I am looking for.
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Old Jan 31st, 2014, 06:00 AM
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Old Jan 31st, 2014, 06:50 AM
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I can understand some of your questions. We have been to Capri before so no need to include that and we saw Sorrento before but only for a few hours so thought it would be worthy of one night just to walk around the village. I like the idea of picking up the rental car in Salerno on the way out of Amalfi so as not to have to mess with a car while we are there. I read that Matera is worthy of 3 nights because it is an area that is often skipped. Perhaps I am wrong. I worried about staying in Alberobello for 3 nights which is why I posted this message. I knew it was a touristy town but thought it would be a good hub. Perhaps it would be better to drive to Maratea, then Matera and see Alberobello from Polignano or Monopoli. The reason I chose Monopoli versus Polingnano was simply because I read about an amazing property to stay in Monopoli. I did not include Lecce only because I didn't want to add another 3 hour drive but maybe there is a way to do rejigger this. We could certainly fly back to Rome via Brindisi. Just throwing options out. What do you all suggest?
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Old Jan 31st, 2014, 07:12 AM
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I admit that I totally forgot about spectacular Matera...certainly include minimum one night, preferably two.

I have made three trips to Puglia in recent years and wrote reports here about two of these, one of which included Matera.

Not all of Alberbello is touristy, as I indicated in my first post.

Why not list your preferred hotels so those of us who know the area can comment.

Is food a big interest of yours?
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Old Jan 31st, 2014, 07:13 AM
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That information helps, but I'm still confused: Are you planning to visit Matera or Maratea or both? I found Matera fascinating. Two nights there -- so 1.5 days -- worked for me. I haven't been to Maratea.

Personally, I thought Alberobello worth a few hours. I was glad I didn't stay there, but since I didn't stay, maybe I was wrong. All depends on what you want to see and experience!

Lecce is a gem.
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Old Jan 31st, 2014, 08:08 AM
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I agree with the above!

Our trip report and pics are here from our 7 day trip in 2012

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...t-do-italy.cfm

We used our masseria as a base and visited all the highlights we wanted to see.
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Old Jan 31st, 2014, 08:44 AM
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I am thinking of staying at Locanda delle Donna Monache in Maratea. Maybe I will change that to 2 nights. Was looking at Don Ferrante in Monopoli. I like San Tomasso in Polignano but the reviews indicate there is a wedding every day/night so not very quiet and peaceful. When you say Lecce is a gem, is that the town of Lecce or the province? I was thinking we would have to go down to Galipolli or Oranto. Like I said, I don't want to just spend all the time driving from place to place. My husband hates that. I don't know enough about Lecce to add it to the itinerary. If it is really great, I could skip Sorrento and only one night in Maratea and maybe could add it in. We travel fairly high end re hotels. The big splurge will be in Ravello/Positano. Am seriously considering Hotel Caruso. I haven't looked into getting there with no car or getting from village to village yet but like the idea of not having to pay to park the car overnight. And in answer to ekscrunchy, we are definitely into food.
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Old Jan 31st, 2014, 08:52 AM
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IMO, the CITY of Lecce is a gem.

It sounds like you might benefit from a good guide book or two. That will help you identify your transportation options, etc.
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Old Jan 31st, 2014, 09:33 AM
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We stayed just outside of mesagne ( rhymes with lasagne) and visited Lecce, Otranto, Ostuni, polignano, Martina Franca, locorotondo, alberobello and matera from our one location. The roads are very good and it was easy to do day trips.
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Old Jan 31st, 2014, 10:32 AM
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jamikins - good to know you were able to do all that from Mesagne. I found that it was only a little over an hour from Monopoli to Lecce so think we could do a long day trip to the Lecce province.
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Old Jan 31st, 2014, 02:51 PM
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Hello..I too was looking at Don Ferrante and thought it looked so fantastic. I asked the woman at our B and B in Lecce about her opinion between the towns...Monopoli and Polignano and she was totally in favor of Polignano...since then my research indicates the same...in carefully looking at the views from the hotel Don it is just sea whereas the views from places in Polignano are more dramatic with the city visible from such hotels as Covo dei Saraceni. I like nice boutique hotels too but Polignano looks to have a bit more unique vistas...that is why we decided to stay there and can easily visit Monopoli by rail or car.
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Old Jan 31st, 2014, 07:15 PM
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I stayed at that hotel in Maratea for three nights on the trip I took a few years ago....driving more or less north from Amantea in Calabria to the AC. The hotel is lovely. I would stay three nights if you plan to spend one day at the beach. The hotel will give you passes to a glorious beach just to the south.
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Old Jan 31st, 2014, 09:28 PM
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Cavergirl:

We spent 10 days in Puglia in 2009. It's a special place and we enjoyed it very much. Check out my web page about this trip:

http://www.travel.stv77.com/puglia/puglia.htm
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Old Jan 31st, 2014, 10:19 PM
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After considering all the points in the discussion, I have the following suggestions.
You don't have a lot of time in total to visit Puglia. I suggest you skip Maratea, and drive directly from the Amalfi area to Matera. Spend a night there. It's an amazing place.

From Matera drive into Puglia. Decide on 2 bases, one between Ostuni and Trani, and the other near or in Lecce. Lecce is called the "Florence of the south", and is a great town. You do not want to stay in Alberobello. It's enough to visit for a couple of hours or a half a day at most. It's flooded with tourists.
While staying in Lecce, you can take the drive around the Salento peninsula (the tip of the boot heel of Italy), which is a very scenic drive and has several very relaxing beach spots to stop and spend some leisure time.
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Old Jan 31st, 2014, 10:45 PM
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sssteve - You are adding to the great advice already made available here. If cavergirl would only pay attention to ideas that aren't fully consistent with her original plan! Unfortunately, I think she's already made up her mind....
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Old Feb 1st, 2014, 02:12 AM
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