wj1

Hi everyone. My husband and I plan to take a trip to Puglia and Naples next September and we could use some input at this early stage. Our very rough itinerary looks like this:
Bari (1 night—necessary because we don’t want to rent and drive a rental car when we fly into Bari after a long flight from LAX)
Drive to Lecce (3-4 nights. Use as a base to see Otranto, Gallipoli etc.)
Drive to ??? in Puglia (3 nights. Use as base to visit Alberobello, Ostuni, Martina Franca etc.)
Drive to Matera (2 nights)
Drive to Naples (5 nights)
Does this rough itinerary make sense? Any suggestions for the second base in Puglia?

Finally, does anyone have recommendations for a cooking class(es) in Puglia? We had hoped to take a class with Awaiting Table in Lecce but their schedule is not meshing with ours. If you have any great food experiences to recommend as well, we’d love to hear them. Restaurants will be done later.

Thanks in advance.

raincitygirl

We did a similar trip last October. After Lecce we stayed five nights at Masseria Cervarolo in the Valle d'Itria about 6 kms from Ostuni.

Very well located for all of the places you want to see.

The hotel itself is lovely, clean, picturesque, good food, great swimming pool (wish we had had more time to hang out there) and the owner and his staff are friendly and helpful.

They offered cooking classes while we were there which we did not do but we did the free wine tasting night which was very good. All local wines and a very interesting young sommelier to explain it all.

Another place to add to our list of places we want to return to!
www.masseriacervarolo.it

kja

I didn't make it into Bari, but would have liked to, so you might want to give it a bit more time. Or you could easily take a day trip from Bari to Trani, which I thought absolutely delightful.

For Matera, one day could be enough, but 1.5 or even 2 days might be better, depending on your interests. That might fit with 2 nights, or you might want a 3rd night there. Your call!

I adored Naples and think you'll find more than enough to keep you busy for (at least) 5 nights.

I'll let others suggest your 2nd base in Puglia.

Should be a great trip -- enjoy!

Blueeyedcod

Hand in the rental car before you get to Naples. You won't need it there.

bilboburgler

yltours arranged a bunch of things like this

http://www.yltourpr.com/

Ylenia is a great organiser, knows everyone, very energetic with a small but focused back office, speaks excellent English.

I'd send her an email and then follow it up with a phone call the same day.

bilboburgler

Martina is a good base, but have a look at Masseria type accom in the area. Some lovely places to stay, when you have a few you like flip them back to us for final selection

SofiaRosa

Hi there,
it seems a really good plan for visiting the best of south of italy. I'd recommend you an amazing masseria in valle d'Itria, close to Ostuni (the white city), where you can also learn some of the typical and traditional food preparations of Puglia. Here is the web site of masseria il frantoio.
www.masseriailfrantoio.it
I hop u'll enjoy it as I didd.