40th Birthday Girl's Trip-Puglia Suggestions
 

I'm planning a trip for myself and my five closest girlfriends for my 40th birthday next April. I think I have decided on Puglia. We will fly into Rome (from the US), most likely take a train to Bari, and then plan on renting a car to get around. We will have 9 full days (not counting our days of travel and return travel). I have traveled quite a bit in Italy (Venice, Rome, Florence, Bologna, Parma, Turin, Milan etc.), but never south of Rome. Any solid villa/trulli rental recommendations? Any agriturismo suggestions? Good food, beautiful scenery, exploring towns/walking, and beach if it is warm enough are our interests.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

april is not beach weather.
I'd start by reading the several wonderful Puglia trip reports here.

Lots of people seem to enjoy being based in Lecce.

That's a very long train ride: you could fly in much less time.

Check Alitalia for flights to Brindisi (or othe nearby city). If you get lucky, the flights can be cheaper than the train.

I paid about $45 Brindisi-Rome, about $60 Milan-Brindisi about 4 years ago. Easy car rental from Brindisi airport (I haven't checked Bari but as a larger city, it likely has more flights.)

I'm Canadian, so I check out flights on the Canadian version of the Alitalia website. Then I cross-check prices on the Alitalia Italy website. The price differences are considerable - sometimes in the favour of one, sometimes the other.

Click on my name for a trip report (or two) on Puglia.

Train is interesting but long, I'd fly into Bari or Brindisi

April too cold

Stay in a Masseria (a fortified farm) they normally come with the odd trulli inside the walls, often made into beautiful environments they will have something along the lines of a restaurant or a little old lady who knocks out local dishes to those staying (often included in the price). There are loads of these so you need to google maps to the area and search ofr masseria and look at a bunch of them to get the idea. They also do courses, like food cooking, language, yoga, wine tasting, oil tasting etc etc If you want actual recommendations come back but have a read up first.

You might also like to stay in a Citta, Lecce comes to mind but there are others. You'll find that most towns have modern rubbish buildings around the outside, but in the centre will be a little pearl of an ancient centre.

If you are already fling into Rome on Alitalia the Bari add on is minimal price.