A week in Puglia with a rental car
 

My husband and I have rented Trulli Stella in the Puglia region for a week in October. We will have a rental car the entire time and are wondering what places we should be sure to see in the area. There is so much beautiful coast that it's hard to know where to start.... :)

The one near celglie messapica? Ostuni is an obvious one...great saturday market, great food etc. Martina franca, locorotondo are "quaint" too. Alberobello if u want a dose of tourist tatt. Lecce is a must, a wonderful place.....regarding coastline.....hmmm. Outside of the main tourist summer season, things can shutdown pretty tight along there. October will be better than nov when i was there last year, but wont be pumping. As a ps - riccardos bar in ostuni is legendary thereabouts for drinks, once again in summer, but will prob have a bit going on.

The caves at Castellana Grotte are pretty cool if you've never been underground in Italy.

Don't be put off by the kitschy souvenir shops outside.
Google for pics.

http://travel.viamichelin.com/web/De...di_Castellana-

We also liked Polignano a Mare, going back early Oct.

We just got back last week...here is our trip report with where we went http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...t-do-italy.cfm

We loved ostuni and lecce the most I think! Enjoy!

There are quite a few Puglia planning threads and trip reports on this forum; you can find these with a search; for example:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ern-puglia.cfm

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-di-senise.cfm

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...18-23-2010.cfm

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ded-please.cfm


http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...n-progress.cfm

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-itinerary.cfm


http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...at-through.cfm

TTT

Wow, escrunchy!!!