MyriamC

It's a great blog with lovely photos. Thanks for referring me to it because it gave me a really good idea of what the area is like. And, I have to say it does look intriguing for a cycling trip.

I have to say, in our road trip through Puglia, while we enjoyed many of the small towns we visited, I found the landscape very dull and at times quite unattractive.

Rainycity!

I think the is Santa Maria al Bagno, which I've mentioned recently on this forum......if I could have found a hotel near that beach I would have planned to stay there!!!! Perfect, although we were not there in high summer.l

Which parts of Puglia did you visit? Was it this way throughout Puglia, or were certain parts more boring than others?

I am wondering if cycling in more coastal areas would be better scenery.

I think you are right ekscrunchy, we also went to Santa Katerina, both of which were short drives from Nardo'. I didn't see any hotels at either beach.

I've cycled from Gravina to Manduria. I found the coast dull with odd little ruins of towns and the odd maginificant citta. Bari being the most obvious. I found the interesting area was on the Murge which is a plateau some 300m above the coast and was where the inhabitants fled when the pirates and muslims came to seize slaves. They also built masserie (fortified farms) for the same reason. Keeping to the back roads and avoiding the down hill thrills is a great trip. Most inland towns are on the tops of hills (see above) and are normally ringed by 60s blocks of flats, but the very centres are little pearls. Taranto was founded by Sparta and the little island that you will find blocking the little sea (piccolo mare) is certainly interesting but certainly in my life time was a thieves kitchen. Taranto is the most polluted site in Europe outside of Ukraine and I would not eat the fish from here.

The is also an Eurovelo route and some other routes which goes along the coast.. This might help https://en.eurovelo.com/ev5

I was married in Lecce (down on the coastal plain) whose old town is a marvel and is worth at least two nights. The train system is pretty good if your legs give out and the local long distance buses are also of interest.

One of the important culture features of Puglia (as well as the Normans, the Saracens, the Greeks, the poverty, the church and the mafia are the people. Failing to do something with these warm hearted folk is missing out on a major feature.

I agree and I'm happy we included the Gargano and Matera (in Basilicata) for a change of scenery.

Thank you. Glad I could be of help.

Bilbo--

I know you have cycled all over Europe. Would you place Puglia pretty far down the list for a desirable cycling area (thinking about nice scenery, interesting places to stop etc.)?

Not at all. It is warm. The towns are fascinating. The food special. Italian drivers are good and cycle aware. The view from the Murge looking down is great. There is a bit of history in every few km of Puglia.

Certainly nicer than Romania, Syria and some parts of Eastern Germany. Nicer than Poland and the Atlantic coast of France. Less pretty than Alsace or the Mosel but those two are very hard to beat.

Chiefs by ten due mostly to their offensive line and Mahomes. Oh wait. Wrong thread!
Kidding.
'I considered Calabria, but it looks like getting around on those roads could be slow going.'
Seamet, we were there a year ago and had some concerns about the roads. But those proved to be unfounded. We never once encountered any poor roads.
Lots of great advice above. Hope it works out, wherever.
I am done. the end

We travelled east to Trani from Naples (Trani was a delight), visited Castel del Monte (beautiful) and I thought the countryside here was attractive.
From that moment on, it went downhill for us - mostly flat, well populated but somehow with quite untidy smallholdings.We visited Polignano a Mare (tiny beach, must get rammed in summer), Alberobello (mostly disappointing, stunning buildings but many ruined by being turned into shops selling all sorts of tat ,loud music playing. We stayed in a quieter part which was more attractive.)Explored Locorotondo and a favourite, Martina Franca which was a wee stunner.Down to Lecce and another favourite, Otranto.
Back up to Matera where countryside became a bit more attractive (absolutely stunning town.)

We loved our time in Puglia. I can speak to the cycling for Julie (see below) and I think I can address some toddler issues too, seamet.

Toddler first:
Puglia is full of little towns with great stroller-friendly passeggiatas, which we know from experience with our grandson, is like toddler Disney World and parental heaven. Restaurants are very kid-oriented, and we often laughed that the guys were the ones, not the moms, leaving the dinner table with a rambunctious child so that you'd see groups of dads just outside restaurants rocking, tickling, and chatting with their bros.
Since beaches are not my thing, your research will point out those. But since you are going on shoulder season, I think you'll be fine. Gelaterias abound, and Lecce in particular is toddler "not-good-for-you-but-we-are-on-vacation" pastry heaven.

Julie--One of the very BEST routed trips we ever took was in Puglia with Backroads because of the variety. As you know from my former posts, I'm not a fan of flat cycling even though I'm hardly an athlete. In fact, I think flat cycling disserves the muscles. But the trip we took offered a flat-ish coast-to-coast ride where one dipped one's toes in Ionian Sea at the beginning to the day and then cycled to the Adriatic by the end of the day. I loved it. We also cycled from our agriturismo south to the tip of Italy. Fun.
Backroads changed that trip's routing within two years, darn it. I think the cycling companies all then started to feel as though they had to include Matera and it upset the apple cart. Matera was interesting--we went on our own--but what the heck...

I wrote a trip report here ages ago that is unfortunately written with a lot of HTML stuff to make it read well. When Fodors finally added HTML mark-ups to their post, my old posts look awful. Still, read through that stuff, see what routing you like, and do a deep search for some similar routing with all the companies. Again, I was in biking decline, and I still LOVED it.

Good luck to both of you,
AZ

I appreciate the feedback from all of you in terms of cycling trips and the appeal or lack thereof of Puglia's scenery. I will have to do some in-depth digging now.

And, bilboburgler , I think I will take a look at cycling trips in Alsace where I have never been and the Moselle where we did a driving trip decades ago, but it's a locale where I have never cycled.