In my long running bid to buy a holiday home in Italy, I'm visiting parts of the country I haven't been to before. I've grabbed a cheap flight to Bari (99p return, I kid you not), and am hiring a car to do a quick explore of Puglia. I'm only there for a couple of nights, so I'm looking for a good base town - a hotel in town, and plenty of bars/restaurants to go to in the evening.

So suggestions please for
1. A base town, and hotel suggestions (up to 150 euro per night)
2. Any other towns/villages to take a peak at.

Someone suggested Lecce as a base town - any thoughts?

I'm looking to buy a property with family, and we're all very open minded at the moment as to what sort of place this should be. But I won't be putting in any offers just yet - I just want to get a feel for the area.

I don't know this area at all, so any help is greatly appreciated.

If you go to Slowtrav forum, there's someone there who posts under the ID ItalianConnection whose sister lives in Italy has given tours in Puglia. She may have been there, too, or if not, she probably has easy access to her sister's thorough information.

I've never been there, but would love to go.

Stay in the wonderful and charming town (my favorite in Southern Italy) of Polingano di Mare. It's about 35 miles south of Bari on the coast, just off the main road to Brindisi. I'm not sure if you can get a room at the wonderful GrottaPalazzese. Lecce is nice and more of a real city, but I'd suspect you might want to be further north near the wonderful Adriatic areas and the Aerobello and Trulli areas.

http://www.grottapalazzese.it/intro.html

Kate - You might want to have a look at the Gargano area - perhaps the most scenic part of the Adriatic coast.

Vieste and Peschici are both attractive coastal towns worth checking out.

Steve

Thanks for your suggestions. Judging by the lack of posts on this forum, Puglia still seems rather untouched by British and Americans, although I'm seeing an increasing amount of press articles about it. I'm off in a couple of weeks and will report back.

BTW have any of you been to or stayed in Ostuni?

We didn't make it to Ostuni. Next time, perhaps ...

Puglia's a popular tourist area with Italians and Germans, but I think Brits are becoming more numerous now with the new RyanAir flights. We didn't meet many Americans ...

This link has some nice views of the scenic Gargano coast near Vieste if you're interested:

http://www.pugnochiuso.com/album/index.htm

Steve

We have friends who have property in Puglia (near Fasano) and have visited Ostuni, the White City, often with them. It is beautiul and of great historic interest, with several excellent restaurants.

My trip report from spring 2000 on slowtrav.com may be a help. We spent a week in Puglia and loved it.

Thank you everyone. After planning on keeping this as a budget trip, I've now gone mad and booked an amazing looking new hotel in Ostuni - expensive, but not a patch on what it costs in high season.
www.lasommita.relaisculti.com

I've also lined up some property viewings - from modern villas to old Trullis, so I'll post back if anyone's interested?

Kate,

I am very interested. Please do post back as I don't know much about Puglia, but it sounds like an interesting area to consider.

Thanks,
Sally

Kate,

That hotel looks amazing. I don't see the link for prices. If you don't mind sharing - can you share the approximate cost per night?

Thanks,
Sally

Kate,

Please post back when you return. I am planning a trip to Puglia in 2006 and there is not a lot of information out there. Any info you could provide on anything would be very appreciated.

Kate, no specific tips, but, when you go, you MUST try orecchiette con rabe. It's an Apulian dish, and it is DIVINE. The rabe may be an acquired taste, but oh once you acquire it...

An old boyfriend of mine was half Italian, his father was born near Bari - they made this for me when I visited them in Germany (his mother is German which is where they settled).

An Apulian grape varietal is Negroamaro, which is quite good. They sent me home with a few bottles from his old village.

And let me know how the vacation buying goes! Good on you! I'm planning on buying a vacation place as well - but this time around it will have to be in the US - much easier to get to!

Thanks for the tips flygirl, particularly the wine!

Luckily, with ryanair giving me flights for 99p return, suddenly a second home in a foreign clime seems very tempting...

SRS - the hotel is so new I don't think they've worked out they're prices yet. We've got a duble room with breakfast for 220 euro a night - which given how chi-chi the place looks and the fact that every room is a suite, I thought was pretty good. Of course, it's in the dead season - we'll probably be the only people there! Dread to think what it would cost in August...

Kate,
I just saw mention of La Sommita in the January issue of Gourmet.

Puglia is listed in the "Good Living" section, under "Where to go in Europe Before Everyone Else Gets There."

We'd all better hurry!

Byrd

Thanks Byrd, maybe I'll make that impulse purchase after all! Then when hotel prices rocket, you can all stay at my place on a special Fodor's rate.

(look at me - breaking the rules on avertising on Fodor's before I've even got there! Mea culpa)