Hello, lovely Fodors travelers! With the help of all your posts and many guidebooks and websites, my sister and I have just about finalized our itinerary for our 23-day late Sept to mid-October 2025 trip to Puglia and Sicily. We are looking for any advice or suggestions you may have. We are energetic, athletic, experienced travelers in our late 60s and early 70s who enjoy being in motion, seeing and eating lots but in authentic, not in touristy destinations, shopping a little, and checking out some museums and major historical sites and churches, while only changing our lodging around every 3 days or so. We try to budget moderately, staying mostly in Airbnb’s, but are very open to splurges if there is a hotel, restaurant, or experience worthy of our $$. In short, I know this itinerary doesn’t leave a lot of time for sitting around and excludes Lecce, Taormino, Etna and Agrigento intentionally because of time constraints. So what do you think? I am particularly wondering if making Martina Franca our base for a few days is a good choice? This is a long itinerary so thanks in advance!

Days 1-2 Arrive Rome and recover

Day 3 Train to Bari and continue on to Polignano a Mare for 3 nights; see Bari and PM and ??

Day 4 Train to Brindisi airport early and rent car; driving day to Martina Franca stopping at ???? along the way.

Day 5-7 Base in MF seeing surrounding towns-which?- and trying to get a bike ride tour of the countryside on one day. Locorotondo and Otranto sound interesting. Unfortunately, Trani looks out of the way.

Day 8-9 Drive to Matera (sassi) seeing surrounding towns -which??- on the way.

Day 10 Driving day to Reggio Calabria, seeing ?? on the way. Turn in car at airport because we don’t want a car in Ortigia and stay overnight.

Day 11 Catch early ferry to Messina and train directly to Siracusa (Ortigia).

Days 12-13 See Siracusa, Ortigia

Day 14 Rent another car in Siracusa early and drive to Piazza Armerina seeing towns on the way-which? Noto sounds touristy; Modica, Ragusa, Caltagirone sound interesting.

Day 15 See Villa Romana early, then spend day driving to Trapani along the sw coast maybe stopping to walk at Riserva Naturale Torre Salsa if time.

Days 16-17 Drive to surrounding towns Marsala, Erice, ??

Day 18 Drive to Palermo airport to turn in car stopping at Castellamare del Golfo and Riserva Naturale Zingaro, and ?? on the way. Is Segesta worth a stop?

Days 19-20 See Palermo and Monreale

Day 21-22 Fly to Rome take a tour we haven’t done

Day 23 Fly home early

Is there a reason you are not renting a car once at Bari? Off season we found good parking at Polignano albeit we were only there for half a day.Off season, I think some of the public car parks are free from memory.

We loved Trani - certainly felt like one of the less touristed towns on the coast/area.

I was very impressed with Martina Franca and loved our day there.

Alberobello would be worth seeing if you can get there early or later in the day though when you are travelling might mean crowds are reduced anyway.It’s got overly touristy sadly, the Main Street, full of gift shops, but probably worth a couple of hours as there are areas which are less touristed and still have the Trulli houses in a more residential setting.

Locorotondo was quite nice though not as attractive IMO as MF.

With a car, the distances aren’t too far - Otranto was just lovely I thought, again it felt less touristy.Never made it to Santa Maria di Leuca.Didn’t find Lecce appealing overall, disappointed in it.

Matera is outstanding! You might wish you’d factored in a night here.

Noto is still worth considering for a short while as yes, it’s restored buildings do look like something out of an amazing film set but they are certainly beautiful.Modica was the least touristy, gritty to some extent but atmospheric.All of these Val di Noto towns are full of tourists of course as is Ortigia but worth seeing.

We ventured to the coast and saw Marzamemi which seemed more frequented by locals and was very charming.

The Roman Mosaics at Piazza Armerina are outstanding.

Sounds a great trip!

You could do most of this by public transport, why are you burdening yourselves with cars?

You’ll see and experience some wonderful things on this journey! I have a few comments, take them as you will! In the meantime,

I think it would be very helpful if you lay your itinerary out by NIGHTS, not days because that provides a much clearer understanding of how much time you will actually have in any particular place. And honestly, I don’t think I do understand it!

First, I don’t understand why are you flying into Rome when that city doesn’t seem to be part of your plan. If you don’t already have your airline tickets, try routing from your “home” airport to Bari (or Brindisi) without specifying which place to stop en route – use the “multi-city” option, and specify Palermo to your home as the return on this “open jaw” routing. If you can put your entire home to Puglia routing on the SAME ticket, it will be up to the airline to move you on if anything goes wrong with the flights. You can have your rest & recover day once you get to Puglia.

How do you have 3 nights in Polignano a Mare if leaving that city for Martina Franca the night after arrival? And how much time do you want in P.aM.?

How much time would you actually have in Matera? It seems just a day or day and a half … but you say you’re only planning to change lodging every 3 nights … I don’t get it!

Two … or is it three? … days in Ortigia is not much, IMO. Perhaps enough for your interests; I can’t say.

I don’t understand days 14 and 15 – the Villa Romana, with its amazing mosaics, is just outside of Piazza Armerina, and I rarely see anyone contemplating a visit to PA for a reason other than to see the Villa Romana del Casale. What am I missing?

I haven’t been to the Val di Noto for many years, but even in 2007, Caltigirone seemed to me rather touristy. Worth seeing, IMO, but touristy. And from what I’ve read, ALL of the towns in the Val di Noto get a fair number of tourists. FWIW, Noto is glorious in the light of the setting sun, so if you can time a visit there accordingly (it’s only about ½ hour from Ortigia), you might find it well worth your time … even if there are a lot of other tourists.

Where do you plan to spend night 14? What about nights 16 and 17?

Segesta is definitely worth a stop IMO. YMMV.

Why return the car to Palermo’s airport rather than to one of the rental car locations in Palermo?

Two nights, or even three, in Palermo is not much.

FWIW, Lecce was my favorite location in Puglia, with Trani as runner up. YMMV.

I can’t imagine going to Sicily and skipping Agrigento, but again, that’s JMO.

Even though I’m confused, I hope my comments provide some value as you plan. Good luck!

tweetjane, if you are regular travellers and have the opportunity to return to Italy another time, I would be inclined to visit Puglia and Sicily on separate trips (or extend your time) in order for it to be more relaxed. But if you are unlikely to return, then go for it. You've made clear decisions about which places interest you the most.

I would be particularly interested to hear how you go with the bike tour.

Thanks so much for your comments and ideas!

Scotlandmac, thanks for the suggestion to rent our car in Bari. We will look into that. And I found your comment about Martina Franca reassuring. Thanks again. Santa Maria di Leuca and Trani may unfortunately will need to wait for another trip as they are away from our main path but thank you for making us aware of these good places. I will look into visiting Alberobello maybe early or later in the day to see the trullis which look wonderful in pics. Locorotondo is on our list. Given your observation that Otranto and other more southerly towns are good and not too distant, I will look into including this area on our day of driving from Brindisi or maybe PM. Will probably do Noto since it is convenient. Thanks for confirming that Villa Romana is great.

Kja, thanks so much for your comments and understand your confusion. It is hard to communicate an itinerary in detail. Sister and I are flying from Denver and Florida separately and meeting up in Rome at totally different times of day. We thought about heading directly to Puglia but both must go through Rome and love trains, so settled on this plan though we know it is not as efficient as flying direct to Bari. Thanks for confirming comments re Noto and Segesta. I would love to spend more time in Ortigia but we are trying for a broad and less deep approach on this trip and who knows, may or may not return. Below are the nights we will spend each place.

Dreamon, I wish we had more time and could visit Puglia and Sicily in separate trips, but since we like moving fast, we thought we’d do a survey and decide if we want to return to some places in the future. We are looking at ebikepuglia.com for their bike tours. Will let you know if these work for us in our trip report.

Rome 1 night

PM 3 nights

Martina Franca 3 nights

Matera 2 nights

Reggio Calabria 1 night

Ortigia (Siracusa) 3 nights

Piazza Armerina 1 night

Trapani 3 nights

Palermo 3 nights

Rome 2 nights

I dont completely understand your day by day plan/overnight bases, but a few inputs based on our 2023 experience. You will need to cut back and prioritise with limited time :

Puglia/Calabria portion
Fly directly into Bari (leave Rome for the end), spend a night there, pickup the car and head onwards
Polignano is nice, Monopoli and the Grotte di Castellana in the proximity and worth including
Martina Franca is a good base to visit Alberobello, Locorotondo, Cisternono, Ostuni. Consider a meal in Ceglie Messapica. Martina Franca is slightly further away than I'd like to explore the far South (the Salento - Lecce, Otranto, Gallipoli etc), anyway you may not have the time fir this
Matera needs at least 3 nights, incl the hike - absolutely fascinating place
We're great fans of the Calabrian (Tyrrhenian) coast, and enjoyed our stays in Tropea and Scilla, potentially en route to Reggio

Sicily portion
We enjoyed all the baroque towns, our favourite was Ragusa (Ibla) where we also spent a few nights
Trapani was our base for the West coast, Erice (half day) is very close by, the salt pans, Marsala (the winery tour needs pre booking if that's why you're going), Mazara are further away
The Zingaro is fascinating (we spent a night in Scopello) but takes several hours, and difficult to fit in

Enjoy your trip.

Some remaks:

Once at FCO, it's easier to reach Bari by plane (4 departures daily).
There are direct flights from many European airports to Bari and back from CTA or PMO. So, you must not necessarily fly via FCO.

Trani can easily be visited by train, either from Bari (30 min journey) of from Rome (change at Barletta).

Lecce is a very interesting archeological and baroque city. The visit of Lecce can be combined with that of Otranto and Gallipoli.

Matera can easily be visited in a day trip from Bari, either by train or by car. The visit of the caves doesn't take more tan half a day (with a good guide), that of the museum (Carlo Levi section!) takes about 1-2 hrs. If you proceed from Matera to Reggio along the Ionion coast (the alternative would be the motorway A47/A45 via San Licandro), the visit of the Parco Archeologico dell`Area Urbana di Metaponto and of the National Archeological Museum of Sibertide would be welcome brakes of the long journey. The archeological museum of Reggio is more interesting, however.

Noto, Modica, Ragusa are all nice baroque cities. They will cerainly not be touristy in early October. Once at Noto, don't forget to visit the Villa Romana del Tellaro.

Once at Piazza Armeina, don't forget to visit the Archeological zone of Morganitina and the museum of Aidone.

Between Piazza Armerina and Trapani, you will pass through he gems of Agrigento, Cala dei Turchi as well as the archeological sites of Eraclea Minoa and Selinunte. The road (SS115) doesn't go along he coast, but remains in the hinterland.

Segesta is well worth a visit, Scopello a bit less.

Just a point about having a car - we never found it a burden at all albeit we, also, visited Puglia in early Spring, closer to off-season and did a lot of driving around.Parking was fine and roads were good too (certainly in better condition than here in the UK!)

Thank you, thank you, all! Your suggestions are just what I was hoping for.

Kja and Anuj, I understand your confusion re my itinerary. Here it is by nights to help.Rome 1 night

PM 3 nights

Martina Franca 3 nights

Matera 2 nights

Reggio Calabria 1 night

Ortigia (Siracusa) 3 nights

Piazza Armerina 1 night

Trapani 3 nights

Palermo 3 nights

Rome 2 nights

Scotland Mac, will look into renting car in Bari and parking in PM. Will definitely do Noto, maybe from Ortigia. And thanks for confirming that MF is a good base.
Kja and Neckervd, we looked into flying to Bari but my sister and I are flying from Denver and Florida separately and meeting in Rome at totally different times of day. So we decided to spend a night and then go on the high speed train instead. I know its less efficient but we are staying at a hotel close to central station in Rome, so I think we will enjoy the ride and maybe even some scenery. In Palermo, I would like to return our car in town but was wary of driving there. We typically avoid driving in the center of Italian cities. Is there a lot of crazy traffic? Do you recommend we try this one?

Dreamon and ANUJ, I wish we had more time and could visit Puglia and Sicily in separate trips, but we thought we’d do a survey trip and decide if we want to return to some places in the future. We are looking at ebikepuglia.com for their bike tours. Will let you know if these work for us in our trip report.

Bilboburgler, we prefer public xport but couldn’t find a good way to get between Puglia and Sicily. Further, posters on this site recommended a car for western Sicily which looked prudent in our research to see the countryside.

ANUJ and Neckervd, loved your suggestions. I am thinking we may drive to Ragusa (Ibla) from Ortigia, spend a few hours, then drive on to Piazza Armerina all in the same day. Do you think this is a good plan? It looks like about a 1.5 hr trip for each leg. Are the roads okay on this route?

Neckervd, will check out Alberobello, Locorotondo, Cisternono, Ostuni, and look into a meal in Ceglie Messapica. Also, the Villa Romana del Tellaro and Archeological zone of Morganitina and the museum of Aidone. Is the southern road to Trapani (SS115) in good condition?

Again, I really appreciate all your help!

Gosh, sorry for the duplicate info. I am inexperienced with this app.

TJ, just my two cents worth.
Trani is worth some time. And if you can arrange it, the abandoned village Pentedatillo is a best-kept secret. Think of it as a sort of Calabrian Matera, still not heavily re-developed and set within the wild park environs. Def a change from the regular sights.
Btw, the famed rockstar Alex Lifeson (guitarist with Rush) is right now in Ostuni.
I am done. the end

NO worries!

Absolutely the Puglia to Sicily bit would be tougher.

The train from Rome to Naples to Puglia is pretty good, it goes through the mountains with some interesting sudden vistas and of course you go around the volcano. I've not done the train ride that is possible to the north so cannot advise but the southern one is great and passes close to Matera (just not Matera station) which is just over a too steep hill for the train to access easily.

We just returned this week from Sicily. Flew into Catania and spent 5 nights on Ortigia. Spent one day exploring Siracusa and Ortigia. One day for Mt Etna and a winery. One day for Taormina. Rented a car and drove south to explore the southeastern countryside following directions from some friends who live just south of Ortigia (who unfortunately were in California) and visited Noto and Ragusa and returned back to Ortigia. The next stage of our journey had us drive to Agrigento for one night to explore the valley of the Temples. The following day we drove to Palermo via Castellammare del Golfo and dropped the car off at the Palermo airport. Four nights in Palermo with one night for a day trip to Cefalu. Loved Ortigia.

I always look for rental car locations on the outskirts of a city. The airport would be fine, but it's some distance from Palermo. Depending on which car rental company you choose, you should be able to find something MUCH closer. Your trip, your call.

Direct trains between Rome and Apulia (4 hrs up to Bari):
Roma T dp 8.05, 10.00, 13.05, 15.05, 16.05, 18.05 to Caserta, Benevento, Foggia, Barletrta, Bari, Brindisi, Lecce

Direct trains between Naples and Apulia (4 hrs up to Bari):
Naples C dp 18.55 to Aversa, Caserta, Benevento, Foggia, Barletrta, Bari

Direct buses between Naples and Apulia (3 1/2 to 4 1/2 hrs up to Bari):
Naples C bus terminal dp 9.15, 14.00, 16.10, 16.50, 19.00

Direct buses between Apulia and Sicily:
Bari dp 9.25 - Taranto - Sibari - Cosenza - Lamezia - Messina ar 17.55 - Catania ar 19.20 - Siracusa arr 20.40

Your trip sounds wonderful! Have not gotten to Puglia and look forward to it.
We did just spend a week in Sicily; itinerary was limited by DH's current mobility issues, but we had 3 nights in Palermo, 1 in Piazza Armerina, 3 in Ortigia, which we loved! We want to go back to Sicily!

I'm a mosaicist so highlights were Monreale and Casa Romana.
We went by air from Naples to Palermo, had a driver for Palermo to PA, then another driver to Ortigia, then flew back to mainland/Florence from Catania. We are usually big train buffs but the short flights and car/driver worked well for us this time. I wish we had spent more time there and gone to Noto at least. Buon viaggio!

Sorry, can't edit -- Villa Romana de Casale.