Our Travel Guide Puglia is designed to help you get the most out of your trip to this enchanting region.
Puglia’s geography is fairly simple. The northern end is bordered in the east by the Gargano promontory and in the west by the Alta Murgia national park, a high limestone plateau where in one cave thousands of dinosaur footprints have been found. So excellently preserved that on some the folds of the animals’ skin are still visible.
The rest of the region is flatter, and this is where you will find those typical small hills topped with white-washed little towns and villages. There are several hundred miles of Adriatic coastline to the east, a piece of Ionian Sea to the south and south east (see here for our personal favorite beaches), as well as a couple of wildlife-rich lakes in the north (Varano and Lesina), which are separated from the sea by low hills and sand dunes.
Due to its long and narrow shape, Puglia can actually be visited entirely within a week or so. We would, however, advise to split this into at least two separate trips to really enjoy everything there is to see, experience, and mostly, taste the region’s fantastic food.
There can be no travel guide on Puglia without talking about Trulli, those funny little cone-shaped stone houses. You will find them scattered here and there throughout the region, but they are most abundant in the Valle d’Itria, an area just north-west of Salento. While Trulli are usually located in the countryside, there is actually one Città dei Trulli, a little town consisting entirely of Trulli: Alberobello. It boasts 1,400 trulli in a maze of narrow streets and they are so well preserved that the town has received Unesco World Heritage status. A bit touristy, but well worth a visit. Just don’t tell them that Trulli remind you of Smurf-houses – they’ve heard it before.
Travel Guide Puglia on the città bianche:
Alberobello is just one of those characteristic white towns, each on their own little hilltop rising up from the plain. The historic town centers of Cisternino, Martina Franca, Ceglie Messapica, Ostuni and Locorotondo are all worth a gander and are within easy reach of one another. While it is actually doable to do them all in one day, it would be a pity to speed through them as they are perfect for taking in that typically laid-back southern Italian lifestyle.
Another place not to be missed in the area is Castellana Grotte, a two-mile-long labyrinth of passages and caverns – making a particularly welcome diversion on a hot summer day.
Travel guide Puglia on Basso Salento,
also known as “the heel of Italy’s boot.“ This part of Puglia has been a favorite for tourists across Italy for decades for its amazing coastline, and it is now becoming more and more popular with international visitors as well. It has, nevertheless, managed to preserve its rustic charm. Even though you have to travel to the farthest eastern corner of Italy to get there, you won’t regret making the journey. Keep at least two days for this area. Don’t miss: Otranto, Santa Maria di Leuca, Gallipoli and, of course, Lecce, provincial capital and home to barocco leccese, a particularly ornated style of architecture.
Travel guide Puglia on food:
Just a few words on food, the region’s star attraction, which the locals do take very seriously indeed. A very frequent small-talk-
question is “cosa is mangia oggi?” („what are you having for lunch/dinner today“?). There is a great variety of ingredients and specialities, which is the result of the many different landscapes and microclimates.
As might be expected, seafood dishes predominate near the coast, with squid and octopus as favorite ingredients. The inland town of Altamura produces bread prized all over Italy. It’s baked in wooden ovens to a recipe unchanged since the Middle Ages. Gioia del Colle is the place to go for mozzarella and burrata cheese. Martina Franca is the home to the famous capocollo, made of cured meat. And wherever you are, you can order fave e cicoria, a traditional peasant dish consisting of a warm broad-bean pâté mixed with the local olive oil and served with bitter chicory. Just to name a few of the local delicacies. Washed down with the excellent local wines, such as primitivo, negroamaro, salice salentino to name just a few.