Puglia holidays in the heel of Italy's boot
Puglia occupies the heel of Italy, a long and largely flat region lying between two seas, with more olive trees than any other part of the country and a coastline running to some 800 kilometres. The hill towns are limewashed white, the churches are extravagantly baroque, and until fairly recently very few British visitors came here at all.
Our Puglia holidays are guided throughout, with flights, hotels, evening meals and entrance fees settled before you leave. Most are based in the trulli country around Fasano and Ostuni, within comfortable reach of Lecce, Bari, Polignano a Mare and Matera.
Frequently Asked Questions About Our Puglia Tours
A fair amount, and much of it on uneven ground. Alberobello, Ostuni, Locorotondo and the Sassi of Matera are all built on slopes with cobbles, steps and narrow lanes, and the coach can only get so close. Guided walking visits generally last an hour or two with pauses. If you have any concerns about your mobility, ask us before booking and we will talk you through the specific itinerary.
That depends on the departure. Puglia is served by Bari and Brindisi, and our tours use scheduled or charter services from a UK airport specified on each tour page; one of our itineraries is currently priced from Manchester, with other departure airports sometimes available. Flights, hold luggage and transfers at the Italian end are included. Ask us and we will confirm what is available for the date you are considering.
Breakfast and evening meals are included on our Puglia holidays, usually at the hotel, and entrance fees for the listed visits are included too. Lunches are generally left free so you can eat where you like on excursion days, though some itineraries include tastings or a lunch with the guide. Each tour page lists exactly what is covered, and drinks are not normally included with meals.
July and August are genuinely hot, often into the mid-thirties, with strong sun and little shade in the white towns. If heat is a concern, late April to mid-June or September and early October suit most people far better: warm days, cooler mornings for the guided walks, and the sea still swimmable in autumn. Coach travel between towns is air-conditioned.
Yes. Alongside our scheduled Open Group departures, we arrange the same itineraries as Private Group holidays for gardening clubs, U3A branches, church groups and groups of friends. You take the whole tour, and there is usually scope to adjust the running order or add a visit that suits your members' particular interest. Tell us your rough numbers and preferred dates and we will put a costing together.
Solo travellers are common on our escorted holidays and the format suits them well: a driver-guide handling the logistics, shared excursions and an evening meal with the rest of the group. Prices are quoted per person sharing a twin or double, so a single supplement applies for sole occupancy. The amount varies by tour and departure, so ask us and we will quote for the date you want.
The trulli towns of the Valle d'Itria
The trullo is a round drystone house with a conical roof, built without mortar from the limestone slabs that litter the fields. Alberobello has around 1,500 of them packed into two districts, and has been on the UNESCO list since 1996. The local story is that they were built dry so a landlord could have them pulled down at short notice and avoid the tax on permanent dwellings, and the guides here still tell it with some relish.
The surrounding Valle d'Itria is the best of it. Locorotondo sits in a tight circle on its hilltop, Martina Franca is all wrought-iron balconies and baroque doorways, and Ostuni, the White City, rises in one bright block above a plain of olive groves. Grottaglie, a little to the north, has made ceramics in the same quarter of narrow workshops for centuries.
Lecce and the baroque of the Salento
Lecce is built from pietra leccese, a honey-coloured limestone soft enough to be carved like wood and hard enough to last. Seventeenth-century masons took full advantage: the facade of Santa Croce carries a riot of beasts, fruit and figures, and Piazza del Duomo is one of the most satisfying enclosed squares in southern Italy. In the middle of town, a Roman amphitheatre sits sunk below the modern pavement in Piazza Sant'Oronzo.
Further down the peninsula, Gallipoli's old town occupies a small island joined to the mainland by a bridge, with a fishing harbour and a working fish market. On the Adriatic side, Polignano a Mare stands on limestone cliffs above a shingle cove, its terraces looking straight down into very clear water.
Matera and the Sassi
Matera is not in Puglia at all. It lies just over the border in Basilicata, an hour or so from the trulli country, and it appears on our itineraries because no visit to this corner of Italy is complete without it.
The Sassi are two districts of houses, churches and stores cut directly into a limestone ravine, occupied more or less continuously for thousands of years. In the 1950s the caves were declared unfit and their families rehoused, and Matera was written about in the Italian press as a national disgrace. The rehabilitation since has been remarkable, and in 2019 the city was a European Capital of Culture. Guided visits usually include a furnished cave dwelling and one of the rock-cut churches with its faded frescoes.
It is a place of steps, ramps and cobbles, and comfortable shoes matter more here than anywhere else on the tour.
Puglia at the table
Southern Italian cooking is at its plainest and best in Puglia. The region presses more olive oil than any other in Italy, and the groves you drive through include trees several centuries old, gnarled into extraordinary shapes. Bread from Altamura has its own protected designation, and burrata, that pouch of mozzarella filled with cream, was invented up the road at Andria.
Other things to look out for:
- Orecchiette, the little ear-shaped pasta, usually with turnip tops and anchovy
- Grilled and raw seafood on the coast, sold within sight of the boats
- Primitivo di Manduria and Negroamaro, both dark, warm reds
- Almond and fig sweets, and taralli by the bagful
Evening meals are included on our Puglia holidays, and some itineraries add tastings and lunches along the way. Details vary by departure, so do check the tour page.
