Beach Towns Puglia - Walkable, charming, relaxing?

Do you plan to rent a car for the duration?

One thing about the Gargano is that the interior is green. That would offer a place to escape what is likely to be rather extreme heat on the beaches.

Good question! Yes, we'll have a car for the entire duration of the trip.

Downside of Gargano is that it is quite far from anything else if you want to do day trips/exploring.
While the beach immediately accessible from Gallipoli old town may not be ideal, the town is close to many really exceptional sandy beaches. I especially enjoyed the park north of Gallipoli (Porto Selvaggio).
I think a lot of the beaches near Otranto are more rocky, but it somewhat alternates up and down the coast--sand-rock-sand-rock. There is a beach at Otranto as well, I just don't think it is as appealing as those I saw near Gallipoli. I did not make it quite to Leuca, but the beaches down at the tip are some of the best.
The perfect combo would really be half a month in Otranto or Leuca and half a month in Gallipoli or Leuca! If you prefer the entire month in one place, be sure to do some image searches. There are many websites devoted to the beaches of the region that can give you a better sense.

You seem to be concentrating on the Salento, but to confuse you further, you might take a look at Monopoli and Polignano (better beach), as they are quite close to many attractions.

Thank you for the help!

I'd been looking at Monopoli and Polignano but for some reason had abandoned them — unsure why. Might make sense as we might spend a bit of time in Ostuni, etc and could make the drives between stays shorter.

Either way will be lovely, you just might want less driving for day trips (and could even occasionally use public transport to avoid the parking issue). I think kids would like the trulli, and there is some kind of animal park in the vicinity, plus some caves. I did neither of those latter two, but nice to have options. Such a wonderful area.

Everyone gets a kick out of the trulli. How could you not?

Trulli is on the list for certain. Perhaps a day trip up from Ostuni?

Yes, the Itria valley can be visited from Ostuni, but I thought you were looking for somewhere within walking distance of a beach? Very fine beaches just north of Ostuni (look at google maps to find the park there--big dunes, nice natural beach).

Here are some random thoughts based on our month along the Adriatic coast a few years ago.

For the very best child-friendly beach, start in Le Marche (just north of Puglia). We stayed in Senigallia and absolutely loved it. Miles of sandy beach. Charming little historic center. Amazing restaurants. A castle/fort, and daily markets. Nearby are Caverns of Frasassi which the kids might enjoy.

Then we traveled south to Trani, in Puglia. Trani is an appealing port city. But with kids you might prefer staying in a little town just north of Trani called Margherita di Savoia. It has a huge salt plain which produces more than 5 million tons of salt per year. Kids might enjoy the sight of that. It also has a gorgeous huge sandy beach (much like the beach in Senigallia).

From there we went to Matera. No beaches here but prehistoric cave dwellings. Would be a good place to spend a night or two.

Then we went to a Masseria in the Val d'Itria. A masseria is the Puglian version of an agriturismo. Ours had animals and fruit trees, a swimming pool, and was about a 5 minute drive from the beach at Torre Canne. We stayed at Masseria Montenapoleone, but there are lots of them to choose from. We used this as a base to see the trulli villages (the kids really should see those). No walking to restaurants from a masseria, but ours had a guest kitchen, stocked with olive oil and other basics, plus food harvested on the masseria. It was a nice change of pace. EDIT: I just noticed your interest in Ostuni. There are lots of masserias around Ostuni too ... would be easy to reach the trulli villages, Polignano, etc. from there.

We ended up in Lecce, which I would not recommend with kids. You'd do much better in Gallipoli, which was one of our favorite day trips. Very picturesque fishing village.

Thanks Valadelphia and Charlene!

I'll look at Senigallia as well as Margherita di Savoia.

We're looking to spend most of the trip taking in the coast, but know we'll need to break it up - for transit and for variety - with some other sights, hence thinking of stopping in Ostuni on the drive down, and a route up through Matera on the drive back up.

Cities are a little hard with kids, only because theres only so many old castles or museums they enjoy, and there a limit to how many gelatos one can eat in a day. For example last year Florence and Sienna had its limits to my son's patience after a day or so, but he'd happily still be on the beach in Levanto if we'd left him!

Walking to everything isn't necessarily a must, but living and eating like a local, practicing our Italian, etc is better that way. Driving back in forth between sights and the hotels can leave us feeling disconnected.

Anyway thanks again!