Best Towns to Visit in Abruzzo?

Will you have a car?

Check the Official Abruzzo Region Tourism website:
https://abruzzoturismo.it/en/node/160

I will have a car. Also, I had seen that website but wanted other opinions.

It was many year ago, but I really liked Sulmonia.

Sulmona is on my list!

How do you define “best”? Large vs small, mountain vs seaside, what sort of events/museums/food? My best would entirely skip beach towns, while you might despise isolated mountain villages.

Some popular choices are Lanciano and Vasto (Chieti province, near the sea); Guardiagrele, Fara San Martino (Chieti province, mountain villages); Manoppello, Caramanico Terme, Roccacaramanico, Pacentro (Pescara/L’Aquila provices, mountain villages along the Passo San Leonardo pass to Sulmona); Roccacalascio, Capestrano, Santo Stefano di Sessanio (L’Aquila province, dry, rockier mountain villages near Campo Imperatore, a high-alpine plain). And Civitella del Tronto and Loreto Aprutino (Teramo province, spectacular castle and Italy’s narrowest lane / some of Italy’s best wine and olive oil).

The list is pretty endless, but I don’t know what you like, so this is just throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks. My favorite guidebook is Italy:Abruzzo 3rd ed. from the Bradt guidebook series. Getting a bit old but the villages haven’t moved. It has good descriptions of the 4 provinces and their towns.

Don’t know what time of year you plan to visit. I would avoid July and August due to the heat, even in the mountains. All other months are beautiful. So is summer if you can tolerate heat.

Nelly - Thank you for your information - and yes, I should have been more specific on what "best" means for us. We have teens in school so have to go in summer, unfortunately. We will be there in late June and early July. Our priorities are experiencing the culture, markets, history, museums, ancient/interesting towns, etc. We are not looking for a resort experience.

...and forgot to add food!!

If you like/love seafood, try to experience a meal at a Trabocco. Most lie just south of Pescara. You will need reservations and prepare for more food than you can imagine! It’s kind of a one time in Italy experience. We were fortunate to eat at Punta del Isola late in the season. It was a wonderful experience. There are many others to choose from.

As Nelly mentions there are so many interesting towns to see. None will disappoint.

We have visited Sulmona, Civitella del Tronto, Santo Stefano di Sessanio (and environs). We want to return. It's a beautiful and vast region with good hiking/walking opportunities as well as the other things you list as interests.