Campania or Puglia Regions

We really enjoyed Puglia and its coastline. Lecce and Bari are its more urban spaces. We stayed in Polignano a Mare with a sea view room. It is the perfect place to stay! Great dining, beautiful views, shopping too.

I spent about three and a half weeks in November of 2024 in Puglia. Stayed in Matera, stayed in Lecce, and Polignano al Mare. No car, public transpo only and if it can be done in November it can be done in June if you need to. Visited towns all out from Lecce and PAM.

The most beautiful places to visit in Southern Italy.
A holiday in Southern Italy will lead you to discover seaside destinations of great beauty. The sea of ​​Puglia has, in recent years, been particularly appreciated; but Calabria is also returning to the crest of the wave, thanks to its clean waters and wild coasts

There have been quite a few Puglia posts on the forum lately. Do a search and particularly look for posts by Jean from Idaho. She is about to take her second trip to Puglia.

Servizionline75 looks like advertising spam to me.

Car or no car?
The most popular Campania itinerary (Naples+Amalfi coast) is best without car, and if going this June accommodations need sorting asap.
Puglia can be done without a car, but is far easier with one, particularly for small towns.

The first part of my trip report last May covers several towns in the Puglia region. With your short time, I would skip Bari. I loved it and am heading back there soon - packing today! Caserta is also worth it! I am staying there overnight again.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/my-1-month-independent-trip-to-southern-italy-tribute-to-my-husband

We absolutely loved our stay in Lecce. It's certainly possible to use trains to get further south and west from Lecce, but the trains are painfully slow. A car would've been very helpful.

WS - You make no mention of Naples or Pompeii, so it seems you are looking at the more rural side of Campania. To me, that suggests the Cilento region both along the coast and inland into hills and mountains. Someone else mentioned Palinuro; we stayed just a few minutes up the coast - and up the hillside - from there at Hotel Marulivo in Pisciotta. Very nice. Perhaps the Impressive Greek and Roman temples and the museum at Paestum an hour north of there and an hour south of Salerno might interest you.

Between Campania and Puglia, you cross the mountainous region of Basilicata and the unique, ancient and medieval city of Matera. Probably worth more than the few hours we gave it, though all of our 3+ hours there were well spent.

Southern Italy is quite different from Northern Italy since the south was so heavily influenced by and under the sway of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire, Arabs, the Swabians (Holy Roman Empire) and then Spain.

If you have any interest in a guided or self-guided bike or e-bike tour in Puglia, which is relatively flat notwithstanding the relatively modest hilltop towns, check out packages available through a local vendor, Puglia Cycle Tours. We did an “8-day,” i.e. , 7 nights and 6 days self-guided e-bike tour with them a year ago. We started in Alberobello and other towns near there, then along the coast through Polignano a Mare, Monopoli and on to Ostuni, followed by a bike and train day from Ostuni, through Lecce and south through the Salento to Martano and then to Otranto and finally back to Lecce. That will tick a lot of your boxes.

Bari is great. We were there just 24 hours and it might have been too little. We were in Lecce for three nights and that might have been too much.

We covered all that I’ve described above (though in reverse order; we started in Bari and wrapped up in Paestum on our way to Naples) in 14 days. LATE NOTE: we had a car for 2-1/2 days to drive from Lecce to Matera, Pisciotta, Paestum and we turned in the car upon arrival in Naples.

If this interests you, see our more descriptive trip report at https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/southern-italy-30-days-three-ways-to-travel.

Look into Vieste! I went there last year as part of the RS South Italy tour and it was my favorite. Small, coastal, absolutely beautiful. I hope to go back someday. Matera is also worth a visit, especially the Sassi area.