Favorite beach resort in Puglia

The best sea is in the Salento and in the Gargano peninsula (the spur of the Italian boot). Just do a Google Image search on each of the two aress and see what you like. Lots of towns are perfect in those places. The best fish is in Puglia.

Yes, I am departing on the 12th of September for 7 days. I did take a look and everything seems to be open during that time. I am also taking a cooking class as well.

September should be better for beach towns and a cooking class sounds like great fun! I would consider either Otranto or Gallopoli - you also might find more info from posts on Trip Advisor Italy/Puglia forums.

Hi Christine,
You don't say when in the Fall you're traveling to Puglia - we were there last year early to mid-October. We drove south from Lecce to the the towns of Otranto, Leuca, and Gallipoli. The towns were all interesting to visit but mostly shuttered for the season - depending on when you go, it might be very quiet to visit that time of year. If I were doing a similar trip, I'd check to see when things slow down for the season.

Thank you.

Christine, where is your cooking class? And how many days will it last? Where are you flying in and out of? Are you looking for a sandy beach or a picturesque harbor town? All of these could make a difference in which town you choose. Two other options you could consider: there's a long, wide soft sandy beach at Margherita di Savoia, a really picturesque little town just north of Trani. Monopoli (between Bari and Brindisi) has several smaller but picturesque beaches. Torre Guacito is a nature reserve, if that sounds interesting. As Roberto said, there are lots of options all along the coast. Find a map and Google anything that looks appealing.

We've been to the Adriatic side a few times, lovely area. In a lot of the smaller towns along the coast there are private beaches where they rent beach umbrellas and chairs, have showers, etc. Many of these places, as well as hotels in town, seem to close after August. We were in the Bari area once the 1st week of Sept and many of the places were already closed even though the weather was fine. One sizeable parking lot in Polignano a Mare had 3 cars in it, a bit eerie considering it was probably packed 4 days earlier! To me part of the charm of the beach towns is the throngs of people on the beach, the small restaurants, etc. you will see much less of that September on. As for favorite, we really liked the stretch of beach below Vieste on the Gargano peninsula. Vieste was a nice town to walk around in, looked almost like a greek island town with all the white buildings. But we just found that accidentally, and if you are looking to relax on the beach you can make your own discovery quite easily. Drive along the coast, and when you come to a place that looks inviting stop and spend the day.