I would love recent insight into this itinerary. For background, we love to take our time while traveling but also realize that we can't make it to Italy on a regular basis. On this trip (April 2024), we want to focus on Puglia and the east coast of Sicily. We fly into Naples and thought this could be a great opportunity to "taste" Sorrento and the Amalfi coast by taking the ferry from Naples and staying in Sorrento for three nights as a base to see other towns before heading to Puglia for 6 nights and Sicily for 6 nights. We will spend the night in Naples upon arrival and the night before our departure. We love to focus on smaller or medium towns, stroll around, and eat!! My main question: in April, will Sorrento and the area be too busy that we should extend our time in Puglia and Sicily instead? Or is this a great opportunity to see that area of Italy? I am learning that "shoulder season" may not exist so much anymore!
Posted by
CA, USA
1257 posts
My vote is to extend your time in Puglia. It's kind of a trek to get to Puglia so i'd think of this as perhaps your only visit there. By contrast Naples is easy to reach by air or train and Sorrento is just another hour or so down the tracks, so it wouldn't be hard to tack on 3 days for Sorrento on some future trip. Also Puglia is rather long, from Vieste to Otranto is more than 250 miles. There's a lot you could see and 6 days may not really do it justice. If you drop Sorrento you could spend 8-9 nites in Puglia.
I'd pick 3 destinations in the region to use as bases for exploring, starting by taking the train to the first one and picking up a car there. You can visit using public transit but a car is much more convenient and will let you see more. The book "Lonely Planet Puglia & Basilicata" is still available and a decent guide to what to see; supplement this by looking up towns online to see what people have written in blogs, watch YouTube videos, look at other forums such as Fodors Travel Talk, etc.
When planning your schedule keep in mind that in rural Italy such as Puglia shops & churches tend to close around 1pm and stay closed until 4pm or even later. We saw this on our trip to Puglia this past Sept.
Posted by
OP
11 posts
This is helpful. This will be our only time in Puglia! Which towns would you recommend as a base?
Posted by
CA, USA
1257 posts
Which towns would you recommend as a base?
We've spent about 10 days total there on 2 trips, but there's lots of Puglia we still haven't seen. Of the places we have visited I'd suggest Lecce (taking the train there from Naples), then Trani for the next base, then Vieste. Vieste only if you wanted to visit the town (beautiful place!) and the surrounding Gargano Peninsula, otherwise somewhere else. But we've never been to Matera or Martina Franca or Ostuni or lots of other interesting towns and you might prefer some of them.
Posted by
North Italy
398 posts
I agree that it's a big dilemma when there are lots of beautiful places to visit and you have a limited number of nights/opportunities to visit. But by going from Naples to Puglia and then to Sicily you will waste precious time travelling. I love Puglia but it would make more sense since you are arriving in Naples to see the nearest places - so Sorrento/Amalfi and then perhaps fly into Palermo or Catania, or there's a ferry from Naples to Palermo.
Posted by
OP
11 posts
Its so true that the "transitions" can take time from more enjoyable activities. So many amazing places to see and experience. Its a good "problem" to have!