Puglia and Amalfi Coast

You are going to be in some beautiful coastal towns...I don't see the need to try to get to another coast. I googled driving time from Lecce to Sorrento: http://www.distancesfrom.com/it/distance-from-Lecce-to-Sorrento-Italy/DistanceHistory/318688.aspx it's almost 5 hours one way...that's half a day just to get there. you can decide if you want to spend that amount of time in the car. Also...where do you fly from to get to Slovenia? Bari? Brindisi? Will you have to drive back to Puglia? IMO, not worth the time in the car to get to the Amalfi coast for 1-2 days. There is quite a bit to see on the Amalfi coast, I think it's worth 3-4 days on it's own. You might feel rushed just to "tag it - we were there".

Puglia is a wonderful region. My husband and I spent a week there 2 summers ago, and we are very eager to go back (doing so this year). I can't speak to your Amalfi Coast question, but here are some of the towns and resources we have on Puglia We stayed near the town of Cisternino and used the Lonely Planet "Puglia and Basilicata" book to get started some of the information was lacking or incomplete but it got us going. Beautiful towns, I'd recommend any of these as a home base Cisternino Ostuni Polignano a Mare (gorgeous seaside town) Martina Franca and many others we didn't get to visit, including Lecce, which was highly recommended to us. The town of Grottaglie is famous for its pottery- we did some shopping there. Food was simple, delicious, and affordable. You definitely need a car, and a GPS, and you need an Italian phrasebook. Navigating the local roads always took us longer than the locals said it would. People were friendly. The local wines were cheap and delicious. Check out this piece the New York Times Frugal Traveler column did on the area for some budget ideas- http://frugaltraveler.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/14/in-apulia-vacationing-like-an-italian/ And if you're interested I wrote about our trip on my blog: http://unquiettime.wordpress.com/2011/08/31/when-the-saints-go-marching-in-puglia/
(Search "puglia" and you'll get the other entries there are some pictures too) I don't know if you're set on staying in a hotel or B&B but one site we like to use is AirBnB.com these are mostly apartment rentals but there are some B&B's mixed in. (We limit to "entire apartment"s and places with good past reviews.) Enjoy your trip!

Puglia is beautiful, you'll find plenty to do there. Are you staying in the north, near the Gargano Peninsula? Central, near Bari? Or further south, near Lecce? If you want a unique experience outside of Puglia, the town of Matera is only an hour away from Bari by car.

We spent 9 days in Puglia region last fall. We flew into Brindisi and spent one night then took the train to Lecce where we picked up our rental car. We liked using Lecce as a base for exploring the coastal area south of Lecce for day trips. We stayed at Hotel President as we could walk to the city center in the evening for dinner and they also had secured parking. From there we stayed near Martina Franca for 2 nights and then Matera for 2 nights. There are many possibilities - the region beautiful, very affordable and the food is great!

I am getting so excited about our trip to Puglia. Thanks to all who responded as it gave us things to consider. We will by pass the Amalfi Coast this trip because, as Rick says, always assume you will return. We will save that lovely area for another time. Your comments on places to go as well as sources of info were greatly appreciated. We do not know which airport we will fly into yet but are leaning toward Bari. We will be coming from the Lucca/Pisa area to Puglia. A question I did not pose before is can we easily find places (w/o advance reservations)to stay as we travel around the area or should we stay in one place as a base? Thank you. Judy Y.

Puglia is pretty big. For some flexibility, you can book a room in your next town the day before you arrive there - booking.com can email you with last-minute deals in particular areas if you sign up. Or you can just book a room through them. If you really want to go "seat of your pants", you will probably be fine in late May just looking for rooms to rent or walking up to hotels, but it will take some time away from your actual vacation.

I'm glad you decided against the Amalfi Coast excursion. There's so much to see in Puglia. If you want to use one place for a base for a few days and do day trips from there, a masseria is a great Puglian experience. A masseria is essentially an agriturismo; it will be in the countryside and will often have a pool. If you go to Trip Advisor and use the search term "masseria Fasano" or "masseria Ostuni" you will see lists of them, almost all with 4+ star ratings. People love them. We stayed at Masseria Montenapoleone, near Torre Canne, so we had the beach nearby as well as a pool. And we were just a short drive from all of the great places in the Val d'Itria (Alberobello, Locorotondo, Ostuni, Noci). If you find yourself in Lecce, there's a great little restaurant called Piccola Casa near the city center, where you can participate in a small cooking class and then have a wonderful dinner, for about 40 euro per person, including wine & limoncello. Contact them ahead for reservations if you're interested, as they can only fit 4 or 5 people in their small kitchen and are not open every day.