Puglia Itinerary Help

I think your planned itinerary is good. We haven't been to Pogliano a Mare (yet!), but we enjoyed our stay in Vieste and visiting Peschici from there.

I was underwhelmed by Polignano. However, it's a good base from which to visit Scavi d'Egnazia, a site with ancient Roman - medieval ruins and a good archaeological museum. Egnazia is also pretty close to the Valle d'Itria towns. I think 2 nights is sufficient for Matera, 3 if you want to add a day trip to Metaponte. Consider adding Taranto to your itinerary, either from Matera or Ostuni. If you like Italian ceramics, Grottaglie is a town with a good ceramics museum and many workshops in a quarter devoted to the creation and sale of pottery. It's easily reached from the Valle d'Itria. After having spent 12 days in the area, I would probably advise less moving, as so many of your destinations are fairly close to each other.

I agree with Roslyn. Pogliano a Mare is pretty but justifies half a day at that time of year ( we visited March this year).

Thanks for all your responses. We'll definitely cut Pogliano a Mare and just stop for a visit. We'll add the days to Bari and Matera and probably add a day to Lecce as well. Thanks again for your help and advice.

I haven't analyzed whether it might fit into your itinerary, but one town where we really enjoyed staying was Trani. We also enjoyed a day trip to Brindisi (where many people suggest not to bother to go).

Thanks, Janet. They both look interesting. We may have time to visit them as we've increased our days to 21-23 and decreased our stops to 5 which gives us at least 4 days in each location from which to make day trips as well as enjoy the towns where we stay. As usual, there ends up being more places to visit than there is time! Thanks again for your suggestions.

Another vote for Trani. We stayed there a few nites and liked it as a base. Worth a visit, at least. Polignano a mare is pretty but off-season there isn't going to be a lot going on in town. We were there in mid-Sept and found it quiet. We liked Vieste, it has a vaguely greek feel with many whitewashed roofs. We visited as a day trip, wished we had stayed longer and explored the region more. One thing we were unimpressed by was Castel del Monte. It is a regional landmark, you see its symbol quite often, but the "castle" itself is more a shell than a real castle.

Hope you can fit Castel del Monte into your itinerary, it's unique. There's also a great restaurant a few killed meters away, Madre Terra, best food I had on that trip.

There is a trullo B&B about ten minutes' drive from Alberobello, the name is Podere Papilio. Fabulous hosts, small number of rooms.

Thanks for the additional comments. Still trying to decide about Vieste. We'll be there mid-March. We would drive there from Matera and not sure if it will be worth the long drive at that time of year.
Thanks again for all your input!