Puglia or destinations south for 1 week

Hi Jeanne, I'm not sure I can be a lot of help, but we just got back from a month in Italy where we spent five nights in the Pulia area just outside Alberobello at the Grand Hotel la Chiusa di Chietri. We did the typical tourist things like seeing the Trulli houses in Alberobello, the cave houses in Matera, and the Castellana Caves. We also took a drive along the Adriatic Coast where we ran across the archaeological park of Egnazia. We found it very interesting, but we like history. If you aren't into ancient history, it might not appeal to you. It's definitely not on the "main tourist map." My advice: If you don't have hotel/masseria reservations, get on the phone right away to see if you can locate a place to stay! I hope you can speak Italian as most of the places won't have someone there who can speak English. Make sure you have a good map. We bought the Marco Polo 1:200,000 Pulia Apulia map, which we liked very much. We purchased it in Italy, but I would suggest purchasing it before you go and take with you because Pulia-area information is hard to find over there. Also, and I can't stress this enough, take a good GPS updated with the latest Italy maps. We used a Garmin with the latest maps, and it still wasn't perfect! Even with the map and the Garmin, we spent a lot of time "lost." If you are fairly fluent in Italian, you will have an easier time. We weren't. We found out that we could get by, but being more fluent would have been extremely helpful. Final thoughts: We absolutely loved visiting the Pulia area and would highly recommend it to anyone. It's cheaper, less crowded, and has a lot of history. The English, Canadians, Germans, and Japanese have discovered the area, but we ran across almost no Americans. They were in Sorrento and in Tuscany. Let me know if I can answer any specific questions.

Jeanne, Sicily and Puglia are great options...Puglia will be more rustic, and Mid June is a great time to go for both! Sicily starts to get warm! about then. It is easy to get to from Rome, Milan, Naples. You just hop on one of the lo-cost inter-EU arilines (best way to do it), that you can find on Whichbudget.com, (read the luggage restrictions!) and pick up another rental car when you get there. (we like AutoEurope.com) You can also take a car on the overnight ferry from Naples. We used the Lonely Planet to plan our trips in Sicily, and Puglia. There are some great beaches for swimming, and lots of awesome Greek ruins, etc to see. Check out staying at one the many Agritourisimos. Puglia is also great option. It is a four to five hour drive from Rome. On one of our trips, we drove down from Rome, used our rental car to explore the area, and flew back to Rome from Brindisi on one of the cheap inter-EU airlines. The seaside town of Trani is a must. (Stay at the Albergo Lucly B&B! Eat at any of the seaside restaurants)Lecce is a mini-Siena with a great college atmosphere ( and great food/good shopping!) Otranto is another nice sea-side town. The kids will love the huge caves at Grotta Castellana. Matera is a must visit, along with a quick stop to see the Triulli houses in Arberobello (or stay in one!) Read the Puglia review from the NY Times: http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/05/06/travel/06Puglia.html?pagewanted=all We usually find, or verfiy our lodging choices using Trip Advisor. By all means bring your own GPS from home, and a small Michelin fold-out map. Don't even attempt to enter Lecce without a good GPS! We speak almost no Italian, but got by quite well.

We will spend 3 weeks, mostly in Puglia, in October. While doing my research, I ran across the following website. Scroll down the page for a great photo/story about Matera (which is a must-see), and scroll down further for these ladies' 10 best places to visit in Puglia. http://www.italycookingcourses.com/ You might want to find a masseria in the Val d'Itria to use as a base for a few days. From there, you can easily make day trips to most of the places on that top-10 list. A masseria is a farm, often with a pool. We'll be staying at Masseria Montenapoleone, which looks wonderful. Use Trip Advisor, and get started quickly.

We were in Puglia in October 2010 and loved it. We had a car, which is highly recommended for this area. We started in the gargano peninsula and stayed at a rather institutional type hotel in San Giovanni Rotondo (SGR) called Hotel Centro Accoglienza Approdo. At the time it was 60 euro per night for a double. It was fine as a base for driving out to Vieste and Peschici and for visiting the church of Padre Pio in SGR . I highly recommend seeing the peninsula, the drive down the craggy mountainside with the vistas of the sea is unforgettable. Check out this website: www.italiantouristoffice.se/sv/docs/522.pdf We then traveled to Matera, another must see site. We stayed at Locanda di San Martino, a cave hotel that was wonderful. They served a full breakfast. We were there for just one night and arranged for a tour of historic town with Nadia Gagliardi, she gave us a wonderful perspective of the history of the ancient cave dwelling inhabitants. Then we drove to the peninsula and stayed at an agriturismo, the website is arangea.it. It is located just outside of Lecce on an orange grove and provides a wonderful base for touring the area. The rooms are inexpensive and the family who owns the farm is very accomodating. From there we toured Gallipoli and Otranto and drove down to the tip of Puglia, another stunning drive. I think teens would really like this area. Both Gallipoli and Otranto are neat cities with a lot of history. Not to mention the beautiful beaches of the peninsula.

I would say Puglia or Sicily. For Puglia you save some time, but still kinda of a long drive. However it deserves it! Puglia - Santa Maria di Leuca, Otranto, Lecce...
And Please, stop at Gioia del Colle and try the Mozarella there. Thank me later... :) Sicily - Aeolian Island are my favorite spot. You could take a ferry from Naples and it would take 10-12 hours.