Puglia Travel Guide

You do have to be careful these days with the proliferation of junk books. There is a Nat Geo, and that's probably your best bet, aside from the Puglia section of general Italy books like Lonely Planet (the Southern Italy book) and Rough Guide, which offers a "mini book". You can get a lot of info off their websites for free. I am a book person too, but in the case of Puglia, I would rely on the many good websites. You'll have to confirm public transport info online anyway. For cultural info, the Blue Guide is still tops!
For areas like this, I also look to newspaper and magazine articles, plus blog posts and the like.

This website is flashy, but I found it to have unique and interesting things: https://imaginapulia.com/
And don't discount a good old fashioned tourism website--I find these really help you grasp the different sub-regions:
https://www.viaggiareinpuglia.it/it/homepage

I think Lonely Planet has a guide to Puglia and Basilicata
National Geographic does too.
Rough Guides has one as well.

Search on Amazon or their respective websites and you will find them.

The official tourism portal of the Region of Puglia is here:
https://viaggiareinpuglia.it/it/homepage

We just recently got back from a 3-week Puglia trip (and it was awesome). I had spent way too much time in the past 12 months researching everything I could find on the region, I bought half a dozen guidebooks, everything I could find except the garbage-scraped DIY dreck that the amateur hustlers and our overlords are hawking on Amazon. I ended up with a large stack of mostly junk.

To my great disappointment, I found none to be particularly good. To my astonishment, I thought the best of them was in fact the National Geographic book, though it certainly has its share of shortcomings (teeny, tiny print for one). I'd say get the Nat Geo one for starters, skip the rest, and spend a lot of time searching here and elsewhere online, to create your own guidebook. Print it, take it to the copy shop and get it bound, bring it along in PDF and paper, you're all set.

Boom!

Puglia has a lot of surprises once you’re there. It’s a place where you want to spontaneously explore places that aren’t always included in the guidebooks. Places like Ceglie Messapica and the countryside around Locotorondo were amazing.

People were incredibly friendly as well, and that is a big part of Puglia’s magical attraction.

I now get why it’s such a popular place to visit.

Thank you everyone. I generally spend a lot of time researching a trip so I’m ok with compiling information from many sources.
When I get a rough draft I’ll post for your feed back. Even though I was hoping not to rent a car I think we will to get the best experience.

David from Seattle. I opened the “Boom” and got a map with many numbers in the Lightroom program, Can you tell me more about it?
Thanks again everyone!

We found the book "Lonely Planet Puglia & Basilicata" useful in describing Puglia and for planning our visit 2 years back. The books is about 15 years old but the towns haven't changed that much (the train times in the book are mostly wrong though).

We also looked for blogs with stories from travel in Puglia, and watched YouTube walking tour videos. To find the blogs just do a web search for the name of the town you're interested in.

Really looking forward to doing a deep dive here. We haven't been over there in 4 trips to Italy, but it's time. For a milestone BDay of mine in March 2027, we'll fly into Rome, stay for around 2 weeks at an AirBnB, then take the train to Lecce and base there for a week, flying out of Bari at the end of the trip--flight Bari/Munich, then onto Chicago via Lufthansa.

Not counting on warm weather in March, but there is that possibility, and anything over 60 degrees during the day is fine with me. Have been eyeing some AirBnB's in Lecce between the old town and train station, walkable to each, and they're very reasonably-priced. We don't drive in Italy so daytrips will be by train to any of Bari, Monopoli, Brindisi, Polignano a Mare, and it appears easy enough to hire a driver with local knowledge to take us anywhere inland we'd want to go...to Matera, Alberobello, Taranto, Manduria, the latter of which where my dad flew out of during WWII. My brother was there a couple years ago and there's a tree planted in my dad's honor at Manduria. He said we wouldn't believe the reverence the locals still have for the American soldiers from that long ago.

LP is okay.

There's also a "mini Rough Guide." I like their books, usually.

I'd not depend on either for hotels or restaurants, though. Read them but also get other names from online sites.

Lonely Planet books from years ago were consistently wonderful. New ones, not so much. A textbook example (literally and figuratively) of complete and dramatic "enchittification", they've been instagrammed. I have not seen a single worthwhile LP guidebook to anyplace that's been published in the last few years (and I've bought or browsed through a dozen), they're all just gushy social media-quality fluff devoid of any useful content. A tragic but clearly intentional business decision made by the publishers. Very sad how far and how completely they've fallen. RIP a once-great and trustworthy resource. 🪦

I opened the “Boom” and got a map with many numbers in the Lightroom program, Can you tell me more about it?

@ Renee - That's just a planning map I put together as part of the preparations for my recent trip to Puglia. The numbered markers are "points of interest" I documented through my pre-trip research. Having them all plotted on a map is key for me to make both high-level plans as well as (literally) last minute decisions about prioritizing how to spend our time. Works well for us (but is admittedly a lot of work). In this case "Lightroom" (which is an app for tweaking photos) is just used as a means to share images online (the map was created in Photoshop, merely imported into Lightroom to make it available as a clickable link). My point being, if there's no good guidebook for the place you're going, you can always make your own, and since that's customized for your own travel tastes and priorities, it'll be better than one written by AI algorithms or a social media fraudster who has never been within a thousand miles of your destination.

Personally, I find trip reports from normal people on here and other sites as valuable as anything, and in real time as well. Blogs are pretty good too. I feel websites are more informational. But I want to know about logistics, e.g. is from Point A to B walkable? Street maps only tell you so much. It is a good thing that Lecce is flat mostly. In Sicily those hills made the walking about twice as difficult, so we have to take that as a factor, seeing that we're both around 70.

All's I know is that my brother & wife and our good friends with dual citizenship both say that they definitely needed more time in Lecce. That's good enough for me.

Hi Renee,

I have been to the Puglia region for 10 days in May 2024 and also in 2025….and I will be back in 2026! Yes, I love it. When I was researching for the 2024 trip, I couldn’t find any guidebooks except one that I won’t recommend because it didn’t influence my trip. I found a lot of info on-line researching and watching some YouTube videos.

You mentioned wanting to just do public transportation, and I see later that you’re thinking of renting a car. Since I have just traveled by public transportation, I can give some perspective on what I missed because I don’t rent a car and what worked well without a car.

With a car: you could stay in one of the trulli masseria in the countryside, similar to an agriturismo in the north. You would have better access to beaches. You could visit multiple little towns during the day. Cisternino dropped off my list because it’s not convenient by train or bus. If you want to explore south of Lecce, I think you really need a car.

Without a car: I’ve been there for 20 days, and I still had plenty to enjoy in a relaxed pace. I stayed in these locations by train: Trani, Bari, Matera, Locorotondo, Martina Franca, Lecce, Ostuni, Polignano a Mare, Monopoli. And by bus from Bari: Alberobello. Giovinazzo was a day trip short train visit from Bari. I took a taxi in Matera & Lecce to my lodging; otherwise, I was fine walking. Several of my choices of small hotels or B&B’s wouldn’t have been convenient with a car.

Matera is so interesting, and it was fun to stay in a cave that is updated as my lodging! Also, it’s fun to stay in a trullo in Alberobello!

You mentioned that you’ve seen info on this forum. If you want my two trip reports, let me know.

Jean

Hi Renee,

As requested. Here the two with Puglia in them.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/3-week-italy-trip-to-puglia-plus-tivoli-rome-may-2025

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/my-1-month-independent-trip-to-southern-italy-tribute-to-my-husband

David In Seattle-it would be very helpful to many if you did a TR on your recent trip to Puglia. There are not too many of that region in the forum.

Oh my gosh; I am so excited to see this post!!! A friend and I are doing our 4th RS tour, 17 days in Italy. April 12-28. I have not been to Italy in over 50 years and really looking forward to this trip. We will probably leave Florida around April 1 and go to some different areas in Northern Italy before the tour starts in Venice. After the tour ends in Rome we will stay a few extra days there and then head south. I would like to spend at least a week in the Puglia region; until recently I have never heard of it. That area sounds amazing.
We will not have a car. So trains and busses for us. Not sure if we will head to the Amalfi coast for a week and then head over to the Puglia region and fly home from there or what. Pre and post tour is yet to be determined but we are getting there.
So any suggestions on what to do after we leave Rome are appreciated. Anywhere from 2-4 weeks of ideas.
We do not want to move frequently and just do a day here or there. We would like a few places as base camp. Maybe two in the Puglia region and two on the Amalfi coast?
Thoughts?? Thanks! Regina

Renee,
No one guide stood out for us when we went. Below is our Puglia TR (wizout fotos), which may have a couple useful bits but is in no way intended to be the equivalent of a guidebook. Btw, a local hero just went to Ostuni. He was the guitarist for the pride of Toronto: 'Rush'. Just heard that his pal, the other surviving member, may have joined him there at some sort of health retreat.
As one might read in our TR, we used public transport plus a taxi or two. Some stretches of the train system (ie Lecce to Gallipoli) are on the honor system for payment. Otherwise they are dirt-cheap due to government subsidizing.
Anyway...
I am done. the end.
https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/bella-puglia-also-basilicata-and-rome-1634280/

@Tammy - I plan to post a trip report when I get some down time. Right now we are prepping for a trip to Chile (assuming our flights aren’t cancelled!). Sometime after thanksgiving.

Jean from Idaho I am looking forward to reading your previous posts on Puglia. Thank you. Regina

Hi Renee,
We are still planning our first trip to Puglia, The Puglia Guys website is worth a look.

https://www.pugliaguys.com/2025/07/25/public-transport-in-puglia/

Here are trip reports about Puglia; the first one is from last month; the second includes the north and Gargano (driving from Amalfi Coast to Puglia and on to Molise); the last two are from trips I took around 2011-2012; I think three of the links include our visits to Matera:

https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/the-mezzogiorno-four-destinations-in-puglia-including-two-new-to-us-1733095/

https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/live-very-brief-report-on-a-few-southern-italian-destinations-1717484/

https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/puglia-and-matera-from-pane-di-altamura-to-peperoni-di-senise-891345/

https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/from-pettole-to-pasticiottia-week-in-southern-puglia-862778/

Fabulous links. I'll be referring to this going forward in my planning!

Thank you everyone. The links and trip reports are so helpful.

@Jean
Is this the room you are referring to here: “amazing large terrace balcony at the POSEA B&B”
https://www.posea.it/poseasuiteterrace

Grazie

Renee, yes, that the room with the amazing balcony in Polignano a Mare. : )

One of our other forum participants stayed there after my recommendation, and he sent me a fabulous photo using a drone launched from the balcony!

Lonely Planet lost their Founders a while back.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lonely_Planet

"In 2007, the Wheelers and John Singleton sold a 75% stake in the company to BBC Worldwide,... In 2011, BBC Worldwide acquired the remaining 25% of the company"

"By 2012, the BBC wanted to divest itself of the company and in March 2013 confirmed the sale of Lonely Planet to Brad Kelley's NC2 Media..."

"In December 2020, NC2 Media sold Lonely Planet to Red Ventures..."