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Puglia vs Eastern Sicily after Poland – 5/6 nights, no car

Posted by (India) on

Hi,
We’re planning a roughly two-week trip in late May / early June 2027. Our current plan is:

Poland
- Gdańsk – 3 nights
- Toruń – 1 night
- Kraków – 4 nights

We were then thinking of flying from Kraków to southern Italy for the remaining 5–6 nights. We thought the change in scenery, food and atmosphere would add some variety to the trip, although we’re open to other ideas.

Option A – Puglia
- Matera – 2 nights
- Lecce – 2–3 nights
- Bari – 1–2 nights, then fly home

Option B – Eastern Sicily
- Ortigia/Syracuse – 3 nights
- Taormina – 2 nights
- Catania – 1 night, then fly home

We’re a couple and enjoy walking around attractive towns, getting lost in narrow streets, small shops, cafés, restaurants and just soaking up the atmosphere. We’re much less interested in museums or ticking off major sights.

We won’t be hiring a car, so ease of getting around by train/bus is also important.

For those who know both areas, which would you choose for this kind of trip — Puglia or eastern Sicily? And would you change the number of nights anywhere?

Thanks!

Posted by
6 posts

Hi Ash,

What a wonderful trip to look forward to! I've spent time in both areas, and honestly you can't go wrong, but given what you enjoy (wandering narrow streets, soaking up the atmosphere, not chasing big sights) and the no-car constraint, I'd lean slightly toward Puglia for this one.

Matera is just magical for exactly your style of travel. Getting lost in the sassi lanes in the early evening, when the golden light hits the cave dwellings, is one of my favorite travel memories. Lecce is a lovely base too, with a compact baroque old town that's made for aimless strolling, and the trains between Bari, Matera, and Lecce are straightforward. Bari's old town is charming but a single night there is plenty. Late May and early June is ideal timing: warm, lively, but not yet the peak summer heat or crowds.

Eastern Sicily is fantastic as well, and Ortigia is practically built for what you describe. The one wrinkle is transport without a car. Taormina's train station sits at the bottom of the hill, so getting up to the town means buses or taxis, and the rail line between Catania, Taormina, and Syracuse is slower and less frequent than the trains in Puglia. It's all doable, just takes a bit more planning.

On your night counts: if you go with Puglia and have 6 nights, I'd do Matera 2, Lecce 3, Bari 1. For Sicily your split works well: Ortigia 3, Taormina 2, Catania 1, with Catania mostly as a convenient stop before flying home (the food market there is worth a morning, by the way).

Whichever you choose, the contrast after Poland will be fantastic. Happy planning!

Posted by
92 posts

We did a similar trip to Eastern Sicily in May. We flew out of Catania, but just drove down from Taormina the day of the flight. We used Sicily Life for a transfer from Catania when we arrived because we didn’t want to drive after a transatlantic flight. If memory serves, it was about €120. They they offer multiple transfer options as well as day trips. Perhaps you could use a transfer service rather than trains (at least one way) and perhaps add in a stop along the way. We tend to travel the same way you do and loved Sicily. We cannot wait to visit the Western side of the island.

Enjoy your trip!

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