We love Italy. For a lot of reasons, but maybe most of all for the variety. It really does have a little something for everyone, from ancient ruins to iconic cities to soaring mountain peaks to craggy islands to flat, thin, greasy pizzas that somehow just kind of work. So, with all that going on, it is understandable that it often takes visitors a long time to make it down south to explore all the diverse and delightful Puglia towns.
Puglia is the name of a narrow region in southern Italy that stretches from Foggia down to Santa Maria di Leuca, essentially comprising the “heel of the boot”. Assuming your boots have a strangely high, narrow heel. Which seems a little bit impractical, especially back in the days of subsistence farming and backbreaking labour. But, hey, whatever makes Italy feel pretty, I guess.
Our site includes affiliate links to products we recommend. If you use one to make a purchase, we earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thanks for your support!
As for the name, it is officially “Puglia” (pool-ya) in Italian, but somewhat unnecessarily changed to “Apulia” in English. I have to admit that for a long time I thought these were actually two different places. Nope, all the same region. And a beautiful region at that, with rolling hills, medieval hilltop villages, fortified coastal towns and, roughly, oh, 3 million old churches. Yet, still fairly underrated in the scheme of Italian tourism.
Make no mistake, the tourist crowds are certainly in on the secret these days. Puglia is no longer some cliché “hidden gem”. But there are levels, my friends, and places like Rome, Naples, Venice, Tuscany, Florence and Lake Como are still several above Puglia in terms of popularity. And price. And eagerly docile tour groups. So, while it isn’t quite a “get there before the crowds” situation, these wonderful Puglia towns certainly offer a much more peaceful experience than Italy’s biggest hitters.
Especially if you visit in the shoulder season, like we did. Our early May explorations worked out perfectly. Not classic beach weather but still in the 20C range, perfect for our aimless meandering, obsessive photo taking and preference for only moderate sweating. And, while there were always other tourists in the general vicinity, it was easy enough to avoid most simply by getting an early start.
Apparently, getting started before 8 am qualifies you for the title of “early bird” and lets you have basically any Puglia town all to yourself. Of course, this probably all ties in with the fact many people are just sitting down in a restaurant and contemplating the idea of ordering food about when we are getting ready for bed. Nonetheless, that is a separate issue. One that haunts us in many places throughout Europe and South America, but separate, nonetheless.
Anyway, enough of the pleasantries. Let’s get down to our list of best (and least best) Puglia towns. Of course, these rankings are, as we’ve already established, extremely subjective, not to mention sometimes affected by factors beyond said town’s control, such as weather, how well I slept that night and exactly how much Arsenal disappointed me during our stay.
Nevertheless…
The Best Puglia Towns: Ranked
Lecce
5 Baroque Churches out of 5
I have to say, I never expected “baroque Lecce” to be my favourite town in Puglia. First off, because the name is pronounced “lay-chay”, which is also how you say “milk” in Spanish, and, let’s face it, my linguistic skills are rarely advanced enough to deal with this type of confusion. But somehow I battled through. Partially by leaning into the association and eating loads of gelato. Which was great, mostly, except for that one disastrous moment of weakness when I let myself get upsold on adding whipped cream to my cone, then barely made it outside before helplessly watching all 50 cents worth slide gracefully down to the street.
Other than that debacle, however, Lecce was fantastic. An impeccable old town full of narrow alleys, medieval mansions and soaring cathedrals. Not one but TWO ancient theatres. Continuous weddings at one of the gaudiest, baroquest churches you’ll ever see. An enormous stone apartment with tall ceilings, a fabulous historic vibe and a microwave for the making of popcorn. Just the perfect storm, really.
Ostuni
4.5 Whitewashed Staircases out of 5
Old Ostuni, on the other hand, with its classic whitewashed old town perched photogenically on a hill, was exactly the kind of place we expected to love. And love it we did. Respectfully, quietly, but ardently. Like a stalker worried about being a stereotype.
Ostuni is the jewel of the Valle d’Itria, partially because of its classic architecture and great cityscape, and partially because of its excellent “panzerotti” – think really good pizza pops, deep-fried and with just about any filling you can imagine. I usually just imagined ham and cheese, though.
Alberobello
4 Smurf Houses out of 5
The most well-known (and touristy) of all the Puglia towns, Alberobello is rightly famous for its bizarre collection of “trulli” – small, round, white buildings with pointy roofs, occasional symbols and, usually, some version of a souvenir shop inside. While that rather capitalistic conversion may feel a bit disappointing at first, it seems more fitting when you learn that the original trullo houses were invented as temporary structures to avoid paying taxes. How romantic. Also the reason you see so many “unfinished” Guatemalan houses with rebar sticking up from the roof.
Don’t worry, though, Alberobello is still a lot cooler than those. Especially when we were completely alone at 8 am, knowing it would be completely overrun by tour groups by 9:30.
Polignano a Mare
4 Rocky Beaches out of 5
A rather amazing beach, that’s Polignano a Mare’s claim to fame. And a worthy claim, at that. Iconic Cala Monochile (or Lama Monochile), a tiny, rocky beach hemmed in by impressive cliffs and featuring an ancient Roman bridge across the narrow valley.
But we were also pleasantly surprised to discover that Polignano a Mare has a nice, mazey old town, many more impressive cliffs and plenty of weird little swimming areas, most of which double as boat launches.
Gallipoli
3.5 Octopus Paninis out of 5
This Gallipoli is, first of all, in Italy, and not the infamous Turkish WWI battleground. Which fits much better into the theme of this post, obviously. Secondly, it has a really remarkable little old town surrounded by walls on what feels kind of like an island but is actually attached to the mainland. Not to mention, apparently, it was NEVER an island, but quite some time ago the Venetians just cut out the land around the bridge to make it more defensible.
There is also a noteworthy Greek fountain that is either 2,300 years old and “ancient”, or 500 years old and “art”, depending on who you ask. We didn’t ask anybody, though, so that’s all I can tell you.
Nonetheless, Gallipoli is known for its great sunsets, has some quite spectacular beaches, an occasionally nice malecón and one – if I may use the technical term – shitload of atmospheric seafood restaurants.
Locorotondo
3.5 Tiny White Alleys out of 5
Back in the Valle d’Itria, lovely Locorotondo shares a lot of the same qualities as Ostuni – stone old town atop a hill, narrow white alleys, a bunch of cats – but in a smaller, less hectic package. Really small, in fact. Just as white… ish… though.
Bari
3.5 Atmospheric Laundry Lines out of 5
The biggest city in Apulia, it is a bit of a stretch to call Bari a “Puglia town”. Nonetheless, I just did it. This was actually our second time in Bari, having briefly passed through one morning years ago, taking a ferry across from Dubrovnik, then heading to Rome by train. The narrow alleys between tall stone buildings sporting ubiquitous collections of wet laundry seemed quite familiar. Not so much the unexpected food truck fair and evening fireworks, though. Such a confusing experience.
Monopoli
3 Old Harbours out of 5
Very close to Polignano a Mare, Monopoli also has “beaches”, although they aren’t nearly as memorable as its neighbour’s. But it also has its own charming old town and a quite appealing old harbour full of colourful boats. Not to mention, a comically enormous “MONOPOLI” sign which is exceedingly popular with both tour groups and people like us that act like we’re above stuff like that, but really aren’t above much of anything.
Castro
3 Concrete Beaches out of 5
A tiny, fortified beach town featuring some popular swimming areas and a hilltop “centro storico”, Castro is either named for the Italian word for “castle”, which kind of makes sense, or “castration”, the process of removing male genitals for the purpose of “settling that dude down”. I’m not too fussed either way.
Bonus Basilicata Town
Matera
4.5 Cave Churches out of 5
As you might have guessed from the title, Matera is not, in fact, a town in Puglia, but is actually in the neighbouring region of Basilicata. Or maybe you didn’t guess, because you have no idea what a “Basilicata town” is. HAD no idea. Now you know.
The main point, however, is that Matera is an extremely unique and picturesque old city built on a hill (of course), featuring buildings carved directly out of the rock. Some are like normal houses, some are more like caves, some could go either way, and as a group they are called the “Sassi of Matera”. The cave churches, or “rupestrian churches”, to use a much more confusing term, are exactly what they sound like.
Put it altogether and, yeah, you should definitely make time on your Puglia road trip for a stop in nearby Matera. And, if possible, spend a night or two, because it is a very different place early in the morning or late at night than it is in the middle of the day when every tour bus in southern Italy shows up to discharge its eager load all over the town.
Other Interesting Puglia Towns
As anyone with access to a map can see, we have not specifically mentioned EVERY town in Puglia. We didn’t even come close, really. But these are the ones we saw and, hence, the ones we are qualified to shit-talk, if I am correctly interpreting the Universal Laws of Tourism.
If you have the time, though, you may want to extend your wanderings to include the following Puglia towns we either read about, saw photos of, or were personally recommended by other travellers:
Brindisi
A smaller version of Bari with its very own airport and potentially convenient flight schedule.
Martina Franca
Another old town on a hill in the Valle d’Itria, apparently with even fewer tourists than Locorotondo. How low can you go? We’ll never know.
Otranto
Another beach town / old town combo that you can reach in all the usual ways.
Map of Best Towns in Puglia
Click the star to save this map to your Google Maps – then find it under Saved/Maps (mobile) or Your Places/Maps (desktop)
Trip Planning Resources
Here is a list of the most important resources we use when planning our travels, all in one convenient spot. Full disclosure, when you use any of these links to reserve or sign up for something, we receive a small commission which is greatly appreciated. However, your price does not change and we have only included products and websites that we can honestly recommend.
- DuckDuckGo is now far and away the best search engine for travel planning. While Google still provides quick answers to a specific questions, the rest of the results are completely overrun by ads and big company sites with only vaguely related info. DuckDuckGo, on the other hand, still offers useful lists of firsthand articles and posts about potential destinations, perfect for planning your next trip.
- We book the majority of our hotels on Booking.com. With frequent stay discounts, thousands of reviews and free cancellation, it is very rare for us to have a bad hotel experience these days.
- Wise is by far the best international multicurrency bank account we’ve found. We can now send and receive money in half a dozen different currencies, convert to dozens more with no exchange premium and pay or withdraw local currencies. Highly recommended.
- When travelling we always get SIM cards with data for our phones. Local SIM cards are sometimes a bit cheaper but if you have a relatively new smartphone (iPhone XR or newer, Samsung S20 or newer) you can just buy an eSIM online, get a QR code by email and you’re good to go. After extensive research we have found that JetPac sim cards usually have the best coverage and prices.
- If you’re interested in local guided tours, including everything from city tours to cooking lessons to adventure activities, check out the huge range of options at Get Your Guide.
Summary
We really enjoyed our time in Puglia, even if I still feel like I should probably start calling it Apulia. Other than that, I found the entire experience very comfortable, relaxed and just, I don’t know, more chill than most of the other big highlights in Italy.
Great food, fascinating history, myriad photo ops and almost all of it built naturally using authentically organic, eventually biodegradable stone. Beautiful AND environmentally responsible. Sweet.
Pin it for later!
Other Routinely Nomadic posts you might like:
Best Things to Do on the Amalfi Coast
The Best Hikes on the Amalfi Coast
The Best Free Photo Spots in Rome