Puglia itinerary 7 days: Bari, Alberobello, Matera, Lecce and Salento

Forty five minutes, free. After check-in, walk into Bari Vecchia, the medieval quarter on the peninsula. The Romanesque basilica was built at the end of the 11th century to hold the bones of Saint Nicholas, brought from Myra, in today’s Turkey, by Bari sailors in 1087. Go down to the crypt: it is a Catholic and Orthodox pilgrimage site, and you will see Russian and Greek worshippers praying side by side.

Forty five minutes, 400 metres from the basilica. On Strada Arco Basso, the neighbourhood women make orecchiette by hand at tables outside their doors and sell it for € 5 to € 7 a kilo. It is busiest in the morning until early afternoon and quieter on Sundays; if you find the tables empty, come back on Day 2 before you hit the road.

End the day at the Castello Normanno-Svevo, five minutes away, and have dinner in Bari Vecchia, home to the focaccia bakeries and raw seafood trattorias.

An hour and a half, free. It is 35 km down the coast from Bari. The pebble cove between the cliffs, spanned by a Roman bridge of the Via Traiana, is Puglia’s most famous view. Go down to the water, then climb to the old town via the Lungomare viewpoints, where the statue of Domenico Modugno stands; he was born here and sang Volare.

An hour and fifteen minutes, free, 10 km on. Monopoli’s old town is less crowded than Polignano’s and has a harbour of blue fishing boats, the gozzi, at the foot of the palaces. Walk the sea wall to the castle of Charles V at the tip, and have lunch here before heading inland.

An hour and a half, free, after checking in to Alberobello, 30 minutes from Monopoli. Rione Monti has more than a thousand trulli, dry stone houses with conical roofs, many painted with white symbols. Most are now shops: go into the ones that show the interior and climb onto a rooftop terrace to see the cones from above. Late in the afternoon, when the tours leave, the district changes completely.

Half an hour, € 2.50, on the other side of the centre in the Aia Piccola district. Built in the 18th century by a family of priests, it is the only trullo with two floors and is now a museum, with the kitchen, bedrooms and inner staircase as they were.

One hour, € 5. Leave Alberobello at 8 am: it is 1 hour 15 to Matera, across the border in Basilicata. Park outside the centre and walk down into Sasso Caveoso. The Casa Grotta is a cave house furnished as it was until 1952, when the government moved residents out of the Sassi because of the poverty: the family, the mule and the hens slept in the same room.

Half an hour, entry with the rock churches ticket, 30 metres away. The little church sits on top of Monterrone, the outcrop in the middle of Sasso Caveoso, and the crypt of San Giovanni holds medieval frescoes. The terrace in front looks over both Sassi. Check in and have lunch; in the afternoon, go into Palombaro Lungo, the giant underground cistern beneath the main square.

An hour and a half, free. The viewpoint is on the Murgia plateau, facing the town: 15 minutes by car, or a trail that drops into the ravine and crosses the rope bridge over the Gravina river, about an hour, in sturdy shoes only. Arrive before sunset, when the Sassi stone turns gold and the lights come on.

Forty five minutes, free. Leave Matera at 8:15 am: it is 1 hour 15 to Locorotondo. The old town is a circle of white alleys with flowered balconies and cummerse, houses with pointed roofs. From the Villa Comunale viewpoint, trulli are scattered across the valley among vineyards and olive groves.

An hour and a half, 35 minutes from Locorotondo. Ostuni is entirely whitewashed, on a hill looking over the sea and ancient olive groves. Climb the alleys to the 15th century Gothic cathedral at the top, with its 24 spoke rose window. Have lunch here: Lecce is an hour away.

One hour, € 9 with the ticket that includes the Duomo and the Seminary. After check-in, start with the basilica that sums up Lecce: the local limestone, soft to carve and golden in the sun, became a parade of animals, fruit, angels and atlantes on the façade. Then continue to Piazza del Duomo, 300 metres away, enclosed like a courtyard.

Half an hour, free to view from above. In the middle of the main square, the 2nd century amphitheatre was found in the 1930s during building work; only a third is exposed, the rest is still under the buildings. At night the square fills up: it is the place for your first caffè leccese.

Two and a half hours, free in the cathedral, 45 minutes from Lecce. The whole floor of the Norman cathedral is a mosaic made from 1163 to 1165 by the monk Pantaleone: a tree of life with Adam and Eve, King Arthur, Alexander the Great, elephants and the months of the year. In a side chapel are the skulls of the 813 martyrs killed by the Ottomans in 1480. Then walk the walls to the Castello Aragonese and the harbour.

An hour and fifteen minutes, 25 minutes north of Otranto at Roca Vecchia. A collapsed cave forms a pool of turquoise water linked to the sea by a tunnel. Swimming is banned to protect the rock and the edge is fenced; from 19 July to the end of September 2026 access is controlled, with a € 5 ticket. Next door is the Messapian archaeological site of Roca Vecchia. To swim, continue 5 km to the coves at Torre dell’Orso.

One hour, free, open 9 am to 12 pm and 3:30 to 6:30 pm. It is 25 minutes from Lecce. Outside, a plain Gothic church; inside, every wall and vault painted in the late 14th century by masters of the Giotto and Siena schools, with Genesis, the life of Christ and an Apocalypse full of monsters. On the way out, try a pasticciotto in the town that claims to have invented it.

Four hours, free, 40 minutes from Galatina. Gallipoli’s old town sits on an island joined to the mainland by a bridge, ringed by walls above the Ionian Sea. Walk the walls, step into the baroque cathedral of Sant’Agata and go down to Purità beach, right against the walls, for a swim. Stay for sunset, which here drops into the sea, and eat fish before driving back to Lecce.

One hour, € 5, open 9:30 am to 8 pm. In 2001 the owner wanted to fix the plumbing and found, layer by layer, Messapian tombs, Roman cisterns, a medieval crypt and a convent. The house is now a museum, with glass floors over the digs and a tower with views over Lecce’s rooftops.

Twenty minutes, free, 800 metres away. The 1548 triumphal arch honours Emperor Charles V and marked the town’s exit towards Naples. From here it is 40 minutes to Brindisi airport: return the car with two hours to spare before your flight.