Puglia, known in English as Apulia, is long. The heel of Italy runs from the trulli country of the Valle d’Itria down through the baroque south of the Salento, with the Adriatic coast threading the whole eastern edge. Most trips mix two of these three areas, so think in terms of where you’ll base and what you’ll day-trip to. Here’s the map, area by area, with each town tagged for how to use it.
Explore Puglia by area
From the Gargano in the north to the tip of the Salento, tap a town to open its guide.
The Salento, the deep south
The tip of the heel: baroque Lecce, two coastlines of beaches and whitewashed seaside towns. The most walkable base down here is Lecce; the coast towns of Otranto, Gallipoli, Porto Cesareo and Santa Maria di Leuca are where you’ll swim.
The Valle d’Itria, white towns & trulli
The prettiest stretch of Puglia: hill towns the colour of chalk, valleys full of conical-roofed trulli, olive groves everywhere. Ostuni is the natural base; Alberobello is the trulli showpiece. Martina Franca, Locorotondo and Cisternino round out the circuit.
The Adriatic coast
The eastern edge everyone photographs: cliff-top Polignano, the harbour town of Monopoli, the cathedral town of Trani to the north, sea caves and coves between them. Inland sit the big day-trip sights, Castel del Monte, the Grotte di Castellana, ravine-city Gravina in Puglia and the ruins of Egnazia.
The Gargano
Puglia’s mountainous spur in the far north (up near Foggia) is a world apart: white cliffs, sea stacks and shady pine forest, the ancient hilltop sanctuary of Monte Sant’Angelo and the Tremiti Islands offshore. It is a long drive from the Salento, so most people give it a trip of its own.
Not sure where to start?
Two shortcuts: our ranked pick of the towns worth your time, and the beaches worth the drive.
I grew up in the province of Brindisi and spent 30 years in Puglia; the Salento coast is home water. Everything above is checked on the ground; when a place slips, it gets updated. More about who is behind this guide