The best hotels in Puglia

This is the heart of Puglia. The Valle d'Itria sits on a limestone plateau called the Murge, and the landscape is unlike anywhere else in Italy: dry stone walls, ancient olive trees, and the conical trulli houses that make Alberobello famous. Rione Monti is the historic trulli district and where Hotel Dei Trulli puts you right inside the architecture you came to see.

Ostuni, the 'White City', sits 20km east of here on a hilltop visible from 30km away. The centro storico inside the old walls is pedestrianised and genuinely charming without being Disneyfied. B&B Il Frantoio dei Monaci puts you inside the old town for under $85/night, which is remarkable for a location this good. Masseria Il Frantoio, just 3km out on the countryside road toward Fasano, is a different experience entirely: $160-240/night for a working farm that presses its own olive oil.

Don't skip Locorotondo and Cisternino. Both towns sit within 20 minutes of Alberobello and are almost entirely free of tour groups. Locorotondo's circular old town on Via Nardelli produces a decent local white wine you won't find outside the region.

Savelletri di Fasano is a small fishing village that somehow became the address for two of Italy's most talked-about resorts. Borgo Egnazia sits just 2km inland from the sea on a purpose-built estate modelled on a Puglian village. It's expensive ($450-900/night) and worth every cent if you want a full resort experience without flying to the Maldives. Masseria Torre Coccaro, 1km down the same road, delivers a more intimate version of the same idea at $180-320/night.

The beach at Savelletri is pebbly and rocky in parts but the water is extraordinary: clear, shallow, warm from June through October. The harbor is tiny but has 4-5 fish restaurants within 100m of the water where a seafood lunch runs €25-40 per person without trying. It's not a scene. That's the point.

Fasano town itself, 10 minutes inland, is a proper working town with no tourist infrastructure and better grocery shopping than anywhere in the trulli zone. If you're self-catering or doing a long stay, base yourself here and drive to the coast.

Lecce is the cultural capital of the south and one of Italy's most underrated cities. The historic center around Piazza del Duomo and Piazza Sant'Oronzo is entirely walkable and packed with buildings carved from golden pietra leccese limestone. Hotel Palazzo Rollo puts you in the historic center itself, 5 minutes walk from the Roman amphitheater on Via Anfiteatro. The surrounding streets, especially Via Libertini and Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, are the real soul of the city.

Gallipoli, 40 minutes southwest on the SP215, is the Salento's best coastal town. The Città Vecchia sits on a rocky island connected to the mainland by a baroque bridge and is genuinely beautiful at night when the day-trippers leave. Relais Corte Palmieri is located directly inside the old town island and is the best romantic option in the entire Salento. Rooms at $145-225/night are a fair price for that location.

The Salento coastline below Lecce toward Otranto is the finest stretch of Adriatic coast in Italy. Torre dell'Orso and the bay of Baia dei Turchi (now technically a nature reserve with limited access) are 45 minutes from Lecce by car. The FSE train to Otranto takes 1 hour from Lecce for €4.50 and saves all the parking headache.

Bari is a proper city of 320,000 people and most visitors either fly through it or ignore it entirely. That's a mistake. Bari Vecchia, the medieval old town on the waterfront, is one of the most atmospheric urban neighborhoods in southern Italy. Women still make fresh orecchiette on folding tables in Strada Arco Basso on weekend mornings. The Basilica di San Nicola, right in the heart of the old town, is one of the finest Norman churches in Italy.

Grand Hotel Excelsior Bari sits on the Lungomare Nazario Sauro, the seafront promenade. It's the city's flagship business hotel and earns the designation honestly. The Lungomare is 3 minutes walk from the Bari Vecchia entrance at Porta Vecchia, and Piazza Ferrarese (the city's main aperitivo square) is 5 minutes on foot. Rooms run $130-210/night.

Polignano a Mare is 35 minutes south by train (€3.50, roughly every 30 minutes on the Trenitalia Bari-Brindisi line) and worth a half-day. The sea cliffs and the cove below Grotta Palazzese are spectacular. Don't eat at Grotta Palazzese restaurant though: €120 a head for the view, €25-equivalent food. Walk up to Via Roma instead.

The Gargano juts into the Adriatic like a spur on Italy's boot and is geographically and atmospherically separate from the rest of Puglia. The Foresta Umbra in the center of the peninsula is a 10,000-hectare beech forest, genuinely prehistoric-feeling, with marked hiking trails from Vico del Gargano. The sea at Vieste and Peschici is the clearest blue you'll find on this coast.

Hotel Parco dei Principi in Rodi Garganico sits on the northern tip of the Gargano, 15 minutes walk from the hilltop old town center. It's the best family option in the region: $110-175/night, a proper pool, and direct access to a beach that doesn't get insanely crowded because most people don't make it this far north. The nearest major city, Foggia, is 90 minutes by car on the SP89.

Getting here is the main challenge. No train serves the Gargano coast directly. From Foggia by bus takes 2 hours to Vieste, and roads are narrow in summer. Budget half a day of travel from anywhere else in Puglia. The payoff is a stretch of coast that still feels like it belongs to the people who live there.

Monopoli sits halfway between Bari and Brindisi on the Adriatic coast and is often skipped for flashier destinations. The Porto Vecchio, the old harbor, is where local fishing boats still land their catch at 6am and where L'Altro San Pietro has turned a waterfront palazzo into one of the most coveted addresses in Puglia. At $280-520/night, it's a genuine luxury play.

The old town center around Piazza Garibaldi is compact and walkable: cathedral, castle, harbor, all within 10 minutes on foot. The beach at Capitolo, 8km south of Monopoli on the SP90, is consistently rated among the cleanest on the Adriatic. Cozze pepate (spiced mussels) from any of the seafood stalls along the harbor front run €6-8 and are better than most €30 restaurant versions.

Monopoli works well as a base for day trips. Polignano a Mare is 20 minutes north, Alberobello is 40 minutes west. You get coast and countryside without committing to either region fully.