We stayed at the edge of the newer part of town, a few minutes from the Sassi. It takes a bit of time to get a sense of orientation as the Sassi slopes downwards from the newer city center.

It is very unique place to wander around and get lost in the countless steps and stairs around the Sassi.

To get up to speed on the history of Matera, make sure to visit the Casa Noha for a very well made documentary.

You can still visit some of the caves and see for yourself in what conditions people lived in Matera right into the 20th century:

While we were in Matera there was a large Salvador Dalí exhibition inside the Madonna delle Virtù church:

Matera and the Sassi will be featured in the upcoming James Bond movie “No Time to Die”.

We had yet another very good dinner for the last time on this trip and wrapped up a wonderful 10 days in the region. Matera was conveniently on the way to Napoli, where we departed from. So the next day, we got ready and drove the roughly three hours to Italy’s third largest city. After a lunch stop in Trevico, we made it to the airport for our flight back home.

The Old Town is built ontop of a couple of hills. Wandering through the mostly car-free alleys is fascinating with most buildings being white-washed and in immaculate shape. Every now and then you find a hidden restaurant with gorgeous views towards the Adriatic Sea. And while pretty much all restaurants cater only to tourists, we never felt ripped off. Service was consistently good and value for money as well. No horror stories like you hear from the Italian hotspots of Rome, Venice or Florence.

One morning we followed a beautiful hike nearby that we found online. It took us through the olive tree plantations, which is one of the main industries in the region.

The nearby town of Cisternino is worth a stop as well. We passed by during the quiet lunch hours and felt like we almost had the Centro Storico to ourselves.

Another city that should not be left out on any Puglia itinerary is Martina Franca. Again extremely well preserved, it is a town you should just leave yourself wandering around and get lost in the narrow alleys.

Martina Franca in Taranto Province was our last stop in Puglia as we drove westwards towards Matera in Basilicata with a stop in Mottola (no tourists there!) for lunch.

After a brief stop for lunch in Brindisi we arrived in Sternatia. It turned out that someone rents out her parent’s house in the center of the city. A beautiful old house all for ourselves. We really got to appreciate the town’s life. We were the only tourists there as far as we could tell and got a good glimpse at Italian small town life in Salento.

As we did in Monopoli, we used Sternatia as a base to explore the region. We went twice into Lecce, the region’s main city with a beautiful old town. To avoid issues with parking (and enjoy a glass of wine or two), we took the train for one trip. Cheap at 1.75EUR per way and surprisingly reliable and on-time.

Especially the evening stroll through the pedestrian zone in Lecce was beautiful and a really nice atmosphere.

Another day trip took us south to Gallipoli on the Ionian Sea. We enjoyed wandering the narrow alleys, drinking coffee on a terrace and going for a swim while watching the sunset.

Our third and final day trip from Sternatia took us to Otranto and from there south along the SP87 and SP358 towards Castro where half the town was going for a swim. Just beautiful.

Besides the vibe, we really liked Sternatia’s location. All of the above day trips were less than an hour driving away. You could even check the weather in the morning and decide whether you’d want to go for a swim in the Ionian or Adriatic Sea based on the winds.

We stayed in the very center of the old town at Orazio 33, a cute B&B where breakfast is served on a little square just beneath the hotel.

While Monopoli itself can easily be explored in half a day (the new part of town is not so much worth seeing), what we really liked about Monopoli was its location. Within 30-45mins drives we were able to visit other towns of interest in the area such as beautiful Polignano a Mare, Alberobello and Locorotondo.

On the first day we drove up the coast to wander around Polignano a Mare. We got really lucky in the sense that tourist numbers had dwindled yet the weather was still beautiful throughout our time in Puglia with not a cloud in the sky and 25 degrees during the day.

By the way, I can really recommend Graecalis Restaurant for seafood. Based on the map you’d think it is some sort of gas station joint but trust me, superb food there.

Day 2 took us to trulli country. We first stopped in Alberobello, the best known town for the unique trullo building. Designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, these stone huts with a conical roof, were mostly built in the 19th century. I’ve read various theories as to what they were built this way. But whoever came up with the idea has created a fantastic tourist magnet in the 21st century.

From Alberobello it was a quick drive to Locorotondo, another town of around 15’000 people living in a magnificent old town.

We were off to a very good start. Great weather, great locations, great food. Puglia set the expecations high for the next couple of days!

• off-season (always a must for me)
• weather was still supposed to be okay-ish (it turned out to be great)
• small distances to drive
• several towns to base ourselves in for a couple of days
• of course we knew the food would not disappoint
• easy to reach from Switzerland with several direct flights
• not as crowded with tourists (yet) as other parts of Italy

We settled on a 10 day itinerary with three three night stays and a one night stay. We would fly into Bari and leave again from Naples.

I’ll be grouping some of the towns together based on where we had our “base”: Monopoli, Sternatia (near Lecce), Ostuni and Matera. I hope you’ll enjoy reading about Puglia as much as we did exploring.