Puglia & Matera

A 8-day trip to Puglia and Matera

What screams SUMMER better than a roadtrip in Puglia, passing by Matera? Follow this roadtrip to get an insight of the heel of Italy! Disclosure : being Bologna my hometown, we flew to BLQ to spend time with my friends before and after, but I suggestyou to fly to Bari.

The first stop of our roadtrip was the isles Tremiti, a group of 3 small little islands on the coast of Puglia. You can reach them via Termoli or via Vieste. If you get the chance before going to the islands, you should stop and have lunch in a Trabucco, a typical restaurant obtained from the old fishing posts on the sea.

When staying at Tremiti, all hotels are in San Domenico, and be ready for grimping the hill to get to the small village! What we suggest you to do in your day in Tremiti is renting a small boat so that you can pass and see all the coves around the three islands, and get on top of the other small islands (San Nicola) to see the old fortress.

The second stop is Vieste ; do not make the mistake of just visiting the beaches, because the town is extremely pretty too. What we did to enjoy the day was renting a Kayak in Baia di Campi. After that, we drove towards Alberobello (240 km-3h), but we also stopped to visit Trani, a nice and cozy town. In Alberobello you can also sleep in a typical trullo, and eat the gastronomic delicacies. The last stop in Puglia was Porto Cesareo (120 km-1h42), where we visited two beaches : Torre Lapilli and Punta Prosciutto. To be honest, I was not impressevd with this part of Puglia, probably due to the bad weather, but it did not have the vibes I felt in Tremiti or Gargano.

We left Puglia to drive to Matera (163 km-2h10), where we stayed two days in a cave hotel. The city is amazing, and I highly suggest you to hike the canyon as well.