Hotels in Puglia

Puglia forms the heel of Italy's boot, a sun-drenched region stretching along 800 km of Adriatic and Ionian coastline. The landscape mixes conical trulli houses in Alberobello, whitewashed hilltop towns like Ostuni and Locorotondo, baroque limestone cities like Lecce, and centuries-old olive groves that produce roughly 40% of Italy's olive oil.

The regional food scene rivals any in Italy, from orecchiette pasta in Bari's old town to burrata from Andria, sea urchins in Polignano a Mare, and the multi-course seafood feasts of Gallipoli and Otranto. Beaches range from powdery white sand in Salento to turquoise Adriatic coves and pine-fringed shorelines around the Gargano promontory.

Puglia works best as a road trip, with Bari and Brindisi as main gateways and a mix of masseria farmhouses, boutique hotels, and cave-carved stays. May, June, and September deliver the best balance of warm sea, thin crowds, and long light.