As mentioned in part 1, Puglia is a really diverse region of Italy and everything is so close, you can so see a lot in a short time.
In part 2 we want to show you some coastal towns and some of the most beautiful beaches we’ve seen on our trip.
Polignano a Mare
This is maybe Puglia’s most famous coastal town. I’ve seen pictures of this place a gazillion times on Instagram and it was like we had already seen this place before we were there.
Polignano a Mare is famous for its spectacular location on a rock which looks like it’s not going to take all the houses any longer. There’s a small bay where you can sunbath; it’s totally overcrowded in summer and is therefore not inviting.
What’s less known is the Old Town which is really beautiful and a little bit underrated. Next to the cliff rocks, it seems to disappear a little it.
We thought about having dinner at the Grotta Palazzese, a restaurant surrounded by rocks. We decided against it. As romantic and beautiful this location is, the bad reviews discouraged us. If you know this place, we’ll be happy to hear about your experiences.
Monopoli
The harbour of Monopoli is incredibly beautiful and picturesque, it made to one of our favourite coastal towns. Picture perfect motives are on every corner. The Old Town is adorable.
What we loved in general about Puglia and especially in Monopoli were the colourful window shutters. Monopoli is a picture perfect Italian town.
Otranto
Otranto’s Old Town was a little bit too touristy. It lies on the Salento peninsula and is famous for its beautiful cathedral and the mosaics built in the 12th century.
What’s also worth seeing is the fortress Castello Aragonses with its powerful city wall.
The harbour of Otranto is just next to fortress.
Gallipoli
This is the perfect sunset city. Unfortunately it was too late for us to explore the Old Town.
Nevertheless we had a perfect time with dinner and wine at sunset. Next time we’ll have a closer look at Gallipoli.
But we can highly recommend you to put this town on your list.
Tranti
One of the less known towns in Puglia. It’s not far from Bari and was therefore perfect for our last day. The cathedral of Tranti lies picturesque at the harbour bay.
Together with the little bit come down but authentic houses, Tranti is perfect for spending some time and enjoy your last vino of your stay in Italy.
Beaches
Puglia’s beaches are relatively unknown but surely play along in Europe’s upper league. We had seen similar beaches in Europe once in Sardinia. If you want to bath October is not your month. It’s definitely too cold for beach weather. But in the first months of summer you should definitely stay longer than we did to enjoy the turquoise waters of Puglia.
From Lecce all the following beaches were easy reachable.
Punta Prosciutto
It was must visit just because of its name. We actually don’t know why someone would name a beach a sort of ham, but we just leave it at that.
Punta Prosciutto is a dream beach. But like all beaches in Puglia really overcrowded.
Punta de la Suina
This place was a dream. We had to pay 3€ parking fee but could stay the whole day.
At Punta de la Suina there’s a picture perfect beach plus a beach bar where we enjoyed the last warm sun rays together with drinks and some other people.
With the perfect background music, there was no better place for us to relax. We almost forgot to continue our trip to Gallipoli.
Maledives of Salento
The name says it all though we the weather wasn’t perfect that day. If you want to spend time at a Maledives beach but don’t want to fly so many hours, we can totally recommend this one.
Santa Maria di Leuca
I love the name of this town. It has something melodic. The harbour is really amazing. We had lunch at the Lido Azzurro Restaurante with a beautiful view over the harbour.
In low season it’s almost deserted. We could have spent hours here.
Torre dell’Orso
This beach is famous for the two rocks in the turquoise sea. In summer it’s a really popular beach. When looking at the pictures it’s obvious why.
It’s the kind of blue sea that makes you want to jump in right away. During our stay it was windy and cool which was reason enough not to do so.
But enjoying the view was more than enough for us.