6 hours ago6 min read

Your Holidays to Puglia: Thirteen of the Best Villas in Puglia

If you’re reading this during the cold winter months, you’re probably starting to dream of your next summer holiday. Aren’t we all! It’s these dreams that keep us going when storms are battering our garden furniture and the central heating is fighting its own battle with the cold.

I, for one, am certainly thinking ahead to when I can next visit the beautiful regione of Puglia in Italy. With its azure, coral blue seas – warm enough for anyone to swim in – and beautiful deep red earth punctuated with ancient olive trees, I just cannot wait to book my next holiday to Puglia.

Thirteen of the best places to visit and stay in Puglia with recommendations of villas, apartments and accommodation in Puglia for everyone — Villa Vittoria, Cisternino - click the image to explore this villa

Where to stay in Puglia

The thirteen most popular places to stay in Puglia (from north to south) are:

Bari
Polignano a Mare
Monopoli
Alberobello
Martina Franca
Cisternino
Ostuni
Brindisi
Taranto
Matera
Lecce
Gallipoli
Santa Maria di Leuca

Skip to Where to stay in Puglia? Best villas in Puglia by category

Some of the main towns in Puglia - click the image to see the best maps for your trip.

How to get to Puglia

Puglia is a huge area, served by two major airports, and whilst they aren’t that far apart – you can drive from Bari airport, in the north, to Brindisi airport, in the south, in around 1.5 hours – there are slight differences in the landscape which might influence where you stay in Puglia.

You’ll probably also find that there are more flights to Bari from where you are, than to Brindisi – Bari airport is a little bigger, although Brindisi is my favourite because of its smaller size.

From the UK, you’ll find most flights to Puglia go from one of the London airports: Stansted and Gatwick, and Heathrow if you’re lucky.

Flying into Bari

Fly into Bari, and you’ll be nearer the Gargano peninsula north, with easy access to the Valle d’Itria – complete with the famous trulli – and it’s even pretty easy to get to places like Matera from here (which is an absolute must-see).

Bari is also nearer to Fasano, with its luxury hotels and resorts like the famous Borgo Egnazia, and Polignano a Mare, which is another very popular stop off on visitors’ holidays to Puglia. Alberobello is another hugely popular destination to put on your list, and Bari is relatively convenient for the town of the trulli.

Flying into Brindisi

Fly into Brindisi, and you’ll be closer to the foodie towns of Ostuni, Cisternino and Ceglie Messapica, and of course you’ll be much closer to the beautiful university town of Lecce, and the Salento peninsula with its incredible coastline.

The main factor influencing your decision on where to stay in Puglia might be whether you are fussed about having easy access to the coastline. On account of Puglia’s geographical width, you’ll never be all that far away, but be honest with yourself if you really only want a 5-10 minute drive before you’re at those gorgeous sandy beaches.

That might be important during the heat of the summer months (July and August), as you'll probably want to be in relatively easy reach of water to cool off (unless your villa has a pool).

Should you rent a car for your visit to Puglia? — I think it's best to rent a car for your visit to Puglia - but that depends on a number of factors.

Do I need to rent a car for my holiday to Puglia?

That’s a good question! The answer is no, you don’t need a car to be able to have a great time on your holiday to Puglia. That comes with a caveat, which is that having a car will help you see a lot more of the region, and give you a fuller experience. I’ve done both – and personally prefer having a rental car because of the freedom it gives you.

Renting a car in Puglia will help you:

Visit more beaches and beach clubs
Get easily between towns
See the countryside
Get to olive and wine tasting tours
Get more easily to supermarkets to do your food shopping
Visit more places on your day trips out

It's possible to see the main towns of Puglia by train - but hiring a car will give you greater flexibility

Can I visit Puglia by train?

The answer in short is yes - it's possible to visit Puglia by train, and this is most likely the cheapest option to travel around the region too.

Bear in mind though that train stations in Puglia sometimes aren’t actually in the towns themselves, like Ostuni for example – and you could be waiting for a while for a bus (taxis are practically non-existent). However they sometimes are - like in Lecce, Bari, or Trani.

One good idea is to make some friends who live locally, so that next time you visit, you can ask them to pick you up and take you to some beaches!

If you do decide to visit Puglia by train, remember that there are two different train companies: the more expensive, but arguably faster and nicer Freccia Rossa, and the local trains - you'll know the difference when you book them by the price, and how long the journey takes. The local regional trains are absolutely fine to take and you'll probably not miss the extra 30 mins or so it takes for the journey time.

It's also possible to take local buses around Puglia. These are even cheaper than the trains, although the bus timetables vary between off season (essentially, September to June), and summer (for the Pugliese, summer is only July and August!)

Trulli Stett, near Cisternino - see more info about this adorable villa by clicking the image

Where to stay in Puglia? Best villas in Puglia by category

To help you out, I've done some research with Booking.com, and have put together a selection of the best villas in Puglia, and other places to stay, which might appeal to all budgets and needs.

For full transparency, if you make a booking through one of these links, I will earn a very small amount of referral money, which just helps cover the costs of running this website - and will mean I can keep writing articles like this one! Thank you.

Key:

£ = budget option

££ = affordable but nicer than budget

£££ = splashing out a bit, these will be nice!

££££ = start saving up now...a real bit of luxury!