Getaways from Bari: day trips and destinations close by.

Bari, the practical gateway to Puglia

There are direct flights to Bari airport (BRI) from Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Seville. Brindisi is closer to Ostuni and Lecce, but from Spain you reach it with a connection, so Bari is the practical gateway to this whole part of Puglia.

The most convenient thing is to pick up the hire car at the airport itself. The villages of the Itria Valley are a few kilometres from one another, but the countryside, the masserie and the coves of the south are only really reached by car. The old towns are pedestrian: you park outside and walk in.

You can also get out without a car, with less reach. From Bari Centrale, the Adriatic line train reaches Lecce in an hour and a half or two, depending on the train, and Ferrovie del Sud Est trains link Bari with Alberobello, Locorotondo and Martina Franca. From Lecce, the same company goes on to Gallipoli and Otranto.

The Grotte di Castellana, at 16.5 °C all year

Under an hour away, to the south-east, are the Grotte di Castellana, 46 minutes away, on the way between the airport and the valley. It is the plan that works in any month: underground the temperature stays at 16.5 °C all year. From there you continue to Ostuni, the white city, to eat beside the cathedral and stroll in the afternoon.

The Itria Valley proper starts an hour away: the trulli of the Rione Monti in Alberobello, Locorotondo with its viewpoint over the valley and the baroque centre of Martina Franca. They fit into a day, with an early start to reach Alberobello before the groups.

Between an hour and a half and two hours you enter Salento. Lecce is an hour and a half away by train, with its baroque churches of pale stone and the Duomo bell tower; by car, it is about two hours to the city. It is the distance at which it is worth sleeping at least one night.

Otranto, the easternmost town in Italy, with the mosaic of its cathedral, is more than two and a half hours away. At that distance it is no longer a there-and-back day: the sensible thing is to stay at a masseria.

Without the heat or traffic of August

Spring, from April to June, and autumn, in September and October, are the months for southern Puglia: long light, without the heat or traffic of August. It is when the masseria pools open and when the Itria Valley and Salento are best toured by car.

In July and August it is very hot at midday and Alberobello and Ostuni fill up in the afternoon. In those months it is best to set out very early or choose the Castellana caves, which do not change with the weather outside.

In winter the plans that do not depend on the sun remain: Lecce by train, with the churches and the bell tower open every day, and the caves, at the same temperature in January as in August.

A calendar detail: on Monday at midday Bina, in Locorotondo, and Osteria del Tempo Perso, in Ostuni, are closed, and the osteria in the Lecce plan only opens in the evening. If your trip falls on a Monday, change the plan or the table that day.

The baroque churches of Lecce with a single ticket

• Without a car, in a day: Lecce by train from Bari. An hour and a half by train, the baroque churches with a single ticket, the city from the Duomo bell tower and Salento lunch under stone vaults.
• With two nights: the Itria Valley in two nights. A car from the airport, the Castellana caves, a night in an Alberobello trullo, a white-wine tasting, Locorotondo, Martina Franca and another night in a masseria near Ostuni.
• With three nights: Salento in three nights. About two hours to Lecce to sleep facing Santa Croce, then a masseria in Otranto and the island of Gallipoli, with the Leuca caves by boat on the way.

If there is only one Sunday, Alberobello, Locorotondo and Martina Franca an hour away, or the caves and Ostuni 46 minutes away. To extend the trip further south, Otranto with its mosaic and a night at a masseria.