Trulli Houses, Olive Orchards, and the Blue Adriatic
Puglia and Matera Private Journey
Overview
Trace an arc across Puglia, the “heel of the boot” of sunny southern Italy, with your own private guide! You'll enjoy optional hikes of your choice and visits to stunning hill towns, ancient farmsteads, and two World Heritage Sites. The deep south of Italy has surprising layers of history, as you'll see in the whitewashed hill town of Ostuni, once a Greco-Roman city, and in charming Lecce, a Baroque gem known as the ”Florence of the South.” At the breathtaking World Heritage Site of Matera, you'll walk a labyrinth of hand-carved rock stairways that connect tiny piazzas and gardens to form a magical world with roots in prehistory. Your countryside accommodations will be beautiful and as unique as Puglia itself, and as always in Italy, you'll eat locally and well—with olive tasting (Puglia's orchards are hundreds of years old), cheese tasting, wine tasting, and meals that celebrate the deeply rooted cucina povera tradition of simple and delicious dishes with fresh local ingredients. A fun add-on option is a cooking class at one of the palaces in Matera. Your private guide is the key to all this, introducing you to people and places you wouldn't find on your own as you explore. Andiamo!
Arrive: Bari, Italy
Depart: Bari, Italy
Highlights
- Travel with a private guide who knows all the best trails and dining spots!
- Discover the Baroque city of Lecce and the whitewashed hill town of Ostuni
- Explore two World Heritage Sites: the trulli homes of Alberobello and the cave city of Matera
- Enjoy optional hikes through ancient olive orchards and across shepherds' paths
- Savor Puglia's local dishes, from tiella Barese (baked mussels) to Lecce's sweet pasticciotto pastry
Itinerary
From Bari, head through the ancient olive orchards of the Valle d'Itria to Alberobello, a unique World Heritage Site of trulli-lined lanes. Roam the narrow streets of Lecce, a Baroque gem and a quintessentially southern Italian town bursting with piazzas and ornate palazzi. Options each day include your choice of visits to charming towns such as Locorotondo, one of the borghi púi belli d'Italia (most beautiful villages in Italy), the hill town of Ostuni, with its ancient alabaster buildings, the coastal village of Polignano a Mare, and countryside hikes with olive-oil tastings and farm visits.
Explore the spectacular city of Matera, a World Heritage Site dating to the early Middle Ages and set on a rocky outcrop. It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited human settlements in the world, with a cityscape that has been described as “Biblical.” You'll walk a tangle of narrow alleys between interconnected neighborhoods, see cave homes hewn from tufa rock, and climb hand-carved staircases in this magical realm crowned by a 13th century cathedral. Options each day include a hike among the rock-cut churches of the Murgia plateau, a “foodie” day to visit a dairy, a bread maker, and an ancient winery, or a tour of some of Matera's grand Baroque palaces. If you wish, you can add on a cooking class in one of the palaces. Depart via Bari on Day 7.
- Cooking Class in Matera
Accommodations
Scroll through our signature accommodations for this trip below. Although it is highly unlikely, we may make substitutions when necessary.
What the Trip is Like
This trip is rated a Level 2-3, Easy to Moderate, according to our trip grading system, and offers a choice of in-depth walking and cultural tours and easy to moderate optional hikes. This trip has a good blend of hiking and cultural exploration. The cultural walking tours will keep you on your feet for 4 to 6 hours over a mix of streets and stairs.
Review Trip Level Details
If you choose the hiking options, you must feel comfortable hiking 3 to 5 hours, with recent experience hiking five miles in a day. You need to be able to hike on uneven surfaces, occasionally downhill over loose rocks, so good balance is important. The hikes explore a mix of terrain, from dirt roads to paths across rolling hills to ancient stone staircases, which can be quite steep.
The weather in Puglia and Basilicata in late spring and early fall is usually very pleasant, with temperatures between 70°F and 80°F during the day and 50°F and 60°F at night. Cooling breezes and showers can occur at any time.
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Book your trip today
Our Area Specialists know every detail about our tours. They will be happy to answer any questions and help you choose the journey that’s right for you. Contact us to learn more or book your trip today!
Itinerary
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Trip Levels
With more than 200 different adventures to choose from, we want to help you find the trip that’s right for you. Our Trip Level system ranks each trip in two ways: a number rating from 1 to 6 according to the activity, and general travel rigors. 1 is the easiest and 6+ the most difficult—see descriptions below for explanations of each number. A plus (+) sign means the trip is a bit more strenuous than other trips of that level. The detailed explanation of each trip—below the bar with the number rating—is perhaps more important, specifying activities, altitudes, hiking, and travel conditions. The Detailed Itinerary, available by download or mail, gives further information. Our Area Managers can also answer questions and guide you to the trip that best suits your interests.
Level 1 – Easiest
Non-camping journeys, optional walks, little elevation gain or loss.
Level 2 – Easy to Moderate
Hotel nights and/or safari-style camping, hikes of two to four hours on some days. Other physical activities are sometimes included, such as optional sea kayaking.
Level 3 – Moderate
Half- to full-day hikes (3-6 hours) over rolling countryside on most days, occasional steep trails. Many of our hotel-based walking tours are in this category, as are our snorkeling adventures.
- Tuscany & the Cinque Terre
- Argentina: Hikes and Estancias of Patagonia
- Palau Snorkeling & Sea Kayaking
- Some trips with minimal hiking but rugged travel conditions or long drives, such as Tribal Ghana, Togo & Benin, are Trip Level 3.
Level 4 – Moderate to Strenuous
Full-day hikes (4-6 hours), mountainous terrain, significant elevation gains and losses (hiking up or down as much as 3,000 feet) on many days. Altitudes no greater than about 10,000 feet.
Level 5 – Strenuous
Full-day hikes (4-8 hours), mountainous, steep terrain (hiking up or down as much as 3,500 feet) on many days. Trips with hiking at average altitudes of 10,000 to 12,000 feet are in this category.
Level 6 – Very Strenuous
Full-day hikes (5-8 hours), mountainous, steep terrain (hiking up or down as much as 3,500 feet) on many days. Most hikes take place at altitudes above 10,000 feet, with some days ascending as high as 18,000 feet.