So you’re going to Puglia, Italy. Well guess what – I just did! I was there for four days last week and like most Americans with a passport stamp, I believe that makes me an expert. In this post, I’m going to share all my best tips for your trip so that it can be just like mine!
But before I get to that, allow me to explain why I haven’t been to Puglia before now! It’s because I was visiting other places. Places that have mostly been brought to my attention via Instagram because they have well-known landmarks or large exotic fish.
But rest assured, this was not my first trip to Italy. I had been there twice before – once for a wedding in Tuscany in 2016 and then again in 2019, when I stopped at the Rome airport for three hours. So I have lots of experience to draw from in Italy. I mean, the coffee is hot and the trains are late, am I right?
Now without further ado the content you’ve been waiting for – more pictures!
Tip 1: Choosing a home base
First of all, you should know that Puglia is a region. So if you are traveling there, you will need to get specific about where you are staying. I chose to base my visit out of Bari because it is a major city with good train connections to other nearby attractions. It’s a good choice for people who are confident about riding the bus. It may not be a great fit for people who have small children, people who like to sleep between the hours of 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. or those who are perturbed by motorbikes.
One thing to keep in mind about Bari is that there is approximately one ATM for every 100,000 residents. Believe me when I say, this will haunt you.
Tip 2: Getting to town
When you arrive at the airport in Bari, the first thing you’ll want to do is go into town. Unless you’re staying in another town, in which case you’ll want to go there. In most cases, you can get where you’re going either by train, taxi or rental car. The bus is very appealing to budget travelers because it costs about $2 less than the train. However, the journey is about 1-2 hours longer, which is time that can often be better spent doing something exciting, like jet skiing or taking pictures of a bridge.
Tip 3: Food & Wine
Eating and drinking is a must on vacation – especially when you’re in Italy!
Keep in mind that the best places to eat often have no sign, no address and no reservations. You can find these places by keeping an eye out for a group of people who are reasonably well-dressed waiting semi-patiently on a sidewalk. But be careful because in Bari this can also be the line for the ATM.
For good restaurants, be prepared to wait about 2 hours – longer if you want to eat off a plate. For all other restaurants, be prepared to go home and say you didn’t eat at the restaurants all the travel blogs mention.
Some other tips I usually employ when selecting a restaurant. Avoid the following:
Restaurants with white table cloths
Restaurants with leather bound menus
Restaurants with menus with pictures of the food in them
Restaurants that accept reservations via mobile app
Restaurants that open before 6 p.m.
Restaurants that do not act vaguely irritated when contacted via phone
Restaurants that offer takeout service
Tip 4: Getting around
As mentioned previously, there are several ways to get around the Puglia region. If you are using public transportation, I recommend booking all tickets via the 9Divine travel app, which is a ticket booking app made exclusively for people whose phone numbers contain three or more nines. If that doesn’t apply to you, then there are other more mainstream options, such as the Train Italia website or a ticket machine.
Buses and trains are very easy to navigate, except when they’re not. For example, getting to Alberbello was fastest by bus, assuming you were able to locate the bus, which can be found parked alongside a store selling off-brand kitchen appliances and handbags behind the #5 train track three days a week. It is via the pedestrian underpass below the Centale Railway Station. For Tuesdays, Thursdays and weekends, arrive one hour before your departure time and await further instructions.
Tip 5: Choosing your attractions
There’s a lot to see and do in Puglia. But if you’re a travel blogger and zipping through in less than 72 hours, you’re going to want to focus more on the seeing and less on the doing. The biggest thing to keep in mind is that if you actually go into the attraction, then any photos you take while inside will not have that landmark in them. This raises the question: If the attraction isn’t in the picture, then how will people know you were there? Something to think about.
It’s possible to get a lot of your trip to Puglia even if it is only 3 or 4 days. Based on my itinerary, you can realistically visit 8 cities, and 16 attractions, excluding restaurants.
For travel bloggers, this equates to between 32 and 48 unique photos, depending on how many outfit changes you do.
Other tips
When traveling to a foreign country, it’s best to be prepared. Here’s a list of words and phrases that came up on my trip that I will share to give you anxiety about yours:
Italian power converter
Taxi surcharge
Exchange rate anomaly
Bus delay
Enema
Birth certificate
Carbon dioxide
I hope you found those travel tips helpful! Follow them and you too can have an effortless time, or at least pretend to. And remember: If all else fails, just take pictures!
I love your satire 😊
<3 thank you xx
I’m jealous. Here I am, stuck in New Zealand, which is just the absolute worst place in the world to be stuck in. And it’s spring.
oh no…. it’s so strange how countries that were the envy in the beginning of the pandemic (like NZ) are no longer so. meanwhile Italy and France were among the hardest hit and now they’re pretty much normal. It’s a shame. And i’m sorry. I sympathize completely. My feet were so so so itchy for many months. I hope for your sake that your Spring is better than what we have in Finland.