Cornelius Amann
October 06, 2026
5/5
Puglia and Matera: Trulli, Lecce and the Salento Coast
9 days from Bari: Trani by the sea, two nights in Matera's Sassi, three nights at a masseria in the trulli country, and two nights in baroque Lecce with Otranto.
9 days · Bari to Lecce · up to 12 guests
A trullo in Alberobello, in the Valle d'Itria Photo: Bernard Gagnon, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alberobello,_Italy_04.jpg)
The facts
At a glance
- Length
- 9 days, 8 nights
- Start and end
- Bari to Lecce
- Group size
- 7 to 12 guests
- Longest drive
- 2.5 h on day 2No drive day is longer than 4 hours.
- Activity level
Moderate
Mostly easy walking of 2 to 3 hours a day on stone paving. Matera is the exception: about 3 hours on foot on the morning of day 3, on steep lanes and long flights of stone steps down into the Sassi and back up. Ostuni and Polignano have stepped lanes too. You can sit out any walk at a cafe and rejoin the group, and the longest drive of the trip is about 2.5 hours, split by a morning in Trani.
- Meals included
- 8 breakfasts, 4 lunches, 3 dinners
- Room of your own
- + CAD 1,020 (estimated price)
- Season
- April to June and September to October
Highlights
Why this trip
- The Sassi of Matera from 8:30 am, before the day-trip groups, with a cave house, a rock church and the Palombaro Lungo cistern
- The whole of Matera from the Murgia Timone viewpoint across the ravine in the late light
- Alberobello's trulli at 10 am, before the coaches, and inside the two-storey Trullo Sovrano
- Three nights at a masseria among olive groves, with an olive oil tasting and an orecchiette lesson that becomes lunch
- Trani's cathedral standing on its own at the edge of the sea
- Polignano a Mare's cliffs at 9 am and an evening in the white town of Ostuni
- Baroque Lecce with a local guide, then the Tree of Life mosaic in Otranto and Italy's most easterly point
What makes this trip different
Short drives, all published
Every drive is listed day by day, and none is longer than 4 hours.
Free time is part of the plan
Free time and choices are marked on the days they fall.
Solo without the penalty
A room of your own is + CAD 1,020 (estimated price).
Day by day
Itinerary
The longest drive is 2.5 h, on day 2.
Tap any stop on the map to open that dayClick any stop on the map to open that day
Arrive in Bari
Bari Karol Wojtyła Airport to your hotel in Bari
- Welcome dinner
- Stay in Bari
- Drive about 30 min
Fly into Bari Karol Wojtyła Airport (BRI), about 10 km from the city centre, where a driver meets you and brings you to a central hotel within walking distance of Bari Vecchia, the old town.
Afternoon
Plan to land by mid-afternoon; the exact meeting time comes with your final itinerary. At about 6 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a short briefing on the week ahead, then leads a first walk through the old town as the lights come on: the Basilica di San Nicola, built to hold the relics of St Nicholas that Bari sailors brought from Myra in 1087, the Romanesque Cattedrale di San Sabino, and Strada Arco Basso, where women make orecchiette by hand at tables outside their front doors.
Evening
We come out on the seafront promenade and sit down together to a welcome dinner of Apulian dishes at a local trattoria. Bari is the only one-night stop on the trip.
Included
- Pick-up at Bari Karol Wojtyła Airport (BRI)
- Welcome briefing with your guide
- Evening walk in Bari Vecchia: the Basilica di San Nicola, the Cattedrale di San Sabino and Strada Arco Basso
- Welcome dinner
Free time: Free until the evening briefing
Trani by the sea, then Matera
Bari to Trani, then inland to Matera
- Breakfast and lunch
- Stay in Matera
- Drive about 2.5 h
We leave Bari at about 9 am and drive 45 minutes up the coast to Trani, a small port built of pale limestone.
Morning
Its Cathedral of San Nicola Pellegrino, begun in 1099, stands on its own at the edge of the sea, and in the morning the stone looks almost white against the water. Your guide takes you through the cathedral and down into its crypts, then into the Swabian castle that Frederick II began in 1233, and along the harbour, where fishing boats tie up at the quay.
Afternoon
Lunch is seafood in Trani. In the early afternoon we cross the Murgia plateau, a high plain of wheat fields and dry-stone walls, about an hour and a half inland to Matera in Basilicata, where we stay two nights in or beside the Sassi.
Evening
The evening is free: walk out to a belvedere above the Sasso Barisano at dusk, when the cave houses light up one by one, and choose your own dinner.
Included
- Trani with your guide: the Cathedral of San Nicola Pellegrino and its crypts, and the harbour
- The Swabian castle in Trani
- Seafood lunch in Trani
Free time: Evening free in Matera
The Sassi of Matera, early
A full day in Matera, with the Murgia Timone viewpoint
- Breakfast and dinner
- Stay in Matera
- Drive about 30 min
We start at about 8:30 am, before the day-trip groups arrive, with a local Matera guide. The Sassi are two districts of houses, churches and cisterns cut into the limestone side of a ravine, the Gravina, and lived in for thousands of years; UNESCO listed them in 1993 together with the rock churches of the plateau across the gorge. We walk down through the Sasso Caveoso to the rock church of Santa Maria de Idris, step inside a furnished cave house that shows how families lived alongside their animals until the 1950s, when the Italian state moved the inhabitants to new districts, and finish under Piazza Vittorio Veneto in the Palombaro Lungo, a huge rock-cut cistern you cross on a walkway.
Afternoon
The afternoon is free.
Evening
Late in the day we drive 15 minutes to the Murgia Timone viewpoint across the ravine to see the whole city in low sun, from the Sasso Caveoso to the convent of Sant'Agostino on the rim of the ravine, then have dinner together at a restaurant in the Sassi.
Included
- The Sassi with a local guide: the Sasso Caveoso and the rock church of Santa Maria de Idris
- A furnished cave house
- The Palombaro Lungo cistern
- The Murgia Timone viewpoint in the late afternoon
- Dinner in the Sassi
Easier option: Skip the steep descent to Santa Maria de Idris: wait at a cafe in Piazza Vittorio Veneto and join the group for the Palombaro Lungo.
More active option: Walk to Murgia Timone instead of driving: down from the Sasso Caveoso, across the suspension bridge over the Gravina and up the far side, about 1.5 hours with a steep climb (path and bridge conditions permitting).
Free time: Afternoon free in Matera
Activity: About 3 hours on foot in the morning on stone steps and steep lanes; Matera has few flat streets. Shoes with grip help.
Alberobello and into the Valle d'Itria
Matera to Alberobello, then a masseria in the Valle d'Itria
- Breakfast and dinner
- Stay in Valle d'Itria
- Drive about 1.5 h
Afternoon
An hour and a quarter north-east across the Murgia brings us to Alberobello by about 10 am, ahead of the midday coaches. The town is built of trulli, limestone houses with dry-stone conical roofs, and was listed by UNESCO in 1996. With a local guide we walk up through Rione Monti, a hillside of trulli that are now shops and guesthouses, to the trullo church of Sant'Antonio, then cross to Aia Piccola, the quieter quarter where people still live in them, and step inside the Trullo Sovrano, the town's two-storey trullo. Lunch is your choice in town. In the early afternoon we drive about 20 minutes to our masseria, a fortified farmhouse among olive groves and vineyards that is home for the next three nights, so you can unpack properly.
Evening
The rest of the afternoon is for settling in or a walk along the farm lanes, and dinner tonight is at the masseria, cooked from what the farm and the valley grow.
Included
- Alberobello with a local guide: Rione Monti, the trullo church of Sant'Antonio and Aia Piccola
- The Trullo Sovrano
- Dinner at the masseria
Free time: Lunch on your own in Alberobello; late afternoon free at the masseria
Activity: Rione Monti is built on a slope, with short steep lanes.
Olive oil, orecchiette and Locorotondo
The Valle d'Itria: an olive farm, Locorotondo and Cisternino
- Breakfast and lunch
- Stay in Valle d'Itria
- Drive about 1 h
This is the food day.
Morning
In the morning we drive a short way to an olive farm in the valley, where the producer walks you through groves of old trees and explains how the oil is made, from picking to pressing; from about late October to December the harvest is on and you may see the mill working. Taste several oils side by side with bread, then roll up your sleeves: a local cook shows you how to make orecchiette by hand from durum wheat semolina and water, drawn across a board with a knife, with a sauce of cime di rapa or tomato depending on the season.
Afternoon
What you make is lunch. In the afternoon we drive 15 minutes to Locorotondo, a round white town on a hilltop with views over the trulli-dotted valley, and taste its dry white wine at a cantina.
Evening
The evening is free: rest at the masseria, or the van takes you to Cisternino for a fornello pronto, a butcher's shop that grills meat to order.
Included
- Olive farm visit and olive oil tasting
- Orecchiette lesson with a local cook, and the lunch you make
- Locorotondo with your guide
- Wine tasting at a cantina in Locorotondo
Optional experiences
- Dinner at a fornello pronto in Cisternino (the van ride is included, dinner is on you)
Easier option: Skip Locorotondo and stay at the masseria after lunch.
More active option: Walk to Locorotondo with your guide on country lanes between dry-stone walls and trulli, about 8 km, and meet the group at the cantina.
Free time: Evening free
Polignano a Mare and the white town of Ostuni
Valle d'Itria to Polignano a Mare, then Ostuni, and back to the masseria
- Breakfast
- Stay in Valle d'Itria
- Drive about 2 h
We reach Polignano a Mare at about 9 am, before the beach crowds, and walk the old town on its limestone cliffs above the Adriatic, out to the terraces that look down on Lama Monachile, the pebble cove cut between two cliffs, and on to the sea caves below the houses.
Morning
The rest of the morning is yours: swim at Lama Monachile in season, sit over a coffee on the cliff, or take a boat out to the caves.
Afternoon
Lunch is your choice in Polignano, where raw seafood and fried fish are the local habit. In the afternoon we drive down the coast and climb to Ostuni, the white town on a hill above a plain of olive trees that runs to the sea. Your guide walks you up through whitewashed lanes to the 15th-century cathedral at the top.
Evening
The evening is free for an aperitivo on the walls as the light goes and dinner in town, and the van brings everyone back to the masseria at an agreed time.
Included
- Polignano a Mare with your guide: the old town, the cliff terraces and Lama Monachile
- Ostuni with your guide: the old town and the cathedral
- The van back to the masseria after dinner in Ostuni
Optional experiences
- A boat trip to the sea caves of Polignano a Mare (in season, extra cost)
Free time: Late morning and lunch free in Polignano; evening free in Ostuni
Activity: Ostuni's old town is steep, with stepped lanes up to the cathedral.
Baroque Lecce
Valle d'Itria to Lecce
- Breakfast and lunch
- Stay in Lecce
- Drive about 1.5 h
Morning
After breakfast we leave the masseria and drive about an hour and a half south, past Brindisi and into the Salento, the flat peninsula at the heel of Italy. Lecce is built of pietra leccese, a soft honey-coloured limestone that masons carved into the city's baroque facades in the 17th century. With a local guide we walk from Porta Napoli to the Basilica di Santa Croce, its facade crowded with animals, cherubs and a great rose window, into the enclosed Piazza del Duomo, and on to Piazza Sant'Oronzo, where a partly excavated Roman amphitheatre of the 2nd century AD lies below street level beside the column of the city's patron saint.
Afternoon
We stop at a cartapesta workshop, where papier-mache saints are still shaped by hand, then sit down to lunch together.
Evening
The afternoon and evening are free, and the hotel is inside or beside the old town, so everything is a short walk.
Included
- Lecce with a local guide: Porta Napoli, the Basilica di Santa Croce, Piazza del Duomo, Piazza Sant'Oronzo and the Roman amphitheatre
- A cartapesta (papier-mache) workshop
- Lunch in Lecce
Free time: Afternoon and evening free in Lecce
Activity: About 2.5 hours of flat walking on stone paving.
Otranto and the Salento coast
Lecce to Otranto and Punta Palascìa, then north along the coast to Roca and back to Lecce
- Breakfast, lunch and dinner
- Stay in Lecce
- Drive about 2 h
We drive 45 minutes to Otranto, a walled town on the Adriatic, and go first to the cathedral, whose floor is a single mosaic laid in 1163 to 1165 by a monk named Pantaleone: a Tree of Life carried on the backs of elephants, with Alexander the Great, King Arthur and the labours of the months among its branches. A side chapel holds the remains of the townspeople killed when an Ottoman force took Otranto in 1480.
Afternoon
Your guide walks you round the walls of the Aragonese castle and down to the harbour, and lunch is fish by the sea. In the afternoon we drive to Punta Palascìa, the most easterly point of mainland Italy, where on a clear day the mountains of Albania show across the strait. Then north along the cliffs to Roca, where we stop at the Grotta della Poesia, a round sinkhole in the limestone open to the sky with the sea flowing in beneath, and walk the cliff edge past the ruins of the old fortified town. Swimming is not allowed in the cave; we come to look.
Evening
Back in Lecce, we end with a farewell dinner.
Included
- Otranto with your guide: the cathedral and its mosaic floor, the castle walls and the harbour
- Lunch in Otranto
- Punta Palascìa, the most easterly point of mainland Italy
- The Grotta della Poesia at Roca, with the entry ticket
- Farewell dinner in Lecce
Easier option: Stay in Otranto for the afternoon at a harbour cafe or the beach below the walls; the van collects you on the way north.
More active option: Walk the coastal path from Otranto to Punta Palascìa with your guide, about 6 km, and meet the van at the lighthouse.
Activity: Wear shoes with grip: the cliff paths at Punta Palascìa and the rock around the Grotta della Poesia at Roca are uneven, with unfenced edges.
Lecce to Brindisi Airport
Lecce to Brindisi Airport (BDS), or by train to Bari
- Breakfast
- Drive about 45 min
Morning
A last breakfast in Lecce, and if your flight is later, time for a pasticciotto, the custard-filled pastry the city eats in the morning, and a final walk through the old town. Your guide sees the group to Brindisi Airport (BDS), about 40 minutes away, with a transfer leaving mid-morning; book a flight leaving after about 12:30 pm. Brindisi connects through Rome, Milan and other European hubs for the flight home. If you are flying from Bari instead, we book you on a train from Lecce to Bari Centrale, about an hour and a half to two hours, and you take the airport train from there: tell us when you book, and plan on a flight after about 3 pm. If you want to stay longer in the Salento, or carry on to the Amalfi Coast on the other side of the country, ask us and we can add nights in Lecce or connect you to our Amalfi Coast trip.
Included
- Drop-off at Brindisi Airport (BDS), or a train ticket from Lecce to Bari Centrale
Activity: Book a flight from Brindisi after about 12:30 pm, or from Bari after about 3 pm.
- Bari1 night
- Matera2 nights
- Valle d'Itria3 nights
- Lecce2 nights
- Overnight stop
- Day trip
- By boat or train
Wildlife and weather: Spring and early autumn are warm and good for walking; July and August can pass 40 C inland and the coast is at its busiest in August, so we keep walks to the morning. The olive harvest runs from about late October.
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Before you book
Right for you?
Good for you if you want
- Travellers who want Puglia and Matera without changing hotel every night
- Food lovers who want to cook and taste, not just eat out
- People who like early starts at the famous places and free afternoons after
- First-timers in southern Italy who want the driving and the bookings handled
Not for you if you want
- Step-free access: Matera's Sassi and Ostuni are steep stone steps
- A beach holiday: the coast comes in mornings and afternoons, not whole days
- Travellers who want a city hotel every night: three nights are at a farmhouse in the countryside
- Anyone looking for nightlife in the evenings at the masseria
Book flights after we confirm your seat.
8 nights
Where you'll stay
Your hotels are named in your trip confirmation.
- Bari1 night
- Matera2 nights
- Valle d'Itria3 nights
- Lecce2 nights
One price
What's in the price
Included
Accommodation
- 8 nights: 1 in Bari near the old town, 2 in Matera in or beside the Sassi, 3 at a masseria (a restored farmhouse) in the Valle d'Itria, 2 in Lecce inside or beside the old town
- Central hotels of at least a 3-star-plus standard, named when we confirm your dates
- Rooms shared, or your own for a supplement
- Local tourist taxes
Transport
- Pick-up at Bari Karol Wojtyła Airport (BRI)
- Drop-off at Brindisi Airport (BDS), or a train ticket from Lecce to Bari Centrale
- Our own air-conditioned minibus and driver for the group for the whole trip
- The van to and from Cisternino on the free evening of day 5
Your guide
- A See Sight Tours guide with the group for the whole trip
- Local guides in Matera, Alberobello and Lecce
- Quiet-guide headsets for every guest on the guided walks, so you hear the guide without the group bunching in narrow lanes
Activities
- Bari: evening walk in Bari Vecchia
- Trani: the cathedral, its crypts and the Swabian castle
- Matera: the Sassi, Santa Maria de Idris, a cave house and the Palombaro Lungo cistern
- Matera: the Murgia Timone viewpoint
- Alberobello: Rione Monti, Aia Piccola and the Trullo Sovrano
- Valle d'Itria: olive farm visit and olive oil tasting
- Valle d'Itria: orecchiette lesson with a local cook
- Locorotondo: wine tasting at a cantina
- Polignano a Mare: the old town and Lama Monachile
- Ostuni: the old town and the cathedral
- Lecce: guided walk and a cartapesta workshop
- Otranto: the cathedral mosaic, the castle walls and the harbour
- Salento coast: Punta Palascìa and the Grotta della Poesia at Roca (entry ticket)
Meals
- Breakfast daily (8)
- 4 lunches: Trani, the orecchiette lesson, Lecce and Otranto
- 4 dinners: a welcome dinner in Bari, Matera, the masseria and a farewell dinner in Lecce
- An olive oil tasting and a wine tasting
Not included
- International flights to Bari and home from Brindisi or Bari
- Travel insurance
- Visa or travel authorisation fees, if any apply to you (such as ETIAS, which is not in operation yet and has no confirmed start date)
- Meals not listed (3 lunches and 4 dinners are on you)
- Drinks, except at the tastings
- Tips
- Optional activities, such as a boat trip to Polignano's sea caves
- Beach loungers and umbrellas on the coast
- Personal expenses
Extras
- Room of your own
- CAD 1,020 (estimated price)
When you can go
Dates and prices
Pick your start date when you request to book. We check that date and confirm it in your quote.
Prefer to travel without a group or guide? Ask us about arranging hotels, transport and city tours for you to travel independently.
Before you book
Booking terms
Nothing is charged now. Full terms and the cancellation schedule come with your quote, before you accept.
Business addresses
See Sight Tours Trips (USA): 3172 N Rainbow Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89108, United StatesSee Sight Tours Trips (Canada): 5305 50 Avenue, #1091, Red Deer, AB T4N 4B6, Canada+1-888-961-6584Guest reviews
What guests say
Reviews from guests on our day tours.
Jane
October 06, 2026
5/5
Susan
October 06, 2026
5/5
Tom L
October 05, 2026
5/5
MandL83
October 05, 2026
5/5
Darren O
October 05, 2026
5/5
Good to know
Questions
What does the price include?
Eight nights in central hotels and a Valle d'Itria masseria, breakfast daily, 4 lunches and 4 dinners, an olive oil tasting, an orecchiette lesson and a wine tasting, our own minibus and driver, airport transfers, local tourist taxes, your See Sight Tours guide throughout with local guides in Matera, Alberobello and Lecce, and every entry in the day plan.
How big is the group, and will the sights be crowded?
The small-group trip runs with 7 to 12 guests, with quiet-guide headsets on the walks. We time the busy places early: the Sassi of Matera from about 8:30 am with a timed early entry, Alberobello by 10 am and Polignano at 9 am, before the day-trip coaches, where larger tours of 16 to 29 people wait in line.
Who leads the trip?
A See Sight Tours guide travels with the group from the Bari welcome dinner to the Brindisi airport drop-off. Local guides join for the Sassi in Matera, the trulli in Alberobello and baroque Lecce, and a local cook runs the orecchiette lesson. We name your guide when we confirm your dates.
How fit do I need to be?
Moderately fit. Most days are 2 to 3 hours of easy walking, but Matera on day 3 means about 3 hours on steep lanes and stone steps, and Ostuni climbs to its cathedral. On each demanding day you can skip the hardest part and wait at a cafe, and the longest drive is about 2.5 hours.
I am travelling solo. What is the single supplement?
A room of your own is from CAD 1,020 more, about 17 percent of the trip price, shown up front with no surprise at checkout. If you would rather share, tell us when you book and we check whether another solo guest on your date would like to share a twin room.
When is the best time to visit Puglia?
April to June and September to October. The days are warm, the beaches at Polignano and Otranto are warm enough to swim from about June, and the towns are calmer than in August, when Italians take their holidays on this coast. July and August can pass 40 C inland, and the olive harvest starts in late October.
How does booking work?
The small group starts from CAD 5,995 per person sharing, with taxes, and private trips from CAD 10,790. Pick your start date and request to book; we confirm your place within 24 hours and no payment is taken until we do. Prices are indicative until your dates are confirmed.
Can we travel privately or on our own dates?
Yes. The private version is for your party only, on a date you choose, with your own guide and vehicle. If you would rather travel independently on your own dates, ask us from the dates section and we quote the same hotels, masseria, drivers and local guides for you.
Do Canadians or Americans need a visa for Italy?
No visa is needed for a tourist stay of up to 90 days in the Schengen area with a Canadian or US passport valid for at least three months after you leave. The EU's ETIAS travel authorisation is not in operation yet and its start date is not confirmed; we tell you if your dates need it.
Should I fly into Bari or Brindisi?
Fly into Bari (BRI), where the trip starts, and home from Brindisi (BDS), 40 minutes from Lecce on the last morning. If Bari is cheaper for your flight home, we book you a train from Lecce to Bari Centrale instead, about 1.5 to 2 hours, so plan on a flight after about 3 pm.
What is a masseria, and why stay three nights in one?
A masseria is a fortified farmhouse, often centuries old, set among olive groves and now run as a country hotel. Staying three nights in one between Alberobello, Locorotondo and Ostuni means no packing for three days, dinner cooked from the farm, and short drives to the trulli, the coast and the white towns.
Can I combine this trip with the Amalfi Coast?
Yes. Our Amalfi Coast and Capri trip starts in Naples, about three and a half to four hours from Bari by road or train, so the two fit back to back. Ask us when you book and we arrange the nights and the transfer between them, in either order.
See Sight Tours has been providing travel services across North America since 2006. Operating in 20 cities across Canada and the USA, the company specializes in small group tours that offer personalized, high-quality experiences for travelers.
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