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Santa Maria Di Leuca and other locations in Puglia

RachelP

10+ Posts
Hi all,
We are a family of 6 people. This will be our 4th trip to Italy and we like to explore a new region or two each time. The kids are older - 8,12,15 and 17, so not dealing with little ones. We want to explore Puglia region but I am struggling to come up with reasonably priced accommodation. This will be beginning the last week of August 2020 and going into the first week or 2 of September. We are slow travelers and will be away 12 weeks or so in total.
I am looking for a few different spots to base ourselves. I have found a lovely apartment close to the beach for a really good price in S.M Di Leuca, but am wondering how nice the area is? We enjoy taking the days slowly, with coffee and pastries, beach time, etc., with a sight seeing day here and there.
What are your thoughts?
 
We based in Lecce and did a day trip to Santa Maria via Otranto. The coast en route was wild and beautiful and a very scenic drive. The one thing I can suggest is to look at what constitutes a "beach" area. My memory is that the coastline around Santa Maria was very rocky and that the small sandy areas looked like they were very rough. We did love the entire time in Puglia circling around the Lecce area and especially enjoyed the regional foods there.
 
Thanks for the info. Yes that was a concern of mine also. I asked for pictures, but that doesn't show how rough it is. Good tip.
 
I asked for pictures, but that doesn't show how rough it is. Good tip.

Can you see anything using Google Maps and/or Street View for the beach areas??

We spread our time in Puglia over 7 days. We based in Lecce the entire time, but would have been better having a second base further south or west to reduce some of our transit times for our day trips. Our loops took us to Otranto, Grotta Zinzulusa, Santa Maria di Leuca, Gallipoli, Taranto, Metaponto, Matera, the Trulli circuit (which included Alberobello and Locorotondo), and Ostuni. Matera deserved more time than we spent and particularly enjoyed Locorotondo -- reminded me a lot of being in Greece with the whitewashed houses, narrow lanes, and a great local wine. We avoided Bari and only did a stop in Brindisi on the way back home since we're not much into city visits.

We did a beach day near Lecce at an area south of San Cataldo in mid-June. Was very windy with coarse, blowing sand so not the best day of the trip.

We enjoyed the menu differences between Puglia and our annual base (Lucca/Tuscany). We did have to work a little harder to understand and to be understood with the Pugliese dialect, but nothing major. The sensory overload for carved cherubs in the Lecce baroque churches took a while to recover from, but a little wine or beer goes a long way to eliminating that problem.

Be sure and look around for local festivals during your stay -- sometimes the best part of a trip to find a hidden treat.
 

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