--- title: Visiting Puglia — Day Trips from Molfetta by a Local Host description: "Explore Puglia from Molfetta: Trani and Bari by train, Polignano, Alberobello and Ostuni by car, plus inland gems most miss — Castel del Monte, Canosa, Altamura." image: https://www.jejahouse.com/hubfs/Visit%20Puglia.jpg --- [Skip to content](http://www.jejahouse.com/visiting-puglia#main-content) [![JEJA House logo](https://www.jejahouse.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Screenshot%202026-08-06%20at%2011.05.16.png?width=1400&height=1221&name=Screenshot%202026-08-06%20at%2011.05.16.png)Homepage](https://www.jejahouse.com/?hsLang=en) - [About JEJA House](https://www.jejahouse.com/about-jeja-house?hsLang=en) - [Explore Molfetta](https://www.jejahouse.com/exploring-molfetta?hsLang=en) - [Visiting Puglia](https://www.jejahouse.com/visiting-puglia) - [Contact](https://www.jejahouse.com/contact-us-and-about?hsLang=en) - [English](https://www.jejahouse.com/?hsLang=en) - [Italiano](https://www.jejahouse.com/it/?hsLang=en) English Select a language ✕ - [Italiano](https://www.jejahouse.com/it/cosa-vedere-in-puglia) - [English](https://www.jejahouse.com/visiting-puglia) - [About JEJA House](https://www.jejahouse.com/about-jeja-house?hsLang=en) - [Explore Molfetta](https://www.jejahouse.com/exploring-molfetta?hsLang=en) - [Visiting Puglia](https://www.jejahouse.com/visiting-puglia) - [Contact](https://www.jejahouse.com/contact-us-and-about?hsLang=en) - [English](https://www.jejahouse.com/?hsLang=en) - [Italiano](https://www.jejahouse.com/it/?hsLang=en) English Select a language - [Italiano](https://www.jejahouse.com/it/cosa-vedere-in-puglia) - [English](https://www.jejahouse.com/visiting-puglia) # Puglia on your doorstep Molfetta isn't just a lovely place to stay - it's a great base. Some of Italy's most beautiful towns, beaches and food are a short drive or a train ride away. [See the apartment](https://www.jejahouse.com/about-jeja-house?hsLang=en) ![Visit Puglia](https://www.jejahouse.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Visit%20Puglia.jpg?width=800&height=533&name=Visit%20Puglia.jpg "Visit Puglia") Visiting Puglia ## How far do you want to go? ![Visit Bari](https://www.jejahouse.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Visit%20Bari.jpg?width=800&height=533&name=Visit%20Bari.jpg) ### Half a day, no car needed Take a regional train and be somewhere new in around 30 minutes. **Trani** and its famous honey-coloured cathedral, right on the sea, or **Bari**, a city living a renaissance with its raucous old town. Both are an easy ride from Molfetta station.  ![Visit Polignano](https://www.jejahouse.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Visit%20Polignano.jpg?width=800&height=533&name=Visit%20Polignano.jpg) ### A proper day out Take a car or train south for the postcard Puglia: **Polignano a Mare** on its cliff, **Monopoli**'s little harbour, the trulli of **Alberobello**, the white lanes of **Ostuni**. An hour or so each way - go early, soak it up, drive back at dusk. ![Visit Salento](https://www.jejahouse.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Visit%20Salento.jpg?width=800&height=533&name=Visit%20Salento.jpg) ### More of an adventure Give it a full day and you can reach more or less anywhere in Puglia: the baroque city of **Lecce**, the caves at **Castellana**, the beaches of **Salento**, the or the wild **Gargano** headland to the north. ![Castel del Monte](https://www.jejahouse.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Castel%20del%20Monte.jpg?width=800&height=533&name=Castel%20del%20Monte.jpg) ### Castel del Monte A perfect octagon on a wild hilltop: eight sides, eight towers, eight rooms per floor, built for Emperor Frederick II around 1240 - with no moat, no kitchen, no stables and no agreed purpose. Nobody knows, which is exactly why it's so incredible. A UNESCO site, and so iconic it's on the Italian 1-cent coin. ![Canosa i](https://www.jejahouse.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Canosa%20i.jpg?width=800&height=533&name=Canosa%20i.jpg) ### Canosa di Puglia One of the great cities of Italian antiquity, hiding under a modern town. Beneath Canosa lie the **Ipogei** - monumental underground tombs cut for Daunian nobles 2,300 years ago. The treasures found here fill the world's museums - the anthropomorphic vases are on permanent show at the **British Museum** - but the tombs themselves are still here, and you can go down into them with local archaeologists, almost alone. ![Man of Altamura](https://www.jejahouse.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Man%20of%20Altamura.jpg?width=800&height=533&name=Man%20of%20Altamura.jpg) ### Altamura Famous for **Pane di Altamura DOP**, arguably Italy's finest bread - thick-crusted, golden, baked in wood-fired ovens from local durum wheat. But there's more: a cathedral commissioned by the same Frederick II who built Castel del Monte, and, in a cave just outside town, the **Man of Altamura** - a Neanderthal fused into the rock for around 150,000 years. ## **Follow the food, not the map** The best way to plan a Puglia trip isn't by monument, it's by plate - and by glass. Come to Bari and its coast for **riso, patate e cozze**, the classic Barese "tiella" of rice, potatoes and mussels baked together in one pan, a proper local dish most visitors never hear about. Head inland to the Valle d'Itria for **bombette**, little grilled pork parcels cooked over coals in the butcher-grills. And drink what the land makes: Puglia is one of Italy's great wine regions, built on big, sun-soaked reds - **Primitivo** (the ancestor of California's Zinfandel) and the darker, plummier **Negroamaro**, with crisp **Verdeca** whites and rosés from the **Valle d'Itria**. Tell us what you feel like eating and drinking and we can point you to the town - or the *cantina* - to drive to. ## Ready to explore Puglia? 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