Routebari

Apulia Day Trips

Take day trips from Bari into the Apulian landscape where the octagonal Castel del Monte, the coastal cathedral of Trani, the white-walled town of Ostuni, and the Sassi cave city of Matera within two hours offer some of the most extraordinary monuments and landscapes in southern Italy.

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1
Castel del Monte
Visit Castel del Monte, the UNESCO World Heritage castle built by Frederick II around 1240 on a hilltop in the Murge plateau where the mysterious octagonal plan with its eight octagonal towers, the mathematically precise orientation, and the complete absence of any military or residential function have generated centuries of theories about the castle true purpose.
2
Trani
Visit Trani, the most beautiful coastal city in Apulia where the Romanesque cathedral built directly on the rock above the sea, the medieval Jewish quarter, the port filled with sailing boats, and the white stone architecture create the finest coastal townscape on the Adriatic, the cathedral considered one of the masterpieces of southern Italian Romanesque.
3
Ostuni
Visit Ostuni, the white city on its hilltop above the olive plains of Brindisi province where the brilliant whitewashed medieval town with its cathedral and the surrounding network of trulli farmhouses and masserie creates one of the most photographed townscapes in Apulia, the view of the white city rising from the silver-green olive groves quintessential southern Italy.
4
Matera
Visit Matera, the UNESCO World Heritage cave city in the neighboring Basilicata region where the sassi cave dwellings carved into the ravine walls create the most extraordinary inhabited urban landscape in Europe, the city selected as a European Capital of Culture 2019 now hosting international art installations and hospitality within the ancient rock-cut chambers.
5
Polignano a Mare
Visit Polignano a Mare, the cliffside town 30 kilometers south of Bari where the old town perched on white limestone cliffs above the turquoise Adriatic, the sea caves below the town accessible by boat, and the famous beach in the natural amphitheater below the cliff create the most dramatic coastal setting near the Apulian capital.
6
Ruvo di Puglia
Visit Ruvo di Puglia, the hilltop town in the Murge plateau near Bari famous for the Romanesque cathedral and the Museo Jatta housing one of the finest collections of ancient Greek ceramics in Italy including the 4th century BC Krater of Talos, the museum treasures representing the Greek colonial heritage of the Apulian hinterland.