Best Beach Breaks in Puglia
With 700 km coastline, Puglia has a perfect beach for everyone. Here are my recommendations for the best beach breaks in Puglia.
Talking about the best beach breaks in Puglia, says a lot, as there are so many wonderful beaches to choose between. Still, it’s the kind of information I’d prefer to keep for myself.
Recently I met up with an experienced travel writer and asked him whether he shared his personal favourites with his readers.
– Well, he said, recognizing the dilemma: There is this really good local restaurant near where I live, that I like to keep to myself.
I feel the same kind of proprietary private attachment to the beaches in Puglia, so it is with the utmost reluctance I share my list of the best beach breaks in Puglia. Yet with 700 km coastline, the heel should have plenty of sea, sand and sun lotion for everyone .
Vieste
Breathtaking views of white limestone cliffs and emerald waters characterize the Gargano promontory, where the most popular seaside resorts are Mattinata, Peschici and Vieste. I prefer Vieste for a family vacation as the broad sandy beaches and tranquil, shallow water is perfect for children who are just learning to swim. Besides Vieste has a decent size for a seaside town with lots of shops, restaurants and gelaterie as well as a museum, medieval town centre and castle. The drive there is one of my favourite Puglia itineraries. There’s lots to do for all members of the family. And for a more outstanding seaside experience you can always take an outing to the Tremiti islands, where there is excellent scuba diving and pristine secluded coves.
Trani and Otranto
There are two kinds of beachgoers in Puglia. Those who prefer the rugged east coast, where the Adriatic brings fresh water and rolling waves. And those who would rather go to the sandy dunes and warm, tranquil Ionian Sea on the west coast of the Salento peninsula. I belong to the western shores, but like the idea of a swim in the sea within flip-flop walking distance from a decent city, and these can only be found on the east coast in Trani and Otranto.
Porto Badisco
South of Otranto the coast becomes dramatic with relatively high cliffs and deep caves inviting snorklers, climbers and divers to take a plunge. There’s not much room for sunbathing, but action and adventure seekers love the thrill of exploring the rocky shores in Porto Badisco, Marina Serra or Gagliano del Capo.
Gallipoli and Porto Cesareo
Apart from the charming Seno della Purità, all beaches in Gallipoli are outside the city limits. My favourite is Punta della Suina because of the walk through fragrant pine forest and the tiny island where you can dive for live and fossilized sea urchins. If you are interested in more refreshing pine forest shade, you won’t find it much better than in Portoselvaggio, 15 km north of Gallipoli, and a bigger beach island with some pine trees and an opportunity to sail or wade your beach gear across can be found in Porto Cesareo where you’ll also find a protected nature reserve with hatching turtles and corals.
San Pietro in Bevagna
North of Porto Cesareo the Ionian coast stretches out in spacious beaches with fine white sand and soft dunes covered in wild rosemary and thyme. The calm, clean-looking, warm water is not too deep and not to shallow but decends evenly, and on a very clear day when the light is right you can glimpse the mountains of Calabria. That is why I love Campomarino and San Pietro in Bevagna and the southern coast with free and direct all day places in the sun.
Have your been to Puglia, and if so which one is your favourite beach?
More insiration for holidays in Puglia
The strange symmetry of Castel del Monte
Budding balconies in Grottaglie
Shamefully I’ve not been to Puglia. My Italian beach experiences have been at Sperlonga near Gaeta, at the town at the top of the Cinque Terre, damn what’s it called… and the Amalfi Coast. Sperlonga was definitely the pick – it was my first European beach experience as well with the sunbeds and umbrellas and baking bodies. Quite an eye opener for a Wandering Kiwi :)
Italy has got a lot of beaches, and you’ve made a great pick, though I prefer to bring my own sunbed and umbrella:)
I have yet to visit Puglia or any Italian beach for that matter. I do have friends that recently returned from a two week trip to Puglia and they raved abut it – so I might get there yet. Porto Badisco sounds like its worth exploring.
I haven’t been to Puglia, but would gladly spend some time on any of these beautiful beaches. Depends on my mood which type of beach suits me. Right now, I’m in the mood for one of the west coast’s warm and sandy ones.
I can see why hikers like Leigh would go for the dramatic south eastern coast around Porto Badisco, but personally I’ll follow Cathy and be guided around by mood (which tends to be rather lazy most of the time).
I had no idea the beaches of Puglia were so popular and beautiful. I understand your reluctance to share, but thank you for doing so.
I didn’t know much about Puglia but I feel your pain. It’s hard giving away a secret like this when you know people will be interested. You don’t want to make a great place touristy and overcrowded.
Not been to the heel yet, but it certainly looks like you’re spoiled for beach choices down there. I remember seeing quite a few beaches in Marche, another not-so-much-visited part of Italy, lots of colourful umbrellas and mostly just Italian sun-worshippers.
My, but what a very tempting post. It can be so hard to know where to go on vacation – it is wonderful to have a “local” to show the way. Thanks, Mette!
There are lots of sandy beaches on the east coast as well! For example Monopoli, where I live has a long expanse of white sand beaches as well as coves with rocks round the edge and white sand in the middle…
Of course. Puglia has the most wonderful beaches everywhere:) I have only visited one beach in Monopoli which took some time to find and get down to. It was a nice sandy cove just south of town, and it was absolutely recommendable.
All beaches in Puglia are very beautiful…I would like to add another marvelous beach near Brindisi. The beach of Torre Guaceto. Torre Guaceto is a nature reserve and a protected area, the water is crystal clear and the the surroundings are beautiful ! :)
Thanks for sharing that tip Hetty:) I have tried to find Torre Guaceto several times without remembering the name or other details apart from ‘nice beach near Brindisi’ so we have always enden up by Torre Santa Sabina or such place (which is not my favourite). Now I will know precisely where to go, which is a great help.
SO kind! Thanks for sharing your list of great beaches. I’ve only been to the beach (well when I was seventeen I went to one outside Roma) at Sant’ Elpidio a Mare and San Georgio, while visiting family. Now I want to go on holiday in Puglia! (sorry family)
The beaches in Marche are fantastic, but you can’t compare them with those in Puglia. On Salento there are no train tracks lining the coast, there is more free breach and you don’t have to wade half way to Croatia or Albania before the water gets deep.