Pretty towns in Puglia you’ll love: my top 7

My shortlist of pretty towns in Puglia we adored with our kids and recommend to include in your Puglia itinerary.

Puglia is one of my favorite destinations for a family vacation.

We have visited may times, always drawn back to it by the mellow charm of its pretty towns, its delicious food and the wonderful hues of blue, dusty olive green and white that paint the palette of this stunning region.

Puglia is full of adorable, child friendly towns. Today, I share the prettiest towns in Puglia we explored and loved with the kids!

See also >> our complete guide to Puglia with kids

Monopoli

Monopoli is my favorite town in Puglia.

It is located on the West coast of the region, on the Adriatic sea, and it is a tiny gem of a place with a delightful town center developing around a small port, an imposing castle and an enclosed square.

Monopoli is a small place.

You can visit the old town center in less than an hour, but it is so pretty and has surroundings so nice, it is the ideal place to call home for a while and use as a base to explore Val d’Itria and the area of Bari.

In Monopoli itself we loved the adorable dainty streets, with pretty flowers and laundry hanging in the sun; the pretty main square, where its family friendly cafes and live music in summer.

We loved the sports pitches in front of the beach, where you find local kids and we of course couldn’t get over the pretty beaches of these area, that stretch sandy and soft to the south of the town.

I love Monopoli so much, I find it one of the best coastal towns in Italy for families.

You can read here >>> my guide to Monopoli with kids

Ostuni

Ostuni is one of the best known towns in Puglia and a beloved destination for local and overseas visitors, and with good reason!

Perched on a hilltop in Val d’Itria, between Bari and Brindisi, Ostuni is a small jewel of a place with some characteristcs that make it space : its’ whitewashed alleys, which give it a peculiar Grecian appearance and a great offering of tours and tourism services.

The town is small and perfect. Here, you find the mellow atmospheres typical of Puglia towns, pretty views, fantastic restaurants and tours that offer the opportunity to cook, taste and explore Ostuni and the surrounding area.

Not to be missed is its town center, prerry cathedral and the views over the city and surrounding land from the nearby belvedere.

You can find out all about Ostuni and how to visit on my Ostuni travel guide.

Alberobello

Alberobello is maybe the most famous town in Puglia and it always makes list of pretty towns to visit because truly, it is hard to overstate how cute its trulli are!

Trulli are a type of construction unique to this part of Italy and are found in their highest numbers in Alberobello, the ‘trulli capital’.

They are a big tourist magnet so, when you come to Alberobello, you are very much on the most beaten tourist track: however, they are so reminiscent of fairy villages and they feel so much like a magical, out of this word kingdom, I feel they are worth seeing, especially with kids!

Alberobello with kids for me is all about imagination.

The best things to do with kids here are strolling around the trulli areas of Monti and Aia Piccola, trying to imagine what it would be like to live in one (you can also stay in one for the night, like we did. It’s cool!) and learn about local life in a trullo by visiting Trullo Sovrano, the ‘sovereign trullo’ at the top of the town, now a museum.

While busy with day trippers, I find Alberobello very much worth a visit or an overnight stay.

This is our guide to Alberobello with kids

Locorotondo

Locorotodo is just beside Alberobello and a place most people don’t even realize exists, like it often happens to pretty places that happen to be beside a unique attraction.

However, I find Locorotondo an absolute delight and while I don’t want to banalize it calling it a hidden gem, it truly is a place that feels hidden and special, due to the lack of crowds and mellow atmospheres.

Locorotondo means ’round place’ and the name describes the shape of the town, which develops like a circle around the main square.

As you explore its meandering, curved streets, you find a town that is car free, full of pretty corners, whitewashed house, flowery balconies and windows and cats lounging in the sun.

If you are looking for a quiet, subdued, adorable little town in Puglia for a stroll with the kids, this is one of my top picks!

You can find here >>> my guide to Locorotondo

Gallipoli

Gallipoli is a very pretty town in Puglia and a famous summer destination, one of the most known in the area.

The town right on the sea and the first thing you see as you leave the modern city behind you and approach its historical center are the mighty city walls embracing the town and sheltering it form the sea.

It it is quite a sight!

The old center of Gallipoli is lovely with kids. The town is mostly whitewashed and car free, it has a lovely promenade along the bastions and it has a small sandy beach.

There are several wonderful sandy beaches in the area (this is Salento area, famous for having some of best beaches in Puglia), you can get boat tours for here and you are also in close proximity to kids’ attractions such as splash Aquapark, an easy place for entertaining kids in summer!

You can read here >>> my guide to Gallipoli with kids

Martina Franca

Martina Franca is a pretty town in Puglia with something special: absolutely stunning baroque architecture.

Martina is a delightful and quiet center, with lovely whitewashed houses not dissimilar from those in other towns in the area.

However, intertwined with them, you also have here incredibly elaborate churches that add to Martina a sense of grandeur and elegance that is unique to it.

Visiting this pretty corner of Puglia with kids is easy.

The town has large parts that are completely car free, it is walkable and well served and has a mellow atmosphere that makes it perfect as a home base for a few days, as well as a for a stroll one afternoon while road tripping in Puglia.

You can find here >> my guide to Martina Franca with kids

Trani

Trani is a small town on the Adriatic coast that makes my list of the prettiest towns in Puglia on account on one thing: its breathtaking duomo on the sea.

Trani is hardly ever mentioned in Puglia itineraries and I believe this is because the more common image of Puglia is that of whitewashed towns of Grecian feel.

However, it hard to understate the jaw-dropping beauty of Trani’s duomo as you first get sight of it.

The duomo is in the most unique position, on a pier, almost as it if was a lighthouse and it stands out against and almost endless backdrop of blue sea and blue sky, that make its light colored facade look like a vision.

The duomo alone is worth a detour to Trani but personally, I also enjoy the rest of the town. The marina is pretty, the park is beautiful and kid friendly and the town is local and not half as commercialized as many who make international news.

So while Trani may not be the town you see on glossy brochures, it is one of the prettiest place to visit in Puglia with kids and one I recommend everyone to even just briefly see.

You can find here >>> my travel guide to Trani

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