Puglia for Summer 2017 - recommendations please :)

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We are considering Puglia next year - any recommendations for villas or the best area to go to? We are a family of 6 (DD's 10, 8 and 6yo twins).
Will we need a car? Also, for those of you who have been - are package holidays a god bet or is it cheaper to book villa, flights and car hire separately? This will be the first time we have flown with the girls. Any help gratefully recieved! Thanks x

We went to Puglia this year. We had a good holiday, it was interesting, but I won't be going back. It is a very poor part of Italy and we just found it very hard work. Towns and beaches you would want to visit are very spread out so you definitely need a car (we drove from UK, and were away for a month). I have been to many other parts of Italy and whilst in other parts almost every little town is worth a visit that wasn't the case in Puglia. They are few and far between, so when you do find somewhere beautiful it is overrun. One mistake we made was staying somewhere too isolated and rural. I would suggest being closer to a larger town like Lecce, Galipoli or Brindisi than we were, if you go as being more rural and inland meant a big expedition if we wanted to get to the coast, water parks, historical towns or even decent supermarkets or restaurants. On the plus side the weather was great and I certainly feel we saw another side to Italy.

Hopefully someone who has been on a more package type holiday will be along to give another side to your questions.

A few years ago we went to Sicily and I think that was more suited to a pretty similar type of family holiday. Great weather, short transfers from airports, lots to see and beautiful all round.

Toddler friendly Sicily in October?

Hi. We'd like to go to Sicily this October as we love Italy and it should be a bit warmer than the mainland. Can anyone recommend a hotel or villa? We have an almost 4 year old and a baby who has recently turned one. Many thanks!

Sorry I thought I'd started a new thread! Will re post!

abear, I shall use your review as a lesson for my (Puglian) kids this term

Puglia is becoming more and more touristy as the years pass (voted most beautiful Italian region last month) but I'd say that, by and large, it's still a place for the independent traveller rather than anyone looking for package-tour type holidays. Most of our tourists are either German (they drive down) or middle-aged British Airways tour tourists iyswim.

There are lots of all-inc hotels and resorts but they tend to be almost exclusively populated by Italian families.

Both the Salento and the Gargano (my own favourite) are relatively touristy (not that we're talking the Blackpool that Sorrento has become mind!) with hotels, restaurants and clean sea/beaches.