Advice on good locations in Sicily or Puglia

[Mrgrinlingscat]

Hello, it’s all a bit last minute but been looking at holidays for end of next month. Fancy Italy again & some options are coming up in both Sicily and Puglia but I know nothing about them & whether there’s nice areas or some to avoid. Any recommendations please to suit a family wanting to be near the coast, close to a town/history but fairly quiet so not worried about nightlife. Noticed that most of the Tui holidays in Sicily only offered private transfer from/to the airport. Is this usual & are there other public transport options?
Last year we stayed close to Sorrento, loved Italy but found the traffic crazy in that area & the fumes weren’t good for my asthma.
Any help would be appreciated.

We went to the Salento area of Puglia self catering several years when the kids were younger.
It’s known as the Caribbean of the South for its clear sea and sandy beaches. Food is great and the people are very welcoming. You do need a car, though.
The last time we went (3 years ago) tourism had increased so much that beaches were very crowded and traffic jams were a regular event.
We used this agency.
https://www.costedelsud.it/

Sicily is beautiful. My happy place! Tui accommodations are few and far apart so it wouldn't be feasonable for them to run coach transfers between each one.

Giardini Naxos is a nice resort with easy access to Taormina and Mount Etna. It's very easy and cheap to get there by bus or train from Catania.

Puglua There s good train from Bari including from airport down coast then inland to lecce. You could choose somewhere en route. Or several places . With taxis when needed.
Look up bari to lecce on Google maps to see the train route. Go to monopoli on the coast.

The beaches in Puglia weren’t great so ideally have a pool but some of the towns just stunning.

We loved Sicily last year but the main places insanely busy - you literally w physically find a spot on the beach in cefalu in August. Half of Italy is there. Again a pool would help. We loved Syracuse Taormina was lovely but again absolutely rammed in August.

San Vito Lo Capo in Sicily. It's beautiful.

We rented this place last year :
https://www.essentialitaly.co.uk/puglia/villas/casa-d-ciccilloz

We had a car but it was perfectly situated for exploring the coast and a lot of the surrounding towns. We had a brilliant time.

Thank you for the replies I’m going to sit down later & start the search again with all the suggestions. What are the roads like in both areas? I wasn’t prepared for the constant Vespas, coaches, cars & smoking!!

Fly to Catania and rent a tiny car (I mean it roads are really narrow in towns) road trip looping up and down the east coast

We got the train round Sicily. Far less stressful than driving. Trains there are v pleasant. Did Palermo / Cefalu / Taormina / Syracuse 3-4 days in each. But were with teens who don’t like rural we need to be where the action is!

My parents pretty well travelled hired a car with friends in Sicily a few years ago and swore never to drive on holiday again it was so stressful. If you do drive carry passports at all times the police like to pull people over. We even got this on the train! But luckily had everything on us.

Same. The roads in Sicily were terrifying and the driving in Palermo is just another level of crazy.

And I've been to India! 😂

Hmm as beautiful as it looks I’m having 2nd thoughts as don’t fancy driving in fear inducing traffic on tiny roads. So how about round the lakes up north, any suggestions?

We stayed near Ostuni in Puglia. It was nice and much less traffic drama than closer to Rome except for the occasional poorly signposted one way system. Roads were rural and fairly quiet, no worse than lots of English roads.

OP, I think going at the end of June is the perfect time to drive around Sicily or Puglia. The season will have just started, temperatures will hopefully be bearable and you’ll miss the August chaos. I’d certainly do it then, or September, because I’m useless over 35 degrees C.

In Puglia there’s the A14 motorway (tolls) which travels almost the whole length of the “heel”. Sicily only has a motorway from Messina to Siracusa IIRC.

Italian towns weren’t built for cars. But neither were English country lanes.

By Italian law you are supposed to have your ID (Italians mostly use driving licences or ID cards) with you at all times. It has been like that at least since the fascist era.

This, also Favignana island and Erice. The west coast seems to be forgotten about when it comes to holidays, which means it's not so busy!

What are the places in Sicily you are considering?

In Sicily, if you want to go to smaller places and especially to several of them in the same day you will need a car. But driving and parking in the cities is hard.

Nice places on the coast with access to a sandy beaches aren't that common as many older towns and villages are fairly close to the coast but not right on it. Many sandy beaches don't even have proper villages but are just clusters of holiday homes built after 1960.

Everywhere will be backed in the summer and there will be a lot of locals from the wide surrounding area spending the day at the beach, especially at weekends, plus the people that spend the whole summer at their holiday homes (the school summer holidays last 3 months, mid June to mid September).

The situation shouldn't be much different in Puglia.

To be fair we were in Sicily smack in holiday season as stuck with school holidays. The beaches in Sicily were insane. So packed.

Went to puglia a few years ago much easier driving we enjoyed it but the beaches are quite rubbish small shingly and crowded. Ideally you would have access to a pool.

@Pinkywoo Yep! We went in June and it was busy but not overwhelmingly crowded.

I live in Puglia.
The Salento is where Puglians that don't like to cross the border into "there be dragons" other regions go on holiday. Gallipoli is nightclub and nightlife central for Puglian youth so I'd give that a swerve.
I prefer the Gargano which is absolutely gorgeous. Vieste, Peschici etc.
By late June it will be in the high 30s and possibly into the 40s if that's a factor. And the humidity is unbearable. (I'm shipping out as usual for the summer 😂)
The roads are pretty good, and train travel is cheap and efficient.
I'd imagine Sicily would maybe be cheaper if that's a factor? Prices here are pretty much on a par with the UK right now. Ouch.

You clearly don't know Salento. The beaches are amazing, particularly those on the Ionian coast. There's one we call the Maldives, for obvious reasons.

OP, I spend all summer in Salento (the southern tip of Puglia). We're near Gallipoli, which has some great beaches and is a beautiful town, especially at night. Porto Cesarea and Punto Prosciutto are also stunning. My favourite place is Porto Selvaggio, which isn't a beach but swimming off the rocks into the purest, crystalline water.

You will need a car though in order to visit the best beaches.

Oh, and driving is fine; the main cities all have wide roads. There are no tolls, BTW, at least between Bari and Leuca.

We've been to Sicily a few times and would never do it without a car. Yes it is crazy in the cities but that's easily avoidable. Ir's just like driving anywhere else otherwise. In fact I see a lot more idiotic driving daily here in the UK than I ever saw in Sicily!

Thank you thank you! So much to look into. I’m off to Norway for a few days so will have to park this until I get back but I’m very grateful for the info. Ouch to high 30s/40c that’s not what’s showing on the weather guides in the holiday pages.

As per pp August in Italy insane for heat and crowds. Puglia is amazing though, Gargano is really stunning and I loved Monopoli and Molfetta.

Calabria is a little less tourist famous - Tropea is supposed to be really special.