Our exact family itinerary to spend 4 days in Puglia and Matera with kids and see some of the most beautiful and unique sites in Italy.
One of the best and most pleasant family trips we have taken in In Italy, is a short road trip we took between Puglia and Matera.
Puglia is a first family favorite for us, a place we have visited many times and tend to go back to over and over again. So we knew this part would be fun!
Matera, on the other hand, was new to us. I had been dreaming of going to Matera for years, but the distance from Rome (where I am from) and the difficulty of getting there by train had always stopped me.
Until this time!
Pushed by the wish to show the kids something a little different and treating myself to a trip that felt a little like and adventure, I planned 4 days in Puglia and Matera and I am happy to report we had the best family time ever!
During this trip, we say stunning towns, beautiful blue sea, we stayed in unique accommodation and saw out of this world beautiful Greek temples that we simply cannot believe most tourists don’t know about.
Today, I share with you our exact itinerary, accommodation and restaurants from this trip.
You can follow it as is, and have your 4 days in Puglia and Matera with your kids following our exact footsteps or use it as a baseline to make your own.
Either way, I trust you’ll love it! Safe travels!
This post is a trip report of our very own family trip to Puglia and Matera with our kids as well as an additional stop in Paestum and my opinions on driving in this area. All photos are my own and we paid in full for all our accommodation, meals, tours, car, etc.
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Table of Contents
4 days in Puglia and Matera with kids – itinerary summary
Day 1 – Arrival in Naples, pick up car rental, drive to Trani, night in Alberobello
Day 2 – Morning in Alberobello, lunch in Locorotondo, afternoon in Martina Franca, night in Matera
Day 3 – Day in Matera, night in Matera
Day 4 – Drive to Paestum, then to Rome, night in Rome (home)
Family road trip day 1
Matera is very far from Rome. Therefore, to limit the amount of time in the car, we decided we would start this trip by renting a car in Naples.
I drive anywhere in Italy and learned in Rome, so you can say I am very used to Italian traffic and way of driving. however I do not like to drive in Naples, so we picked up our car from the airport, to avoid the worst of inner city traffic.
This was a good decision but to be honest, it wasn’t seamless!
While the car we got was excellent and I have no complaints about the car company we used (Avis), two tings made the start of this trip tiring:
The incredibly long line at car pickup, even if we had booked in advance (there was a cafe nearby so at least the kids could sit down but it was a mess of people and lines, not fun!)
The awful state of the road as we drove Naples towards Puglia.
While this is all motorway and therefore, theoretically, the easiest type of driving you can get, the first part of the road was dotted with road works that mean the carriages suddenly reduce, forcing you to reduce speed significantly.
This would not be a problem if it wasn’t for local drivers who seemed to take expiation to me slowing down and beeped and overtook me at crazy speed.
I am not one to complain about Italian driving, being an Italian driver myself, and I really don’t like to stereotype the country as full of reckless drivers but I can tell youL this stretch was not fun! I was delighted when we eventually for off that first stretch and found the roads in Puglia to me much easier!
So basically, if you drive this first stretch like we did, go slow, stay safe and rest assured it will improve!
Stop 1 Trani
Our first stop of the day, and a well deserved one after this start, was in the lovely town of Trani.
Trani is famous for having a gorgeous church right on the sea and it is also a small, mellow town, easy to explore with kids.
We parked close to the duomo area and took out time exploring.
We took a quick stroll around the historical center, has a quick meal at the cafe on the marina, from where we had gorgeous views over the duomo, then we spent time at the park overlooking the port.
Here, the kids could run and play at the playgrounds and we could catch lovely views over the marina, the sea and the duomo.
A quick gelato from the gelateria near the ports set us up for the rest of the trip!
Stop 2 and overnight stay in Alberobello
After Trani, we took the easy drive to Alberobello and reached our accommodation: Trulli Anti’ charm and relax.
I had chosen this accommodation because I though the kids would love staying in a trullo and indeed, it was magical!
Trulli feel very much like a little fairy house, with their pointy roof and round walls; however, they are also super comfortable and ours felt upscale and very much like a treat.
We had a lovely amount of space and a stunning backyard: the kids run in and out of it for ages and it was lovely for us to be able to watch them be free, safe in the knowledge that we were in a car free area.
Since we had eaten quite late at lunch, we opted for a quick aperitivo/ light meal for dinner on Largo Martellotta, so we had views of the trulli.
Nothing memorable but quenched our desire for a quick snack and drinks. The kids love the fried treats and pizza options.
Day 2 – Alberobello to Matera
We started our second day on the trip with a leisurely morning in Alberobello.
We had decided not to take any tours here and it worked great for us.
We started the morning with breakfast at home and a stroll down the Main Street in modern Alberobello. Here, we admired the wonderful church overlooking the town and had very satisfying stops in several of the cafes.
Did you know Puglia has wonderful pastries? I didn’t until now but it truly does! Stopping for an extra espresso, cornetto and biscuits for the kids was a lovely way to mingle with Alberobello locals getting coffee on their way to work!
From here, we visited Trullo Sovrano, which we recommend.
This trullo is the biggest in town and it is now a museum where you can learn how life in Puglia was in more ancient times.
The visit didn’t take long and it was fun for us and the kids to see how ancient trulli operated.
After trullo sovrano we walked to the more touristy and trullo-dense area of Alberobello, called Monti.
In this district, you are entirely surrounded by trulli that are now a mix of houses (few), trulls-museum (a few), shops (many).
The area is the busiest and most touristy but it is lovely and a great place for kids to explore since it is entirely car free.
At the top, you also find a trullo church which is worth seeing!
Fun fact: you can get married here but you must booking well in advance, as a sing outside it warns, as it is very sought after!
At this point, and after another cafe stop, we decided to leave busy Alberobello and drive the 10 minuted needed to reach Locorotondo, where we went for lunch.
To regain our car, we passed by the lovely and much quieter area of Ala Piccola, where people still live in trulli, with all modern comforts!
You can read here >>> our guide to Alberobello and its trulli
Stop 2 Locorotondo
Locorotondo is a small and delightful town only a few minutes drive from Alberobello.
its name means ’round place’ and the town is indeed round, in the sense that its historical center develops in circles around the main town church of San Giorgio Megalomartire.
I adore Locortorono and my kids said it was their favorite stop too!
We parked the car outside of the car-free center by just following the signs and has a lovely wander around Locorotondo whitewashed streets.
Here, the kids found cats lounging in the sun, pretty corners with flowers and decorations, car free streets to run and explore and we of course found lunch!
We stopped at a lovely and colorful places called La Braceria, where we had lovely orecchiette con cime di rapa, orecchiette al sugo and cured meats.
Our designated drive (me) had to skip the local Locorotondo white but our lucky other group up passenger could indulge and was a fan!
You can read here >>> our guide to visiting Locorotondo with kids
Stop 3: Martina Franca
Martina Franca is another adorable town in Puglia which I wanted to show my kids and husband because of a special thing that makes it stand out from Alberovello and Locorotondo: incredible Baroque architecture!
The baroque architecture of Martina franca is easy to enjoy. Even without taking tours, you can admire the beautiful and unique facades of its churches: it is one of those places where history is all around you, in the best possible way!
We stayed in ‘Martina’ a little while and we just strolled, had gelato and snooped into shops (I had been before, so I had handpicked what to do in advance).
You can read here >>> our guide to Martina Franca
We then got the car again and drove the easy drive to Matera.
Stop 4: Matera
We got to Matera in the early evening.
Following teh advice of our hotel, we parked the car in the free parking area in front of the school (well indicated) and then walked the few minutes necessary to reach out accommodation: Casa del sole in Sasso Caveoso.
Our accommodation was all we had ever wanted to experience and more!
The reception / breakfast area has all you need to plan you stay and the apartment they had us was on two floors, with plant of space for the four of us and stunning views over Matera.
We could see the cave church from our window! I couldn’t peel myself away from it, I couldn’t believe we had a full, unobstructed view of it from out room, it was magical!
This first night, we had dinner in a lovely restaurant called Feremento, which has the feel of an upscale wine bar yet manages to stay family friendly.
Day 3: Matera
Day 3 was our Matera day and it was wonderful!
We started our day with breakfast in our hotel, which set up up for the day.
We then went to to the modern city area to see if could source a tour for the morning and this unfortunately was a mistake.
We did indeed find a kiosk offering official city tours, but I don’t know if if we were unliky or our guide was having a bd day, but the tour was so boring and got us to wait in endless lines to enter some of the cases, we ended up leaving early!
Learning early and exploring on our own quickly turned the day around. The kids and us loved wandering around the sassi and climbing to the church and we were happy to discover there are plenty of caves-museums you can enter without having to wait for hours.
In the morning, we wandered sasso Caveoso.
For lunch, we picked a restaurant with views called Vigna del Mare (nice, make sure you get a table with views though, it’s the best part!).
In the afternoon, we wandered the upper part of Matera, then explored Sasso Barisano as the sun set. This last stretch was wonderful: Sasso Barisano at night was so magical, it felt like being in a magical world on a different plant, we all got almost overwhelmed by its beauty!
For dinner, we had a spectacular dinner at Bistro Bollicine, which gave one one of the best meals we ever had (family friendly, the kids got fried chicken and were in seventh heaven!
You can read here >>> our guide to Matera with kids
Day 4 – Drive to Paestum then Rome
This last day of our road trip to Puglia and Matera with kids was our driving day back to Rome, yet I had every intension of making the most of it and so I did! I planned a stop in Paestum.
Paestum is an ancient town in Campania, below Salerno, with something special: wonderfully preserved Greek and Roman temples, plus a fabulous archaeological museum.
The site of Paestum is one of the best archaeological sites in Italy for kids and a stunning place worth visiting at any age.
The site is just the right size to be interesting yet not overwhelming, it is outdoors, so the kids experience it a little like a park and so impressive, you can be sure it will have a strong wow factor on the whole family!
In front of the site and beside the museum there are several informal cafes and restaurants where you can have quick meal (sandwich, basic pasta, pizza type of things)
Find here >>> our guide to Paestum with kids
After Pastime we got back on the road to Rome, where we arrived rather late.
We had opted to leave the car at Termini station and this was ok inn terms of driving but a little tricky since we didn’t have an important piece of info (that I am now happy to share with you): the Avis return spot in inside a a multi story car park and it is almost impossible to know since the parking lot is visible, but the Avis sign is not!
We drove pass it maybe five times and eventually understood! After returning the car, we were able to get back home by taxi (there is a line of taxis just in front)
This was a wonderful perfect short family trip we’ll never forget!
I hope you enjoyed this trip report and helped you plan your own 4 days in Puglia and Matera with kids! Safe travels!
4 days in Puglia and Matera with kids – pinterest pin
