The Most Beautiful Trails to Explore in Puglia: 7 Paths for a Leisurely Discovery

What are the most beautiful walking trails in Puglia?

In this guide, we explore all the stunning trails that traverse the region, from the Murge to Salento, passing through plains, coastlines, and forests, suitable for one or more days of walking.

Puglia has been traversed over the centuries by legions and pilgrims, merchants and faithful. Here, ancient roads like the Appian Way, the queen of Roman roads, led to Brindisi where ships set sail. Other historic routes reached Taranto and other areas of the region.

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In this guide, we discover which are the most beautiful trails to explore the region at a leisurely pace. We have also included hiking and gastronomic itineraries, such as the Salento wine route to be traveled on foot, by bike, or car.

At this link, you will find a guide to the things toknow before embarking on a trail on foot. And here you will find the besttrails to explore in Italy.

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The Via Francigena is one of the most famous and traveled religious paths in Italy. It has numerous variants that sometimes converge and all lead to St. Peter's in Rome with several interesting variants that come from Southern Italy to the capital.

The Francigena routes in Puglia represent a segment of a much larger historical path. This route from Rome continued to the Sanctuary of Monte Sant'Angelo and culminated at the ports of embarkation for the East and the Holy Land.

The Via della Costa Salentina that connects Otranto to Santa Maria di Leuca is one of the most beautiful sections of the Southern Francigena. Here you will find all the info about the Southern Francigena routes.

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Frederick II of Swabia brought great artistic and cultural vigor to Southern Italy. The Federician Trail follows the traces of the great emperor from the Appian Way Traiana to the pathways used for transhumance.

It can be completed in eight days and 130 km from Gioia del Colle to Trani, passing through the area of the Murge and Castel del Monte.

The Materano Trail can be taken on foot or by bike. The trail is divided into 6 different paths that all lead to Matera.

By bike, we ride the Via Pauceta from Bari to Matera, passing through the Murge for a total of about 200 km.

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The Aqueduct Bike Route is an interregional cycling and hiking path of about 500 km that, once completed, will follow the route of two historic aqueduct pipelines: the Main Canal from Caposele (Av) to Villa Castelli, and the Great Lecce Siphon, which from the terminal point of the first reaches Santa Maria di Leuca, where the spectacular monumental waterfall built in 1939 is located. It is the second bike route on an aqueduct in Europe.

So far, 16 km of bike route have been completed, but in 2026, the construction of a section of 190 km is planned.

The Appian Way from Rome to Brindisi is a pedestrian or cycling path that spans half of Italy, following the trail of the Via Viarum. The project is not yet complete, but a section can already be traversed on foot or by bicycle.

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The Salento Trail is 138 km long and made up of secondary roads perfect for discovering Salento while passing through villages and nature.

The Salento Trail is divided into six stages. It starts from Lecce and ends at the finis terrae of Italy, Santa Maria di Leuca, at the Sanctuary of Finibus Terrae.

The path is marked with orange arrows and is walkable year-round.

Among the places touched by the trail are: San Cesario, San Donato, Galugnano, Sternatia, Soleto, Galatina, Corigliano, Melpignano, Cursi, Palmariggi, Giurdignano, Otranto, Porto Badisco, Santa Cesarea Terme, Castro, Marittima (Diso), Tricase, Tiggiano, Corsano, and Gagliano del Capo.

The Route of Two Seas is an incredible trail that connects the Adriatic Sea to the Ionian Sea.

It starts from Polignano a Mare and ends in Taranto. The trail is about 126 km long and can be completed in 6 days, passing through the Castellana Caves, Alberobello, Locorotondo and Martina Franca.