From freshly baked focaccia in Bari to the rustic flavours of Salento, discover Puglia's traditional food, beautiful towns and landscapes, and the walking routes that bring them together.
What should you eat in Puglia? Start with focaccia barese and handmade orecchiette in Bari, discover the celebrated bread of Altamura, and try friselle, rustico leccese and pasticciotto in Salento. From olive groves to fishing villages, Puglia's culinary traditions are best explored slowly, with time to enjoy the landscapes behind them.
In Puglia, food is never far from the landscape. Olive oil comes from the groves that line country roads, bread from towns where baking is part of local identity, and seafood from the fishing villages scattered along the Adriatic coast.
It's a region where some of the simplest ingredients create the most memorable meals. A piece of warm focaccia, a plate of handmade pasta, a few slices of local cheese: nothing needs to be particularly elaborate.
And there's no better way to appreciate these flavours than by exploring Puglia on foot, taking time to discover the places, people and traditions behind them.
Here are some of our favourite things to eat in Puglia, and where to enjoy them along a SloWays walking holiday.
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Bari is an excellent place to begin a food-focused journey through Puglia.
Start with focaccia barese, a soft, golden bread topped with tomatoes, olives and olive oil. It's sold in bakeries throughout the city and makes a delicious snack at almost any time of day.
Then explore Bari Vecchia, the city's historic heart, where handmade orecchiette are part of everyday life. These small, ear-shaped pasta pieces are traditionally served with cime di rapa, a slightly bitter leafy vegetable, although you'll find plenty of other variations.
There's much more to discover between meals. Wander through the narrow streets of the old town, visit the Basilica di San Nicola and take a stroll along the seafront.
Bari is also a starting point for discovering inland Puglia. From here, the Cammino Materano leads towards Matera, passing through towns and landscapes where agricultural traditions remain an important part of local life.
Walk it with SloWays: Our Cammino Materano walking holiday connects Bari with Matera, offering an opportunity to explore the countryside and historic towns of inland Puglia.
Leave the coast behind and Puglia reveals a different side of itself: wide fields, ancient tracks, olive groves and towns built from pale stone.
This is the landscape of the Murge, where food traditions are closely connected to farming and pastoral life.
Pane di Altamura is one of the area's most celebrated products. Made with durum wheat semolina and protected by a PDO designation, it has a thick crust, a distinctive aroma and a texture that makes it particularly good with local olive oil.
Cheese is another essential part of the region's food culture. Look out for fresh burrata, mozzarella and traditional sheep's milk cheeses, often served simply with bread and seasonal vegetables.
For something particularly refreshing after a walk, try cialledda, a rustic dish that brings together bread, tomatoes and other simple ingredients, with variations depending on the area and the season.
The landscape deserves just as much attention as the food. Along the Cammino Materano, you'll discover towns such as Altamura and Gravina in Puglia, with historic streets, dramatic ravines and traces of centuries of rural life.
The ancient routes connecting these places offer a chance to experience Puglia beyond its famous coastline, discovering the quieter countryside and the traditions that have shaped its cuisine.
Walk it with SloWays: Follow the Cammino Materano across the Murge, combining walking, small-town discoveries and opportunities to enjoy the food of inland Puglia.
Further south, the landscape changes again. The countryside meets the sea, fishing villages overlook rocky coves and the pace of life seems to follow the Mediterranean sun.
This is Salento, where a day spent walking along the coast deserves a particularly good meal.
One local favourite is frisella, a twice-baked bread traditionally softened with water and topped with tomatoes, olive oil and oregano. Simple, refreshing and particularly welcome on a warm day.
Another speciality is rustico leccese, a savoury pastry usually filled with béchamel, tomato and mozzarella. It's an excellent choice for a quick lunch or an afternoon snack.
Along the coast, look for fresh fish and seafood prepared with local ingredients, especially in towns with a long fishing tradition.
And don't forget dessert. In Lecce, pasticciotto, a small pastry filled with custard, is a local classic, especially when enjoyed with a coffee.
Between meals, there are coastal paths, hidden coves and historic towns to explore. Otranto offers an atmospheric old centre overlooking the Adriatic, while Lecce rewards visitors with elaborate Baroque architecture and lively streets.
Walk it with SloWays: Our Salento Coastal Walk introduces you to coastal landscapes, historic towns and the flavours of southern Puglia.
If there's one ingredient that accompanies you throughout Puglia, it's olive oil.
You'll see olive trees almost everywhere: beside country roads, behind dry-stone walls and across the agricultural landscapes that connect the region's towns.
Olive oil is central to Puglian cooking, whether it's used to dress vegetables, flavour pasta, prepare focaccia or simply enjoyed with a slice of bread.
It's also a reminder of something we particularly love about walking holidays: the opportunity to understand where food comes from.
A meal tastes different when you've spent the day passing through the landscape that helped produce it.
And while olive oil is an essential ingredient throughout the region, the dishes it accompanies change from place to place, reflecting the different identities of Bari, the Murge and Salento.
Absolutely. A walking holiday allows you to discover Puglia at a pace that leaves room for its everyday pleasures.
You can stop at a neighbourhood bakery, explore a local market, take a break in a village café or sit down to a leisurely meal after a day on the trail.
The Cammino Materano is particularly suited to travellers interested in rural landscapes, historic towns and inland food traditions. A coastal journey through Salento offers a different perspective, with seaside villages, Mediterranean scenery and opportunities to sample local specialities.
These are not dedicated food-tasting tours, but journeys that allow you to experience the region's culinary culture as part of a wider discovery.
The best food experiences in Puglia don't necessarily involve elaborate restaurants or carefully planned tastings.
Sometimes they're as simple as buying focaccia from a neighbourhood bakery, stopping for lunch in a small town or enjoying fresh seafood after a day beside the sea.
With SloWays, you can discover these traditions at your own pace, choosing between the rural landscapes of the Cammino Materano and the coastline of Salento.
Explore our walking holidays in Puglia and discover a region that's every bit as rewarding to taste as it is to explore.
Written by the SloWays Team
Nominee Best Specialist Tour Operator 2026
