Puglia Bike Tour: From Matera to Lecce along the Coast

Art & Culture

Puglia Cycle Tours

A cycling journey from Matera to Lecce along Puglia’s coast, featuring historic towns, seaside villages, olive groves, and authentic southern Italian landscapes.

South

March to November

6 days / 5 nights

Difficult: 3.0

ABSTRACT

The Puglia Bike Tour explores southern Italy through a cycling journey from Matera to Lecce along Puglia’s Adriatic coast, connecting historic towns, seaside villages, olive groves, and Mediterranean landscapes.

This itinerary combines scenic coastal cycling routes, UNESCO heritage sites, Baroque architecture, and authentic local traditions, offering a balanced experience of culture, gastronomy, history, and relaxed riding through one of Italy’s most distinctive regions.

From the ancient cave dwellings of Matera and the whitewashed coastal towns of Monopoli and Polignano a Mare to the elegant Baroque atmosphere of Lecce, travellers experience Puglia through places where local identity, Mediterranean culture, and everyday life remain deeply connected to the territory.

The journey reveals a slower and more authentic side of southern Italy, combining seaside scenery, traditional cuisine, historic centers, and panoramic cycling routes shaped by the rhythm of Mediterranean life.

This tour is ideal for:

Travellers interested in authentic southern Italian culture and coastal landscapes
Leisure cyclists looking for scenic seaside and countryside cycling routes
Couples, small groups, and FIT travellers seeking cultural and relaxed cycling experiences
Clients wanting a balanced mix of cycling, historic towns, and regional gastronomy
Travellers looking to discover Puglia beyond the region’s most traditional tourist routes

Puglia Cycle Tours is a DMC founded in 2016. We are specialized in active trips on two wheels and, from 2020, also in walking trips, with the new project Puglia Hiking Tours…

Tour Start

Matera

Tour End

Lecce

Best start day

Every day

Tot. distance

148 mi / 238 km

DETAILS

DAILY PROGRAM

Individual arrival and check-in at the hotel accommodation in Matera. Welcome briefing and bike fitting with your Puglia Cycle Tours staff.
On the first day you have plenty of time to settle in, choosing to independently visit a few sites of cultural interest or simply relax by strolling through Matera's magical Sassi.

• Accomodation: Hotel La Suite - Matera (or similar)
The first stage enters the Lucanian countryside where the first part of the morning flows slenderly through wide valleys, rolling hills and straw-coloured clay wheat fields. The route continues through the Land of the Gravines, a regional scenic park. We start from the small village of Ginosa nestled in the ancient bed of the Bradano River. From here we continue to the renowned Laterza, famous for tasty baked goods and beautiful majolica tiles, as well as the deepest and most impressive Canyon in Europe.

• Daily distance: 35 mi / 56 km
• Elevation gain: +2395 ft / 730 m
• Elevation loss: -3248 ft / 990 m
• Accomodation: Grotte di Sileno - Castellaneta (or similar)
• Meals: Breakfast
The first kilometres are still in the “Land of the Gravines”. Climbing uphill, we enter the typical "Murgia" countryside lined with dry stone walls, ancient farms and home to Puglia's iconic trulli (typical rural houses with conical roofs – built without cement or mortar.)

• Daily distance: 37 mi / 59 km
• Elevation gain: +2592 ft / 790 m
• Elevation loss: -1476 ft / 450 m
• Accomodation: Trulli e Puglia - Alberobello (or similar)
• Meals: Breakfast
This is the last offshoot of the karst Murgia before indulging in an exciting descent to the blue-painted Adriatic. Here you reach one of its most charming towns, Polignano a Mare, perched on the side of a cliff. The last ten kilometres along the coast lead to Monopoli, a perfect mix of seafaring culture and history.

• Daily distance: 35 mi / 56 km
• Elevation gain: +1214 ft / 370 m
• Elevation loss: - 2624 ft / 800 m
• Accomodation: Albergo Diffuso - Monopoli (or similar)
• Meals: Breakfast
Today’s ride continues along the coast alternating views of rocky coves and long sandy beaches. A few snapshots before resuming the march south to reach Savelletri and Torre Canne, small fishing villages and holiday homes that are the perfect setting for a regenerating coffee break. From this point on, the itinerary winds again along rural paths, arriving in a marvellous setting: an expanse of centuries-old olive trees. You slowly begin to climb catching sight of pedal after pedal of the outline of Ostuni, known as the “white city” for its lime-plastered houses and walls.

• Daily distance: 32 mi / 51 km
• Elevation gain: +1312 / 400 m
• Elevation loss: - 656 ft / 200 m
• Accomodation: Relais Sant’Eligio - Ostuni (or similar)
• Meals: Breakfast
We find ourselves in the Piana degli Ulivi, an expanse of red land populated by thousands and thousands of olive trees. A short stop in the village of Carovigno, to cool off in the shade of the impressive Dentice di Frasso Castle, and then we are ready to take the train to Lecce from Carovigno train station. Once in town, a loop in the countryside of Lecce, passing by the fortified village of Acaya.

• Daily distance: 9 mi / 14 km
• Elevation gain: + 311 ft / 95 m
• Elevation loss: - 853 ft / 260 m
• Accomodation: Arco Vecchio - Lecce (or similar)