Where to stay, eat, and drink in Puglia, Italy

Italy has become one of my favorite travel destinations and my recent trip to Puglia only made it better! After an amazing trip to the Amalfi coast visiting Capri and Positano, I decided to venture out to Puglia, often referred to the ‘Heel of the boot.’ It’s definitely less touristy compared to the Amalfi coast and best experienced by car! I stayed in 3 different cities to fully experience the region. Here’s where I stayed, ate, and drank in each of the city.

Polignano a mare

This is one of the more well-known cities and definitely do-able without a car. It’s famous for Lama Monachile beach and you can spend days walking and exploring the city.

Stay

We stayed at this charming B&B and it was perfect! Room with a balcony was spacious and you get a view of the ocean and the iconic bridge from the balcony. Located right in the center of the city, all the popular and great spots are within walking distance (less than 1-5 minutes).

Eat & drink

Antiche Mura: There’s no view but the indoor setting here is really romantic. They have a mix of traditional and unique dish centered around seafood. We enjoyed our uni + oyster pasta, pasta with red prawn with zucchini flower, and fish soup!

Morus Sapori & Sentori: Located by the water with a little bit of the view, another great seafood restaurant! We had uni pasta, lobster pasta, and lobster catalan.

La Casa Del Mojito: Had the best ginger mojito here! They make all of them with fresh ingredients and do not skimp on them either.

Aquamarea: Menu/drinks are not too special but it’s located right on the popular viewpoint of the beach/city. Small pedestrian streets are not well recognized by Google maps but it’s easy to just follow the streets and navigate towards this direction.

Ostuni

Ostuni is often referred as the mid-point base for Puglia as it’s 1.5 hr from the main airport Bari and ~2hrs from the southern most part of Puglia. It’s not right on the coast but has lots of charming Masserias, which are Italian bed and breakfast farm stay. We stayed here for 2 nights and loved the quite and relaxed experience. It is also close to Alberobello UNESCO World Heritage Site, town of trulli and you can find places to stay inside a trullo.

Stay

We stayed at the most adorable and picturesque Masseria with a huge pool area. I absolutely loved the stay and highly recommend. Not all rooms are Trulli and there are only a handful of them so book early if you want to stay in one!

Eat & drink

Borgo Antico Bistrot: Located in the middle of switchback streets, such a fun unique place to enjoy aperitivo before dinner. We had an amazing fresh cheese charcuterie plate with a few drinks. There’s a cute instagrammable blue door on top of the street.

Osteria Piazzetta Cattedrale: Great traditional local dish that features affordable tasting menu at 35-45euro. We opted for a la carte because we like trying a little bit of everything. A couple dishes were a bit too salty for me but overall was a nice place to grab dinner and try regional food.

We didn’t get to try all the places I’ve bookmarked but also have heard great things about Ristorante Taverna della Gelosia, Vicolo 43, and Dish

Otranto

We chose Otranto as our base to explore the Southern most tip of the region and loved the city. Expansive sandy beach and the castle in the city center added to the charm!

Stay

We booked this one last minute and it served us well. Clean and spacious close to the city. Since we knew we were getting the Masseria experience a room with a view at other cities, we were not picky here other than the location. I’d say you should be good as long as you are within walking distance to the city center and have access to parking!

Eat & drink

L'Ortale Ristoro SAlentissimo: I loved this hidden wine garden. Lots of choices by the glass or bottle (each bottle was only 15-20) and the garden was the most relaxing place to sit and drink.

Latrobaffo: Booked this place when I saw uni pasta on the menu, which is one of my favorites! They gave out mini Aperol spritz as a welcome drink 🙌 and had a great seafood focused menu. It’s on the expensive side but we enjoyed every minute and bite here!

Classe 80: Another seafood spot! Loved the fried mixed seafood platter here along with some unique pasta dishes. I asked for a tomato sauce on the side like a noob and was given a bowl of the best freshly made garlicky tomato sauce I’ve ever had 😂

I spent ~2.5 days in each area and it was truly one of the best weeks I’ve had 🥰 Can’t recommend Puglia enough! If you are planning a trip, see more updates and ask me any questions via DM @fine.vining

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7 day itinerary in Champagne, France

Planning a winery trip abroad can seem daunting as you have to know where to stay, deal with transportation, AND make reservations for wineries. I have done more planning for my recent Champagne trip compared to other trips where I usually only bookmark a few restaurants and book hotels and transportations. If you are planning a trip to Champagne, here’s the summary of recommended itinerary to maximize your experience there!

Note that this isn’t the exact itinerary from my recent trip but optimized and modified after experiencing the region.

Day 1-3

Stay in Reims and visit large houses and have nice dinners

Reims is actually considered a tourist destination not just for champagne houses. Did you know there is another Cathédrale Notre-Dame in Reims? City is fairly big and you can find a lot of great restaurants. You can stay in the city center and explore large Champagne houses or stay ~10minutes from the center in a small boutique hotel (we did both!)

Places to stay

Champagne houses

  • Ruinart, Veuve Clicquot, Pommery

Day 3

Hire a driver to visit grower producers in between Reims and Epernay (or rent a car)

I actually did this myself as well, if you don’t rent a car, best way to maximize your transportation budget while wine tasting is to combine traveling between cities with a private driver. You can hire a driver for a day or half a day, get picked up in one city and dropped off in another. I went with this driver/company after comparing a few options and prices. We visited Bouzy and Verzy while traveling from Epernay back to Reims. Here are the spots you can visit while moving between cities:

Bouzy/Ambonnay wineries

  • Paul Dethune, Champagne Egly-Ouriet, BARNAUT, Champagne Benoît Lahaye

Verzy

Day 3-5

Stay in Avize & visit small grower producers

Avize isn’t the only small town in Champagne where you can stay and visit other producers in the area but I’d have to say I LOVED my stay and will definitely stay there again if I go back. Avize is not only a home for so many up and coming and already popular grower producers but also has the best B&B, Les Avises. From the B&B you can rent their e-bikes to visit and taste at

  • Dhondt Grellet, Corbon, Franck Bonville, Champagne DE SOUSA, Etienne Calsac

and don’t miss the Jacques-Selosse Champagne tasting hosted by the owner & winemaker Anselme.

Day 6

Epernay for Ave. de Champagne

Epernay is definitely smaller compared to Reims (i.e. there are Ubers in Reims but not in Epernay) but this is where you can find the famous Avenue of Champagne. You can find popular Champagne houses like Moët et Chandon and Perrier-Jouet. If you have additional days, you can also visit nearby cities like Ay or Hautevillers.

Travel back to Reims or Paris

You can get back to Paris via train from Reims or Epernay depending on how much longer you are spending in the area.

Couldn’t pack all the places to eat and see in this itinerary so feel free ask me any questions via DM @fine.vining. Get the full list of restaurants and producers to try in the Champagne travel guide with saved Google maps.

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Wineries to visit in Porto and Douro Valley and travel tips

Douro is approximately 3x the size of Napa Valley and there are no shortage of wineries “Quintas” to visit in the area. With only 2 days in the Valley (and having full itinerary outside of Douro), we definitely didn’t get to visit as many as I would have liked. However, it was also easy to visit port houses right in town of Porto within walking distance to Airbnbs and hotels. Here are some of the wineries we visited in Douro and Porto:



Douro Valley Wineries

Few things I had in mind when planning the Douro is 1) Mix of Port and still wines 2) Mix of small and large wineries 3) Include a winery with the Douro River view 4) Reasonable distance/route

  1. Wine and Soul - Small family owned winery with a long list of still white and red wines along with ports.

  2. Vintage Theory - We stopped here during lunch and did their lunch and tasting experience. Booking through our driver (more on this later) gave us a significant discount–€15 for a sit down lunch with wine and separate port tasting. Good traditional lunch and the port tasting was fun and educational

  3. Quinta do Popa - We wanted to include a winery with the iconic view of the Douro River and this was a great spot. You can choose to focus on their port or still wines for the tasting so we did a bit of both.

  4. Quinta da Pacheca - We tasted here as it was included with our stay (which we LOVED, you can read more about it here)

  5. Murganheira - This is technically not considered Douro Valley but in Távora-Varosa, about 30 minutes south of our hotel. We visited on our 2nd day before returning to Porto, separately from full day of tasting in Douro Valley. Loved the experience getting to tour the cave and seeing the entire traditional sparkling wine making process.

Transportation to Douro from Porto

We typically opt to hire a private driver vs. renting a car when we are abroad and wine tasting because we are not familiar with the area and would rather enjoy the day without worrying about someone being a designated driver. We were spending the night in Douro so we hired a driver to pick us up from our place in Porto and drop us off in Douro instead of driving back to Porto. We compared a few options and chose a company that seemed like a good balance of being affordable and personable. Prior to the trip, I worked with the company to arrange the route based on my research and their recommendation. Highly recommend this if you want complete freedom in planning the day. Other options are

  1. Public transportation (Train to Douro then Taxi to wineries) which will take longer and could be limiting in terms of winery choices

  2. Group tours with a set itinerary (convenient but limiting in terms of winery choices). If you are ok with these limitations and want to do a quick day trip from Porto it’s a great option and more affordable. You can find some private and group options here.



Porto Wineries

There is an entire street/area dedicated to Port wine houses in Vila Nova de Gaia area of Porto and you can find all the popular names like Calem and Fonseca. We didn’t do much research prior and just stopped by while walking around. Two we ended up visiting were:

  1. Churchill Lodge: Bit further walk into the town from the main road but the walk was worth it! There are various flights you can choose from and we felt like we really got to taste different types of ports here. Ended up taking two bottles home!

  2. Porto Augusto: We wanted to check out a smaller producer/brand that is not as familiar to us and ended up here. They have a tour and tasting or you can just choose a tasting flight with a variety of ports. It was fun to taste the difference from Ruby, Tawny, and Vintage.

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Food and wine lovers travel guide to Porto, Portugal

Portugal is an amazing travel destination all year around and one of our favorite European destinations during the Thanksgiving holiday time. You get the holiday festivities with the decorations and even Christmas markets in the city, but the weather isn’t as cold compared to Paris or London. We first went in 2019, mostly in Lisbon, and went back this year to venture out to Porto and the Douro Valley wine region. Here’s a list of all the places we loved to eat and drink in Porto and Douro!

Where to Stay

Quinta da Pacheca in Douro: This was one of my favorite hotels I’ve ever stayed at! It was romantic, had amazing vineyard views, and was such a unique experience to stay inside a wine barrel. It is part of a winery so you get complimentary wine tasting during your stay. It is also ~5minutes taxi ride to the main town where lots of restaurants are located.

Stay in Apartment: We booked the Studio room at this budget friendly hotel with a great location right on the main road in Riveria. Porto is small enough to walk around and be able to visit main attractions and this location was perfect. Did not expect this but had a very cute window that opened up to the alley with a view of the river.

Airbnb with a view in Porto: Another great spot located next to the famous Luis I Bridge in the Riveria district. There were no shortages of restaurants and bars within minutes of this place. This particular place was spacious and had large windows with awesome view.

Where to Drink

I have a separate post for wineries here

Wine Quay Bar: This wine bar is such a gem! Great view of the iconic river and bridge with outdoor and indoor seating. Great selection of wines by the glass and bottle. We ended up getting ~6 different wines by the glass (😂 I know, we were only going to get 2 each) and liked all of them! They also serve tapas/snacks so stop by for sunset drinks and appetizers before dinner

Porto Cruz Rooftop: Rooftop bar with a beautiful view of Porto, Douro river, and the Luís I Bridge on the Vila Nova de Gaia side of the river along with all the port tasting rooms. They also had a DJ when we went mid-day so great stop to relax and have a glass or two.

Churchill’s Lodge: We ended up only doing 2 port tastings in Porto since we spent 2 days in Douro but this was a great add. You will need to walk a bit from the main road but it was worth it. Great selection of white, ruby, tawny, and vintage ports. Loved one of the vintages and ended up purchasing a bottle of it!

Praia dos Ingleses Bar: If you venture ~20minutes west from Porto, you get an amazing coastal town vibe. If you are familiar with California, it felt like I was in Santa Monica/Malibu. We stopped at this bar/restaurant, which is right on the beach. Great view and vibe with drinks!

Pick any spot by the river: Get a bottle of wine or beer, sit by the Douro River or at Morro Garden to enjoy!

Where to Eat

Euskalduna studio: We had 4 dinners in Porto and was so glad we fit this one in! Amazing 10 course (+surprises) tasting menu (€105) with a lovely wine paring. Focused on seafood but the entire menu was innovative (think tuna sashimi with uni foam, grilled eel with beet sauce, and toro with persimmon 🤩) and wine pairing was so on point! One of the white wines was so good, I even saved it on Vivino so I can find it again. Highly recommend if you are trying to save a night for fine dining

Le Monument : We couldn’t decide between Euskalduna and Le Monument so decided to try both. The vibe is totally different here. Located inside one of the top hotels in Porto, they do a quick intro to the kitchen with a small bite and offer 10 or 14 different courses (€85 or €105) with wine pairing. Also focused on seafood and surprise desserts kept coming at the end. They sent us home with a bag of tea we had, which is such a fun gift to remember the night!

Taberna Dos Mercadores: Hidden in a small street behind the main Riveira street, was such a gem. Wanted to try everything on their menu, ended up getting a seafood rice (meant for 2) and grilled lamb chops between the 2 of us. If I had more nights, would have gone back to try other popular items on the menu (like octopus rice and fish). It’s a small place and by 1pm they were completely full so make a reservation or go early

Tapabento S.Bento: Seafood stew is the star menu here but their beef carpaccio was easily one of the bests I’ve had. Duck breast was also good so I’d imagine you really can’t go wrong with any menu here. Also, don’t forget to order a glass or pitcher of SPARKLING SANGRIA!

Curb: I almost feel weird recommending a burger place in Portugal (and I’m from California, love my In-n-out and Shake Shack 😂). But we actually went here twice during our stay, first for a mid-day snack to see if the hype is real and went back for a quick dinner the next day. I didn’t believe the reviews saying that it’s the best burger they’ve had but it was worth the hype. Please don’t pass on their fries!!

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Wine lovers travel itinerary for Italy's Amalfi Coast (Rome, Capri, Positano)

Typical wine trips in Italy involve Tuscany for scenic vineyard views and lots of wine. However, Amalfi coast has been on our travel list for so long and we decided September is probably the best season to enjoy the beach. While we saved Tuscany and other wine regions in Italy for our next trip, there were no shortage of food, wine, and drinks. Here’s a guide of few restaurants and hotels based on our 7 day itinerary that any travel or wine lovers can enjoy.

Rome

Rome was a transit city for us as we flew in and out of the city and we only stayed 1 nights when we flew in and another night before we flew out. However, we still got the enjoy the city with plenty of culture, food, and wine.

Roscioli: There are actually a number of wine tasting rooms/shops in Rome and we ended up trying Roscioli. They do food and wine pairing with advanced reservation. We ended up ordering a la carte but loved the wines and dishes we tried.

St. Regis: For our last night, decided to splurge and stayed at the St. Regis which was so worth it. Their bar/restaurant was so adorable and perfect to enjoy cocktails any time of the day. They even have Champagne sabering every evening which was a fun bonus and reminded us of our dream trip in St Regis Maldives (where they had sunset Champagne sabering every day).

Mimi e Coco: Small restaurant near Navona great for traditional pastas. I LOVED their lasagna and the carbonara was also to die for, went so well with red wine.


Capri

Capri Wine Hotel: This hotel was absolutely lovely and amazing for wine lovers but also for anyone looking for hotels in Capri besides the luxury options. Hotel is built on an old winery and you can see traces on the vineyard and barrels throughout. You can choose rooms with an ocean view and the breakfast buffet is to die for! Amazing spread of fruits, freshly baked goods, meats, cheese, made to order eggs, and the view was all such a treat.

Da Paolino: This restaurant and a bar is popular with tourists and locals for its lemon trees that surround the dining area. We didn’t end up eating here but went for an evening drink (Aperitivo) before dinner and I’d recommend the same! It was not as crowded (we were the only party there for the first 20 minutes or so) and you still get to enjoy the vibe

Il Riccio: This is a cliff side restaurant on the Anacapri side of the island located next to the famous Blue Grotto. We went for drinks at their adorably decorated rooftop bar then had lunch. Slightly pricey but the vibe, drinks, and food were all worth it!


Positano

Casa Mele: We had a food and wine pairing dinner here and the entire experience was amazing. We sat at the table with the view of the kitchen and went through innovative food menu with awesome wines.

Villa Rosa: This hotel has the best location (right next to the famous La Sirenuse) and if you get the ocean view rooms, you have the same $$$$ view you get from Bar Franco/La Sirenuse. Our balcony was HUGE and we loved getting breakfast delivered to the balcony every morning (included with the room rate).

Maestro’s at Villa Treville: Maestro is a restaurant of the Villa Treville hotel (which seems like an amazing place to stay). It is a little outside the main town so best to take a taxi but the trip is worth the ambiance and view. We had drinks and dinner here and would say it’s one of the top romantic dinner spots!

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