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Bari, Puglia, Italy, top 10 things to do (Wimup travel guide)
▶ Video · Best of Bari
Video guide · 12:19
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Top 10EuropeItaly

Top 10 Things To Do in Bari

Country
Italy
Best months
Apr · May · Sep · Oct
Population
~315K
Language
Italian
Budget / day
€80–130
Quick answer

The best things to do in Bari are the crypt of the Basilica di San Nicola, the orecchiette makers working their doorsteps on Strada Arco Basso, the Norman-Swabian castle, the cathedral of San Sabino and the raw seafood quay at the old harbour. Two days covers the city comfortably. A third buys Polignano a Mare, Alberobello or Matera, all of them reachable by train.

Best of Bari

▶ Video guide Open the film page (12:19) →

Bari is the capital of Puglia and the busiest passenger port on the southern Adriatic: about 315,000 people, ferries to Greece, Albania, Montenegro and Croatia, and a walled old town on a headland between two harbours. It is also a pilgrimage city: the relics of Saint Nicholas have been in the crypt of his basilica since 1087.

The 10 best things to do in Bari

Basilica di San Nicola, Bari, Italy (Wimup)
1

Go down into the crypt of the Basilica di San Nicola

Basilica· Largo Abate Elia 13, Bari Vecchia, 70122 Bari

Bari sailors took the relics of Saint Nicholas from Myra in 1087 and the city started building this basilica the same year to hold them. It set the template for Apulian Romanesque: a broad pale front braced between two towers, a plain nave, and beneath the altar a crypt of 26 columns. It is a working shrine for Catholics and Orthodox alike. Entry is free.

Time1 hr
CostFree
Best atEarly morning
TipThe rite of the Santa Manna
Map↗ Website
Watch the orecchiette makers on Strada Arco Basso, Bari, Italy
2

Watch the orecchiette makers on Strada Arco Basso

Street life· Strada Arco Basso, Bari Vecchia, 70122 Bari

One narrow lane in the old town has become the city's best-known sight without a ticket office anywhere near it. The pastaie work at tables outside their own front doors, pressing rounds of semolina against a knife and flicking each one off a thumb into an ear shape. It is a working street, so watch first and bring cash.

Time30 min
CostFree to watch
Best atMid-morning
TipThe street sign reads Strada Arco Basso
Map
3

Cross the moat into the Castello Svevo

Castle· Piazza Federico II di Svevia 4, 70122 Bari

The castle sits where the old town meets the newer city, Norman in origin, rebuilt by Frederick II in the 1230s, then softened by the Sforza and Aragonese into something closer to a residence. It is a state museum now, and the collection to see is the gipsoteca: plaster casts of Apulian Romanesque carving from churches across the region.

Time1 hr 30
CostTicketed
Best atLate morning
TipCheck the museums directorate site for the day's opening before you walk over
Map↗ Website
Read the Romanesque in the Cattedrale di San Sabino, Bari, Italy
4

Read the Romanesque in the Cattedrale di San Sabino

Cathedral· Piazza dell'Odegitria, Bari Vecchia, 70122 Bari

William the Bad razed Bari in 1156 and the cathedral went up again over the ruins of the Byzantine one. It is the quieter of the two great churches and the better piece of architecture: a stripped nave, deep arcades, a rose window, and a round domed baptistery in the yard. Below, the succorpo opens an early Christian basilica.

Time45 min
CostFree in the church
Best atAfternoon
TipThe excavation is entered from inside the cathedral and keeps shorter hours than the church above it
Map
Take the morning at the fish quay on the old harbour, Bari, Italy
5

Take the morning at the fish quay on the old harbour

Market· Molo San Nicola, Lungomare Imperatore Augusto, 70122 Bari

The boats tie up on the Molo San Nicola and sell what they landed straight off the stern, which is why Baresi call the scene n'derr la lanze, down at the boats. Octopus is beaten and curled against the stone, sea urchins split with scissors, and the crowd eats it raw with lemon and a plastic cup of white. Go for the theatre of it even if raw shellfish is not for you.

Time45 min
CostFree to look
Best atMorning
TipRaw shellfish carries a real risk in pregnancy or with a weakened immune system
Map
6

Walk the Muraglia and stop in Piazza Mercantile

Walk· Lungomare Imperatore Augusto, Bari Vecchia, 70122 Bari

The Muraglia is the raised walkway on top of the old sea wall, and the one route that shows how the old town is built: water on one side, a wall of houses on the other, laundry between them, stairways dropping back into the lanes. It ends at Piazza Mercantile, where the debtors' column still stands.

Time45 min
CostFree
Best atSunset
TipStart at the Fortino Sant'Antonio end and walk north
Map
Book a night at the Teatro Petruzzelli, Bari, Italy
7

Book a night at the Teatro Petruzzelli

Theatre· Corso Cavour 12, 70121 Bari

The Petruzzelli opened in 1903, built with private money by the Petruzzelli family, and it is the fourth largest theatre in Italy. Fire gutted it in October 1991 and it stayed a shell for eighteen years before reopening in 2009, which is why the auditorium reads as both nineteenth-century and new. The hall is the reason to go even for a cheap seat in the upper tiers.

Time2 hr 30
CostTicketed
Best atEvening
TipThe season calendar is published well ahead on the foundation's site
Map↗ Website
8

See Puglia before Rome at the Museo Archeologico di Santa Scolastica

Museum· Via Venezia 73, Bari Vecchia, 70122 Bari

A Benedictine monastery on the sea wall holds the archaeological museum of metropolitan Bari. The collection covers the three peoples who held this part of the south before Rome absorbed them, the Daunians, Peucetians and Messapians. The building is part of the exhibit: you walk over the excavation on raised platforms.

Time1 hr 30
CostTicketed
Best atMorning
TipIt sits on the seaward edge of the old town
Map↗ Website
9

Climb to the Pinacoteca Metropolitana Corrado Giaquinto

Gallery· Via Spalato 19, 70121 Bari

Bari's picture gallery occupies the top floor of the metropolitan government palace on the seafront, which means the windows are half the visit. The collection runs from Apulian medieval sculpture through Venetian painting, including a Giovanni Bellini, into the eighteenth century of Corrado Giaquinto and on to Giuseppe De Nittis. It is rarely crowded.

Time1 hr 30
CostTicketed
Best atAfternoon
TipThe entrance
Map↗ Website
Teatro Margherita, Bari, Italy (Wimup)
10

Finish on the Lungomare at the Teatro Margherita

Landmark· Piazza IV Novembre 1, 70122 Bari

The Margherita was built between 1912 and 1914 on piles driven into the harbour, out over the water rather than on land, which the city says was a way around the Petruzzelli monopoly on dry ground. It worked as a theatre, then a cinema, sat closed for decades and reopened in 2018 as an exhibition space. South of it the Lungomare runs for kilometres past 1930s facades.

Time1 hr 30
CostFree to walk
Best atLate afternoon
TipThe building opens for temporary shows rather than a permanent collection
Map

All 10, mapped

Bari · 10 spots
AllLandmarksMuseumsFoodFree

Bari travel FAQ

How many days do you need in Bari?+
Two. One for Bari Vecchia, the basilica, the cathedral and the castle, and one for the museums, the Lungomare and an evening in the Murat grid. Add a third if you want Polignano a Mare, Alberobello or Matera.
What is Bari known for?+
Saint Nicholas, whose relics have been in the crypt of his basilica since 1087, the orecchiette makers of Strada Arco Basso, focaccia barese, and the ferry port that links southern Italy to Greece and the Balkans.
Is Bari worth visiting, or only a gateway to Puglia?+
It is worth two days on its own. Most travellers land here and leave for the trulli or the Salento the same afternoon, which is why the old town still feels like a city that lives for itself rather than for visitors.
How do you get from Bari airport to the city centre?+
Take the Ferrotramviaria train from the station at the terminal to Bari Centrale, about 15 to 20 minutes, several times an hour. AMTAB runs a bus on the same route, and taxis wait outside arrivals.
Can you visit Matera and Alberobello from Bari without a car?+
Yes. Ferrovie Appulo Lucane runs from Bari Centrale to Matera in about an hour and twenty minutes, and Ferrovie del Sud Est reaches Alberobello in a little over an hour, with a bus alternative from behind the station. Castel del Monte is the one that really wants a car.
Where to eat

Best restaurants in Bari

Six kitchens, from doorstep pasta in Bari Vecchia to the seafood rooms behind the Lungomare.
Book ahead
Bari Vecchia

Biancofiore

Seafood

A refined fish restaurant on the edge of the old town, on Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, and the address in the Michelin guide selection for the city. Small room, so book.

Map
Dinner
Madonnella

Perbacco

Modern Puglian

A calm dining room on Via Abbrescia, a few blocks back from the seafront, working Mediterranean cooking rather than the fried-and-fast version of Bari.

Map
Wine list
Bari Vecchia

Antica Osteria del Buonconsiglio

Puglian classics

Tucked into Strada del Carmine in the old town, doing the regional repertoire with a wine list worth reading. The kind of place that fills with locals after nine.

Map
Local favourite
Murat

Osteria Le Arpie

Trattoria

On Via Roberto da Bari in the grid, small and plain, cooking the home versions of Puglian dishes. Go for the pasta rather than the second course.

Map
Small room
Bari Vecchia

La Tana del Polpo

Octopus

A narrow seafood trattoria in the old town built around one thing: octopus, cooked slow until it gives, then finished over heat.

Map
Walk in
Bari Vecchia

Antò

Puglian

Stone walls, burrata, orecchiette in tomato, lamb on skewers and whatever vegetable is in season. Priced like a neighbourhood place.

Map
After dark

Best bars in Bari

Four rooms for the hours between the passeggiata and a nine o'clock dinner.
Waterfront
Umbertino

Speakeasy Bari

Cocktail bar

On Largo Giordano Bruno near the water, mixing since 2011 and still the reference for a properly built drink. Southern takes on the classics.

Map↗ Website
Tiny
Bari Vecchia

La Ciclatera

Wine and cocktails

A small bar on Corte Colagualano in the old town, wines by the glass, craft beer and cocktails, with the crowd spilling into the courtyard once the tables go.

Map
Late
Murat

Jump Cocktail Bar

Cocktail bar

On Largo Adua in the nineteenth-century grid, an easy first stop before dinner and an easier last one after it.

Map
Worth the trip
Torre a Mare

Tickety Boo

Cocktail bar

Out at Torre a Mare on Piazza della Torre, a bar known for infusions and fresh extracts rather than bottled mixers. Pair it with the harbour.

Map
Sacred Bari

Best churches in Bari

Four churches beyond the basilica, one of them Orthodox and still serving Russian pilgrims.
Free
Bari Vecchia

Chiesa di San Gregorio

Romanesque

The small church beside the basilica, and older than most of what surrounds it. Three bare naves, and a good corrective after San Nicola.

Map
Free
Bari Vecchia

Chiesa di San Marco dei Veneziani

Medieval

On Strada San Marco, founded by the Venetian community that traded here, with the lion of Saint Mark on the front. Blink and you walk past it.

Map
Concerts
Bari Vecchia

Chiesa della Vallisa

Byzantine plan

A squat eleventh-century church off Piazza del Ferrarese, built by merchants from Ravello and now used by the diocese as a hall for concerts and talks.

Map
Pilgrimage
Carrassi

Russian Orthodox Church of Saint Nicholas

Orthodox

Built in the early twentieth century for Russian pilgrims and handed to the Russian Orthodox Church in 2009. A different architecture entirely.

Map
Collections

Best museums in Bari

Four smaller museums that fill in the city the big three leave out.
Museo Nicolaiano
Beside the basilica
Bari Vecchia

Museo Nicolaiano

Sacred art

The treasury and archive of the basilica, next door to it: manuscripts, silver, vestments and the documents behind the 1087 translation of the relics.

Map
Small
Bari Vecchia

Museo Civico di Bari

City history

The city's own collection on Strada Sagges, covering the Risorgimento, the growth of the new town and the objects Bari kept from its own nineteenth century.

Map
Free
Bari Vecchia

Palazzo Simi

Archaeology

A sixteenth-century palace on Strada Lamberti built over an early Christian church, now the regional archaeology centre, with the dig under the floor.

Map
Sea views
Bari Vecchia

Fortino Sant'Antonio

Exhibitions

The bastion at the northern tip of the old town, rebuilt many times since the fifteenth century and used now for exhibitions. The terrace is the draw.

Map
On the water

Best beaches in Bari

Four stretches of coast inside the city bus and train network.
Bus 20 or 21
Japigia

Pane e Pomodoro

City beach

The free sand beach inside the city, about twenty minutes from Piazza Aldo Moro on an AMTAB bus. Busy on summer weekends, empty on a weekday morning in June.

Map
Bus 12
Japigia

Torre Quetta

Beach park

A long municipal beach south of Pane e Pomodoro with bars, showers and events through the summer. More organised, and easier if you want a lounger and a coffee.

Map
North side
San Girolamo

San Francesco alla Rena

Sand

The sand on the northern edge of the city, past the San Girolamo seafront. Local rather than touristed, with the same water and fewer people.

Map
Torre a Mare
Train stop
Torre a Mare

Torre a Mare

Rocky coves

A fishing village absorbed by the city, twelve kilometres south, with a watchtower and flat rock to swim off. It has its own station.

Map
Where to base yourself

Best neighborhoods in Bari

Four quarters, from the medieval headland to a fishing village at the end of the line.
Bari Vecchia
Walkable
Old town

Bari Vecchia

Medieval core

The headland between the two harbours: the basilica, the cathedral, the castle, the orecchiette street and about forty churches in a knot of lanes.

Map
Shopping
Centre

Murat

Nineteenth-century grid

The new town laid out from 1813 under Joachim Murat, straight streets on a grid, with the shopping run of Via Sparano, the Petruzzelli and most of the hotels.

Map
Quieter
South of the centre

Madonnella

Seafront

Behind the Lungomare Nazario Sauro, running past the monumental 1930s facades to the Pinacoteca. Residential, well placed for a morning walk along the water.

Map
Torre a Mare
Off the tourist map
South

Torre a Mare

Coastal village

The last stop before the province, a village of fishing boats and rock swimming. Fifteen minutes by train, and a different evening entirely.

Map
Out of town

Best day trips in Bari

Six trips, five of them by train from Bari Centrale.
Polignano a Mare
Cliffs
35 km south

Polignano a Mare

30 min by train

A white town on the lip of a limestone cliff, with the Lama Monachile inlet cut into it and caves under the houses. Worth the half day.

Map
Monopoli
Harbour
45 km south

Monopoli

35 to 50 min by train

The working alternative to Polignano: a walled old town around a fishing harbour, a castle on the water, and swimming off Cala Porta Vecchia below the walls.

Map
Alberobello
UNESCO
55 km southeast

Alberobello

About 1 hr 15 by FSE train or bus

Two whole districts of trulli, the dry-stone cones with conical roofs, listed by UNESCO in 1996. Go early: the Rione Monti is a stage set by eleven in the morning.

Map
Matera
Sassi
65 km southwest

Matera

About 1 hr 20 by FAL train or coach

Over the border in Basilicata: a canyon town of cave dwellings, abandoned as a slum in the 1950s and rebuilt into a Capital of Culture. A full day.

Map
Trani
Cathedral
45 km northwest

Trani

About 40 min by train

The cathedral stands alone on the rock at the edge of the sea, which is the single best set piece in Puglia. The harbour behind it fills with boats and restaurants.

Map
Castel del Monte
UNESCO
60 km west

Castel del Monte

By car, or train to Andria plus the shuttle

Frederick II's octagonal castle on a hill above the Murge, eight towers on eight corners and no obvious military purpose. Hard to reach without a car.

Map
What's on

Festivals & annual events in Bari (2026)

Time your trip around the city's biggest dates.
7–9 May

Festa di San Nicola

The city's biggest three days, marking the arrival of the relics in 1087. A costumed parade, then the statue out to sea.

6 Dec

Feast day of Saint Nicholas

The winter half of the same devotion, and the quieter one. The basilica opens before dawn to bells and fills for the first mass.

Jan–Feb

Carnevale di Putignano

One of the oldest carnivals in Europe, in a town 40 km southeast. Giant papier-mache floats and Sunday parades.

Mar

Bif&st, Bari International Film & TV Festival

Eight days of screenings, competition and masterclasses across the Petruzzelli and the city's cinemas.

Jul–Sep

Bari in Jazz

A metropolitan festival rather than a single venue: concerts from Bari across Molfetta and Monopoli, July to September.

Sep

Fiera del Levante, Campionaria

The general fair that has defined Bari's September since 1930. The 89th edition runs 19 to 27 September 2026.

May

Fiera di San Nicola

The market that shadows the May feast, with more than 170 traders taking the streets around the basilica for several days.

Year-round

Petruzzelli season

Opera, ballet, symphonic concerts and recitals through the year in Italy's fourth largest theatre.

Getting around

Bari transport & airports

How to arrive and move around the city.
BRI

Bari Karol Wojtyła Airport

Puglia's main airport sits about 8 km northwest of the centre at Palese. The Ferrotramviaria train reaches Bari Centrale in 15 to 20 minutes, several times an hour.

Map↗ Website↗ Website
Rail

Trains from Bari Centrale

Bari Centrale is a ten-minute walk from the old town. Trenitalia runs the Adriatic line north to Barletta and south to Polignano and Brindisi, with fast trains to Rome.

Map↗ Website↗ Website
Local

City buses and the Matera line

AMTAB runs the city buses, including to Pane e Pomodoro; buy before boarding. Ferrovie Appulo Lucane runs the separate line to Matera in about eighty minutes.

↗ Website↗ Website
Port

Ferries to Greece and the Balkans

Year-round sailings to Igoumenitsa and Patras, Durrës in Albania, Bar in Montenegro and Dubrovnik. The terminal is northwest of the old town.

Map
Traditional food

Must-try dishes in Bari, Italy

The classics to order before you leave.
Focaccia barese, Bari (Wimup travel guide)

Focaccia barese

A thick, oily round made with a little potato, pressed with cherry tomatoes and olives and baked until crisp.

Crudo di mare, Bari (Wimup travel guide)

Crudo di mare

Raw seafood the way the fish quay serves it: urchins split open, octopus curled against stone, lemon.

Orecchiette con le cime di rapa

The dish the city is known for: ear-shaped pasta with turnip tops, garlic, chilli and anchovy.

Sgagliozze

Squares of polenta deep fried and salted, sold from doorways in Bari Vecchia in paper cones.

Panzerotti

Half-moons of dough filled with mozzarella and tomato and fried to order.

Riso, patate e cozze

The tiella: rice, potatoes and mussels layered in one dish with onion, tomato and pecorino, then baked.

Brasciole al sugo

Thin rolls of meat, traditionally horse, stuffed with garlic and pecorino and simmered in tomato for hours.

Popizze

Fried dough balls, plain and salted or dusted with sugar, sold hot in winter and eaten in fistfuls.

Bari fact sheet

Bari at a glance

The essentials worth knowing before you go.
Country
Italy
Region
Puglia, Metropolitan City of Bari
Population
About 315,000 in the city (ISTAT, 1 January 2025), about 1.2 million in the metropolitan city
Founded
Peucetian settlement, Roman Barium
Nickname
Porta d'Oriente, the gateway to the East
Language
Italian, with Barese spoken at home
Currency
Euro (€)
Time zone
CET (UTC+1), CEST from late March to late October
Calling code
+39, area code 080
Airports
Bari Karol Wojtyła (BRI), about 8 km northwest of the centre
Power
Type C, F and L sockets, 230V, 50Hz
Emergency
112
Ideal length
2 days
Getting around
On foot in the old town, AMTAB buses and regional trains beyond
Tourism board
↗ Website

Interesting facts

  • In 1087 a party of Bari sailors took the relics of Saint Nicholas from Myra and brought them home.
  • The crypt is shared. Catholic and Orthodox Christians both venerate the tomb, and an Orthodox altar stands in the same room.
  • The straight streets south of the old town were ordered by Joachim Murat in 1813. Baresi still divide the city into vecchia and murattiana.
  • The Teatro Petruzzelli opened in 1903 as the fourth largest theatre in Italy. Arson gutted it in 1991 and it did not reopen until 2009.
  • Bari is the busiest passenger port on the southern Adriatic, with year-round ferries east, which is why the city has always looked that way.

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