Puglia, Italy

Masseria Torre Coccaro

Price per night from$256.88

Price information

If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 60 days.

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (EUR236.36), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Style

Refined fortress

Setting

Sea-scented olive groves

Family-friendly boutique hotel  Masseria Torre Coccaro is set in a historic fortified farmhouse a short distance from the Adriatic. The rooms are exquisitely furnished with linen bedding, silky sofas, large baroque mirrors and antique furniture. The hotel has an Aveda spa, Turkish baths, gym and large outdoor pool. Guests may also use the beach club and a private 14-metre yacht.

Smith Extra

Get this when you book through us:

A complimentary massage in the spa for one person

Facilities

Photos Masseria Torre Coccaro facilities

Need to know

Rooms

Thirty-seven.

Check–Out

Noon. Earliest check-in, 2pm.

Prices

Double rooms from £222.33 (€260), including tax at 10 per cent. Please note the hotel charges an additional local city tax of €3.00 per person per night on check-out.

More details

Rates include breakfast.

Also

The hotel also operates a horse-riding centre (with ponies for the kids), allowing guests to take trots along the beach or through the countryside.

At the hotel

TV/DVD, free WiFi, bikes, beach bags. The Aveda spa has a small indoor pool, Turkish baths, yoga/chikung facilities and gym. Shiatsu, Ayurvedic and reflexology massage are available.

Our favourite rooms

Room 35 is a junior suite in an ancient tower, with beautiful sea views and cosy fireplace. Room 6 is the Orange Garden suite, set into the bedrock, with large dining area, private garden and Jacuzzi. Room 16 has a private patio and beautiful vaulted ceiling.

Poolside

Large outdoor pool with a cabana where you can have a light lunch.

Spa

As calming as the hotel’s white-washed walls are, you’ll feel extra zen down in the natural caves of the Aveda spa. The hotel puts their own twist on traditional treatments by using natural products from the estate, such as their extra virgin olive oil for massages or olive leaves for detox scrubs. Back above ground, there’s a glass-fronted gym which overlooks groves of olive trees, plus a pilates and yoga tent in the ancient garden during the summer.

Packing tips

A pair of trainers – and riding boots – if you have them, the rustic surroundings reward the sporty. Be sure to bring a wrap for nights spent lingering on the pretty porch.

Also

Seven-night minimum stay in August. Torre Coccaro’s beach club (open April to October) is five minutes away. The hotel runs a cookery school, wine tastings, vintage Italian car excursions and feast nights.

Children

Children under two stay free. Children between two and 12 are charged €90 a night; over-12s €150. A babysitting service and a kids' beach club (June–September) are also available.

Overview

Children under two stay free. Children between two and 12 are charged €90 a night; over-12s €150. A babysitting service and a kids' beach club (June–September) are also available.

Best for

Babies and children of all ages welcomed.

Recommended rooms

Superior Rooms and the Junior Suite are large enough to accommodate a family of four with ease. Deluxe Junior Suites have a separate living room.

Crèche

During the summer season (1 June to 15 September), the Mini Club at this child-friendly hotel's nearby beach is open from 10am–1pm and 3pm–5pm and caters for children aged three to 10 years.

Activities

Children can let off steam in the hotel's garden, or in the surrounding farmland (the Masseria is a working farm). There are bikes to borrow free of charge (but no baby seats or children's helmets), and the beach is close by. The hotel also has a private yacht for guests' use on request. During summer, the Paradise for Children programme teaches young guests about the ecology of the local area. At Easter, little Smiths can take part in the 'Easterolympics', a full day of activities including making pizza and chocolate eggs and outdoor fun on the estate's long beach.

 

Swimming pool

The large pool has a shallow end and a lifeguard in attendance from 8am to 6pm. There are a few armbands and rubber rings available; it's best to book these in advance.

Meals

Children allowed in the restaurant for all meals. There isn't a children's menu, but the kitchen will prepare specific meals on request, and is happy to provide child-friendly packed lunches, and heat milk and baby food.

Babysitting

Available day and night for €15 an hour; give as much notice as possible.

No need to pack

Cots, high chairs and car seats available, as well as armbands for water babies.

Also

The nearby Zoosafari amusement park is a winner with children, with rollercoaster rides and all kinds of animals, including dolphins and elephants. The hotel's Aveda spa is an adult-only zone, so make use of the hotel's babysitting service and indulge.

Food and Drink

Photos Masseria Torre Coccaro food and drink

Top Table

Under the pergola with a view of the pool.

Dress Code

Breezy and informal.

Hotel restaurant

Egnathia restaurant is set under the star-shaped vaults of the old stables and serves organic Puglian cuisine. The beach-club restaurant specialises in sushi and fish dishes.

Hotel bar

Set in one of the towers, with fireplaces, vaulted ceilings and garden terrace.

Room service

Provided 7am–2am. A snack menu is available at times when the restaurant kitchen is closed.

Location

Photos Masseria Torre Coccaro location
Address
Masseria Torre Coccaro
Contrada Coccaro 8
Savelletri di Fasano
72015
Italy

Planes

The nearest airports are Bari (served by BA and Ryanair) and Brindisi (served by Ryanair), both roughly an hour’s drive from Masseria Torre Coccaro. Alternatively, it’s 40 minutes by train to Fasano (transfer from the airport to the train station by bus).

Trains

The closest train station is 3 kilometres away, at Fasano, part of the Bologna-Roma-Bari-Lecce line. For information on Italian trains, see Trenitalia (www.trenitalia.com).

Automobiles

Masseria Torre Coccaro is an hour from Bari and 50 minutes from Brindisi; the nearest town is Fasano, which is 15 minutes away, and the famous dome trulli rooves of Alberobello are a 45-minute drive. From the motorway between Bari and Brindisi (the E55), take the Savelletri exit, and then follow the signs to Masseria.

Worth getting out of bed for

Take the hotel's 14ft yacht to ensure you arrive at the beach club (open during summer) in style. If you'd rather get your thrills on dry ground, there's go-kart racing at the hotel, or you can borrow one of their quad bikes to ride through the neighbouring fields and olive groves. Head to the nearby Mozzarella Palace for a cheese tasting, then venture to the coast for fresh fish carpaccio, scampi, sea urchins and other local delicacies – the hotel can arrange it all.

Local restaurants

In the neighbouring fishing village of Savelletri, La Marea has a simple ambience and does excellent seafood, including oysters and sea urchins. Try the gilthead in a salt crust. In the historic centre of Ostuni, Osteria del Tempo Perso on Via G Tanzarella Vitale serves fine Puglian dishes. Chichibio in the pretty village of Polignano a Mare offers delicious grilled fish, seafood pasta and home-made lemon ice cream. Nearby Ristorante da Tuccino does fabulous seafood platters. 

Reviews

Photos Masseria Torre Coccaro reviews
Howard Marks

Anonymous review

By Howard Marks, Bon vivant

The night sky sparkled with stars as we watched the massive electric entrance gates to Masseria Torre Coccaro swing open. A long drive, flanked by rows of flickering candles in terracotta dishes and lanterns, led us to a carpark containing at least a hundred cars. Having expected a small place with just 30 rooms, we walked timidly towards the warmly welcoming reception area. An open 17th-century chapel beamed out light and revealed crucifixes, while white-tuxedo-clad men and elegantly dressed Italian models crowded around the massive grand piano that dominated a fairy-lit courtyard.

The hotel was hosting a full-scale wedding. Couples whirled rapidly in a clockwise circle around the courtyard, accompanied by the hectic rhythms of tambourines and mandolins. Then they suddenly stopped and whirled anticlockwise for a while, before changing direction again. ‘That’s the dance they did in The Godfather,’ said Mrs Smith. ‘It must be a Mafia wedding. How exciting!’

There’s nothing like letting your imagination run a little wild to kick-start a Smith sojourn in Puglia. The wedding guests were dancing the tarantella, a dance that originated in the Middle Ages in nearby Taranto as a means of treating the sickness, melancholy and madness brought about by the venomous bite of the tarantula. The spiders were the scourge of the farm workers who spent their days labouring in the fields. Furious frenzied dancing was the only known successful cure.

In a terrace adorned with large wicker baskets and aluminium buckets of red, pink and orange flowers, a team of bustling waiters brought us menus, an amuse-bouche of mango-wrapped salmon mousse, and a dish of fresh organic vegetables served with a bowl of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I ordered oysters (served with Parmigiano to enhance their taste) and spaghetti with black squid ink, while Mrs Smith settled for carpaccio with slices of deep-red wild strawberry and mango parcels of kiwi and lettuce. As we sat sipping grappa, while seven able-bodied men carried the grand piano back to its home in one of the several public lounges (all of which exhibit works of art from the local galleries and contain interesting libraries), we had a rare moment of total agreement: it was the best food we had ever eaten.

Our room (an old hayloft) was exquisitely furnished with linen bedding, silky sofas, large baroque mirrors and antique furniture from the local markets. Much to Mrs Smith’s delight, every current English and Italian magazine lay on the wooden desk. In the cave-like bathroom, a giant showerhead presided over a square stone bath surrounded by jars of blue bath salts, indulgent body and hair moisturising creams, lotions, shampoos and conditioners.

Torre Coccaro is a masseria fortificata, a family-run working farm and fortress, producing its own vegetables, fruits, olive oil and salami. The next morning saw us strolling for a sumptuous breakfast through the hotel’s formal gardens and orchards. Arched windows smiled among trailing plants and fragrant climbing honeysuckle; we were tempted to tarry by caved recesses with padded seating built into the thick whitewashed walls, and wooden benches in the garden. A lake-style pool, superbly integrated into the formal gardens, sloped down from the outdoor restaurant to a subterranean Aveda spa offering a vast selection of massages, and therapies in hot and cold pools. Not suffering from stress or tension, we drove off down the coast in search of Italy’s best seafood restaurant, instead.

Extending as far as the heel of the Italian boot (out on a limb, and at the end of the line), Puglia has a relieving lack of tourist-friendly features. The road signs are confusing, and it was proving impossible for either of us to tell if the arrow directing us was pointing down the road or to the right. Whichever option we took, we inevitably arrived at either a zona industriale or a forlorn housing project on the edge of town. We had to weave through a formidable number of one-way streets to get back on to yet another country lane. We got lost, but deliciously so.

Puglia is perplexing. Even the shabby and dishevelled look of the countryside’s unkempt olive groves, ruined walls, and scruffy caper and cacti fields is misleading: the region's volcanic soil, reliable sunshine and comfortable winter rain (supplemented by an irrigation system that includes the world’s longest aqueduct) produce two-thirds of Italy’s olive oil, one-tenth of Europe’s wine, and fruit and vegetables that taste as they did when we were children.

Polignano a Mare’s Ristorante da Tuccino rises abruptly from the coast. Old men in vests watched their families dive from the rocks or sunbathe like lazy lizards on the craggy promontories, while posh yachts and speedboats ploughed through the bright-blue mottled sea. A mixed clientele of peasants, yuppies and kids in shorts tucked into enormous platters of fishy and crustacean delights. Wisely, we left the ordering to the head waiter.

Hours later, satisfied, full, but surprisingly refreshed, we drove back along the coast to Torre Coccaro to drink and swim at the hotel’s private beach club before being swallowed by our bed. Unless one is a strict dieter, Torre Coccaro provides authentic hospitality at its very best. We left, swamped with reluctance and wishing we weren’t already married.

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Price per night from $256.88