Updated fully in August 2023

Puglia is made for a road trip and a few summers ago, we spent ten wonderful days driving around its gorgeous coastline and sumptuous countryside sampling the best of this relatively undiscovered region in southern Italy.

Although there are several potential Puglia road trip itineraries, we wanted to help you plan your own by sharing the route we designed. After many evenings of research, planning and mapping, we decided that, setting off from Bari, this route would bring us to all the highlights we wanted to visit, at a pace which gave us freedom to experience lesser known villages, some of the best beaches in Puglia and its coastal hideaways.

So, if you're in the planning stage for your own Puglia road trip and looking for some ideas, information and inspiration on where to visit and where to stay in the region, then this is the post for you!

Need more inspiration about why you should visit Puglia? Then read this post.

puglia road trip essentials

Where / Start and finish in Bari
Duration / 10 days is ideal amount of time
Expect / Mix of cities, towns, villages and beaches
Remember / Where you stay will be affected by ZTLs
Car / Book your rental with Auto Europe or RentalCars.com

Puglia Road Trip Route: Overview

We chose to go anti-clockwise from Bari because a lot of Puglia's tourist highlights are clustered in the eastern part of the region - we wanted to save those for later in the trip and spend more time on the lesser-visited beaches and towns in the west and south. Our route could easily be done in reverse however if that's your preference.

If you're arriving in Puglia's other airport - Brindisi - then simply follow the same route, factoring in that your first few nights will be better spent in Ostuni - or one of the nearby towns like Locorotondo and Alberobello - rather than Matera.

Before providing a day by day breakdown of our Puglia road trip itinerary for you, we want to give a few pointers on the above map and this post in general:

You can open the above map within Google Maps to give you a full scale interactive view and a little more detail on directions, driving distances etc. We use an offline Google Map as our a main or back-up GPS on all our road trips.
Starred locations are places (beaches, towns or cities) that we recommend visiting on this itinerary - you don't have to go to all of them but most of them should be on your list!
Red marks indicate the five towns and cities where we stayed on the road trip. One of our main tips for any style or length of Puglia road trip is to choose a few 'home bases' and make day trips from them to spots around Puglia, rather than moving to new accommodation each night of the trip. We found and booked most of ours on Airbnb.
The blue line (with A-E marks) indicates our general driving route - it doesn't include each journey we made and isn't 100% accurate in terms of the roads we took, but it gives a good general outline of the overall route we travelled in Puglia.
Note that our ten day Puglia itinerary took in more than just the popular eastern coast of Puglia (which includes Polignano a Mare, Ostuni, Alberobello and Otranto - see 'day five' onwards of our below itinerary for this section if you wish to only stay there). If you are planning for a one week itinerary total, then we'd still recommend taking a road trip as it will allow you to see so much more of Puglia than public transport allows, but you will not be able to cover the exact same route as we did. In this case, we'd recommend that you base yourself in two locations for three nights each, and make day trips from there to the surrounding locations. Note that the eastern section is the most popular part of Puglia with Italian and European tourists, so prices for accommodation tend to be a little higher and its best to book as soon as possible. Not sure where to stay? Then keep on reading!
This post is a general overview to help you plan your own road trip route; we have written several guides to help you plan your trip Puglia in more detail - such as '17 Things to Know Before You Visit Puglia' - and they are linked to throughout this article.
A final note is that since completing this road trip, we have returned to Puglia (and hope to go again this year), and so have been to a few more towns, cites and touristic sites that were missed out because of time restraints the first time round - places like Monopoli that we always regretted not being able to make it to.

Puglia Road Trip Itinerary: Day by Day

Arrival in Bari Airport

Flying from London, we arrived in Bari's Karol Wojtyla Airport at 8 p.m.

We decided to take the easy option and spend a night in the city, returning to the airport the next morning to pick up the car. In hindsight, we probably should have just picked up the car on the evening we arrived and stayed somewhere on our route.

Bari is not an unenjoyable city but, as you're here for a Puglia road trip, it’s likely that you won’t want to spend too much time here when you could be right by the beach or exploring smaller towns and cities.

However Bari certainly has an old school Italian charm to it, and you won’t regret a night or two here, indeed plenty of people seem to use it as a base from which to explore the rest of Puglia.

Drive | We found and booked our car via Auto Europe, which was cheap, seamless and hassle-free. It covers all the car rental options available for both Bari and Brindisi and has no cancellation fees for up to 48 hours before pick up.

Rental fees have unfortunately gone up quite a bit since our first visit to Puglia, but it still remains a good value road trip destination compared to many others in Europe (on our third, and most recent trip to the region, we still secured an excellent rate). It’s best to search via both Auto Europe and RentalCars.com to find the best prices and availability for your own travel dates, and lock a car in sooner rather than later.

If you’ve never rented a car before, we highly recommend your read this post before you fly to Italy - 9 Essential Car Rental Tips for Travellers - which will save you money, reduce stress, and help you avoid scams and hidden fees.

Stay | We stayed in a super cheap Airbnb which we wouldn’t really recommend - instead we’d recommend checking out one of these much better options that we’ve selected.

Plan | If you find yourself having a few hours free before setting off on your road trip, feel free to check our guide to Bari.

Day One: Bari > Matera

64 kilometres / 1.5 to 2 hours

Exiting Bari airport, you will quite quickly start driving in the copper-hued and cacti-covered farmland which will be a common feature of your Puglia road trip. It's an easy and well sign-posted drive towards the beautiful town of Matera which, although not actually within the region of Puglia, is unmissable if you're in this part of Italy.

On this stretch of route, we chose not to visit Castel del Monte, which is less than an hour from Bari Airport and is actually one of Puglia's most famous sites. From Castel del Monte, you are 77kms from Matera, so it's a perfectly sensible and easily manageable addition to your day one itinerary.

The only other place we considered stopping on our first day was Altamura, which is famed for its unique bread. However, as we had so many plans for Matera (Europe's Capital of Culture in 2019), we drove straight there, and to our accommodation in the historical centre.

Depending upon your time of arrival, you’ll hopefully have a few hours this afternoon to explore a little of Matera. Some things to consider seeing & doing include:

Gain an understanding of Matera’s history at Casa Noha
Get lost in the Sassi Matera (or join a walking tour so you don’t!)
Head on a sunrise hike across the ravine
Stop by the recently restored cathedral
Taste Matera’s famous bread
Get cultured in the Modern Art Museum

Stay | As we were planning on being out and about from early to late during our time in Matera, we chose to stay in a double room at the city’s best hostel, L'Ostello dei Sassi. However, we know that irrespective of how long you plan on being in Matera, a hostel is absolutely not going to suit most of you - so we have a few alternative suggestions:

Our mid-range hotel option is the beautiful L'Hotel in Pietra, lofted in a converted 13th century monastery.
Looking for the ultimate luxury cave hotel? Le Grotte Della Civita, with its medieval romance in a spectacular hilltop setting, may well be it.
Alternatively, Matera is also home to an abundance of excellent Airbnbs - two of our favourites include IDYLLE MAISON & ESSENCE SUITE

Plan | You can find more information in our guide on the best things to do in Matera.

Day Two: Matera > Gallipoli

180 kms / full day on the road if covering lots of locations

After a blissful morning photographing the empty streets of Matera, we set off to for a relatively easy day of driving. Upon your departure from Matera, we recommend travelling south via Taranto. Its old town - set on an island - is captivating.

We planned our route to go via Produttori Vini Manduria, a winery where you can fill up bottles by the gallon from petrol pumps. It was a really nice countryside drive, but we made the mistake of arriving literally one minute after closing time on a Sunday (remember that Sundays are still pretty sacred in Italy)!

If you’d like to stop by yourself, you’ll find it here on Google Maps. It’s open 8 am - 1 pm Monday to Sunday and 3.30 pm to 7 pm Monday to Saturday.

Nevertheless, a quick stop in the small seaside town of San Pietro in Bevagna (maps) for our first taste of pizza of the trip - the first of many we might add - marked our arrival on Puglia's stretch of beautiful western coastline.

Once you hit San Pietro in Bevagna, which itself has a nice stretch of public beach and some restaurants but is otherwise unremarkable, it's a case of deciding whether you're going to visit the sandy beaches today for a few hours, or save them up for Day Three or Four of your own road trip.

Punta Prosciutto (maps) and Torre Lapillo (maps) are nice, relatively undeveloped beaches - by Italian standards at least - whilst Santa Maria al Bagno (maps) and Parco Natural Reginoale Porto Selvaggio e Palude del Capitano (maps) are also good options. All these beaches are relatively short distances from each other in the car so, if you don't like one or it's too busy, then simply head to the next.

It was to take advantage of this coastline and some of the best beaches in Puglia that we had chosen to base ourselves in Gallipoli for two nights - we would recommend this town to anyone looking for a base for day trips on the western and south western coast.

Upon arrival in Gallipoli, note that you can't park in its old town, so you’ll need to find a space in the large car park by the port.

Stay | We stayed at this great old town apartment with a glorious private rooftop. You can find more accommodation Gallipoli accommodation options here.

Plan | For the best things to do in Gallipoli, read our guide.

Day Three: Gallipoli

After a quiet morning hiding from a brewing storm, we head out to explore the tiny warren-like maze of Gallipoli's old town - with a few breaks for cold beers, large glasses of local wine and plates of bruschetta!

Gallipoli is another Puglian city that is best enjoyed on a roam without a plan, but some things to help you plan your time include:

Visit the 13th century Castello Angioino di Gallipoli
Laze on the Spiaggia della Purita, the picturesque city beach.
Get your bearings on your first day by walking the perimeter of Gallipoli
Pass by Cathedral Sant'Agata
Take a private guided walking tour.
Step back in time by visiting Corte Gallo

Stay | No need to move tonight, you’ll be in the same accommodation as last night.

Plan | Check out our Gallipoli guide and photo journal for inspiration, advice and accommodation suggestions.

Day Four: Gallipoli > Sternatia

110 kms / 2.5 kilometres with all the little beach turn-offs

We could easily have stayed another couple of days in Gallipoli, but the road was calling (and we had booked all our accommodation months in advance - this is really important for any summer visits!) and it was time to head inland.

The morning drive from Gallipoli saw us stopping off at a few beaches for which we had high hopes - Lido Punta della Suina and Lido Samsara.

If you love a lido or don’t mind sunbathing atop of rocks, The beautiful little cove of Lido Punta della Suina (maps) may be ideal for you! Note that the free part of the beach (where the rocks are) is quite small so if you arrive late in the afternoon on a busy day, you may struggle to find space. Do note that parking is €6 per car.

Lido Samsara, an Ibiza-lite beach club wasn’t really our cup of tea, and having now updated this post for summer 2022, it seems that it hasn’t survived the last couple of years and is permanently closed. An nearby alternative is Lido Sottovento Gallipoli (maps), but note that we haven’t been.

Disappointed at the above, we chose not to stay at either and drove onwards to Spiaggia di Pescoluse, also known as the Maldives of Salento. Google images had raised our hopes a little too high (it was quite crowded, the beach had a bit of litter, and the wind meant the sea was never calm) but it was still the right choice for a few hours of free sunbathing. There are a few simple restaurants offering typical Italian fare and lots of car parks by the beach charging as little as 3 euro per day.

A real highlight of the day was the coast-hugging drive from Spiaggia di Pescoluse to Leuca, a pretty little town at the very southerly tip of 'the heel of Italy'. Although not the prettiest beach in Puglia, we enjoyed passing an hour or so at the end of the day wandering along the waterfront and through its cacti-lined streets. In fact, Leuca would be a perfectly acceptable base if you don't want to stay inland tonight (see Leuca's accommodation options here).

Stay | One of the benefits of having your own vehicle is the option to plan a road trip route that suits you. Instead of staying in another large-ish city, for this part of our Puglian adventure we cast a wider net, and found probably our favourite house / apartment rental to date in the shape of Casa Filia in a tiny little town called Sternatia. Just 2000 people but close enough to explore the south of Puglia on day trips.

For this part of the road trip, we aren't necessarily encouraging all of you to go and stay in Sternatia, but more to look at accommodation options at some of the beautiful properties in the Puglian countryside or lesser visited towns and villages.

Take a look at this map of all Puglia’s accommodation options here to see if there's anything special and available in the area on your dates - remember, a road trip gives you freedom to stay somewhere a little different, a little out of reach, and a little more like the old Italy of your dreams!

Plan | Discover our most useful tips for any road-tripper to Puglia in 14 Things to Know Before a Puglia Road Trip plus don’t miss our post on the best beaches in Puglia.

Day Five: Sternatia

90 kms (return trip to and from Sternatia)

We take road trips all over the world, and we know that it's essential to factor in at least one or two chill out days without any serious driving or sightseeing.

So on day five of our Puglia roadtrip, we rose late in Sternatia, went to the supermarket just down the road and stocked up on treats and food for the next few days. We took brunch on our incredible balcony and strolled around sampling small town Italian life, took a dip in the excellent water at Marina Serra (a place we highly recommended - find it here on Google Maps) before capping of the afternoon with a sunset Aperol Spritz in the quiet yet charming Tricase Porto.

La dolce vita indeed!

Puglia Road Trip Itinerary - Marina Serra - Italy

Day Six: Otranto & Torre Dell'Orso

76 kilometres / can travel further dependent upon inclusion of other attractions

Continuing to use Sternatia as our base, we spent the day visiting a couple of Puglia's most popular spots.

The first, Otranto, is a very pretty port town, with a whitewashed historic centre, a small beach and some wonderful views over the ocean. It wasn't our very favourite place in Puglia, but it's certainly worthy of being on your itinerary.

Some things to keep you occupied for a few hours in Otranto include:

Walk along the city walls and ramparts - and then explore the castle
Visit Basilica Cattedrale di Santa Maria Annunziata, considered to be one of the largest churches in Italy
Then stop by La Chiesa di San Pietro, a church widely regarded to be one of the most beautiful examples of Byzantine architecture in Salento
Explore the old town on foot independently, or with a tour

Best Beaches in Puglia - Otranto - Italy

The afternoon was dedicated to one of the nicest stretches of sand we visited in Puglia - Torre Dell'Orso (maps). Not only is it the perfect beach spot, but by taking a short walk up to the cliffs which surround it, you can enjoy one of the best sunset views in Italy overlooking Le Due Sorelle rocks. Find the viewpoint here.

Note that the only parking available for Torre Dell'Orso is a 3-5 minute walk from the beach, whilst there are a number of restaurants and bars on the beach.

A couple of kilometres away, you can also find the Grotte della Poesia, an extremely popular natural sea sinkhole which you used to be able to dive into from a pretty great height. Whilst it’s been a beloved swimming spot for many years, recent clampdowns to conserve its archeological significance (its considered to be one of the most important protohistoric locations in Italy) mean that it is no longer somewhere we recommend visiting for its sunbathing potential. You can find the pool here, and if you’d still like to visit, we’d recommend checking out our complete guide to Grotta della Poesia.

Stay | Another night in your chosen inland base

Plan | Our short guide to Otranto and another on Torre dell’Orso

Puglia Road Trip Itinerary - Torre dell'Orso - Italy

Day Seven: Sternatia > Ostuni

135 kms / recommend taking the motorway to save time

As the unseasonable wind which had buffeted us on the western coast had now disappeared completely, we agreed to make the most of the last of Puglia's beautiful summer sunshine rather than head to Lecce (we know that Lecce is a highlight for many visiting Puglia and it was with heavy hearts we had to skip it - although we did return on a future trip, and wrote a complete guide that you can read here). So, taking narrow back country roads from Sternatia, we returned to the coast by Torre Dell'Orso to try and find some quiet nearby spots to enjoy the sun.

And find them we did.

The first was Torre Sant'Andrea / I Faraglioni - a picture perfect rocky outcrop with the best water we experienced in all of Puglia. Note that the rock where everyone hangs out isn't exactly the comfiest, but it's a really special spot. Seriously, the water here is just divine.

In high season, we'd imagine it can get very busy, so arrive early to find yourself a spot for the day.

Best Beaches in Puglia - Torre Sant'Andrea - Puglia

The second was the beach at San Foca, somewhere we hadn't read about at all in our research. Although Torre Dell'Orso was more impressive to look at, San Foca was a much more uncrowded and an enjoyable lido-lite beach to just hang out at, and the town is a good spot to find some lunch (we highly recommend Tuna’s - here on Maps - for their exceptional fish sandwiches)

We just need to note here that if you were so inclined, this would be the natural point to make your way to Lecce. However, for our own road trip we had a finite amount of time and something had to give - the Baroque city was that give.

We did actually make here on our second and third trip to the region. Often referred to as the Florence of the South, this should give you some indication as to the architecture. It’s undoubtedly pretty (and we absolutely adored our time there in September 2022 - it would be the perfect city break), but if you’re heading to Puglia for white washed buildings and small cities, you may wish to skip Lecce too.

(That Lecce guide is finally published by the way - read it here!)

So, instead we put the pedal to the metal and head north all the way to the stunning white city of Puglia, arriving just in time to grab a sunset drink and a simple but delicious plate of orecchiette.

Stay | With Ostuni as our base for the rest of our time in Puglia, we checked this lovely little studio apartment - with a rooftop and views in the old town. Two other excellent alternatives are Casa Palmira & A House in the Sky

Plan | Pick and choose what to do in Ostuni with our guide but also be sure to read our guide to the best beaches in Puglia - filled with our absolute cannot miss stretches of sand, hidden coves and rocky swimming spots.

Day Eight: Ostuni

Friends had recommended that we would love Ostuni, and so should use it as a base - they weren't wrong!

It's a gorgeous whitewashed city, full of dreamy streets and shopfronts, and it's also ideally located for short drives to other lovely parts of Puglia and some nice beaches, like Torre Sant Sabina.

The place does see a growing number of tourists, but we continue to recommend it as a fantastic base for both short and long Puglia road trips. However, it’s important to book ahead in summer.

Hopefully you’ve read our guide to Ostuni, but if not, here are some suggestions of the best things to do in Puglia’s white city:

Go for a wander - or if you’d like a little more direction, consider this popular walking tour
Take a look around Ostuni’s impressive 15th century Gothic cathedral.
Take in the view from Corso Vittorio Emanuele II and take a seat at the viewpoint.
Walk the city walls
Head to the beach - there’s plenty nearby

Stay | Same as last night, this little apartment with the rooftop views.

Note that it if you’d prefer a hotel in Ostuni, consider the beautiful La Sommità Relais or Hotel La Terra.

Plan | Our guide to Ostuni

Day Nine: Alberobello - Martina Franca - Locorotondo

50+ kms / full day of exploration

On our last full day in Puglia, we took full advantage of having our own car and hit the cacti-filled countryside and to wander around some of the prettiest towns in all of Italy.

The clustered triumvirate of Alberobello, Martina Franca and Locorotondo are all stunning in their own right, and since they are all less than 10kms from each other, can easily be enjoyed at a slow pace on one day.

Each is an essential addition to any Puglia itinerary, whilst nearby Cisternino is also definitely worth including (we didn’t make it here on our first trip to the region but made a point of visiting on the second - it’s beautiful!)

Alberobello, home of the unique trulli, is probably the most touristic place in Puglia and we ensured we arrived there before the tour buses - we recommend you do the same. Read more of our advice for Alberobello in our guide.

Stay | Final night in Ostuni

Plan | Take a look at our guide to Locorotondo and our post on the best things things to do in Alberobello

Day 10: Ostuni > Bari Airport

100 km / 1.5 hours

With an evening flight from Bari Airport, we drove along the coast from Ostuni to Polignano a Mare.

Over the course of a few hours, we savoured the last drops of sun on a rooftop bar, got lost in its gorgeous old town, tasted fantastic focaccia, lay on its Insta-famous bay, bought some souvenirs and contemplated just how perfect our Puglia road trip had been.

To underline just how much plans can change when planning a road trip, our heart had originally been set on staying in Polignano e Mare for the first few nights in Puglia. However, we are more than happy with our decision to have only our last sun-kissed day there (but if you want to stay in the town for a night or two at the start or end of your stay, be sure to read our short guide to Polignano a Mare).

What would we have done differently?

In all honestly, not that much - we were quite happy with our Puglia road trip itinerary!

If we did it all again we’d probably pick up the car immediately and not spend the first night in Bari. We did it because of a later arrival time, but even if we’d stayed somewhere random it would likely have made sense to at least be on the way to our first stop!

Oh, and less time on the motorway. It’s a stunning region of Italy which can be appreciated much better by travelling along country roads. This would however mean each journey taking far longer, which isn’t ideal on quite a jam-packed itinerary.

Essentially though, the timing worked, the accommodation we selected was great, and we came away with a deep appreciation of this part of Italy.

And we didn’t wreck the car!

As we’ve mentioned earlier in this post, we unfortunately had to skip Lecce and Monopoli on this road trip.

We feel that Lecce was the right decision for us at the time, but Monopoli on the other hand, is somewhere we definitely should have made time for and we fell for it quite hard on our second trip to Puglia (and retuned to it again on our third!)

Puglia Road Trip Guide

Driving in Italy has its....quirks...so we recommend you read this post - 14 Things to Know Before a Puglia Road Trip - before you finalise your route and rent your car in Puglia.

As mentioned, we have found and booked our car rental via Auto Europe for each visit to Puglia, as well as on our other road trips in Europe and beyond. Another excellent alternative is Rentalcars.com, and you should take a look at both in order to find the best deal for your dates.

If you are inexperienced at car rental on holiday, then we recommend you also read our Car Rental Tips for Travellers guide.

We hope we've given you some inspiration and ideas for planning your own trip to Puglia! Be sure to read our other Puglia guides to help you plan the best Puglia adventure possible, and let us know your own itinerary or suggestions in the comments!

Also, we never travel without insurance - make sure you're covered before you leave. If you don't think you need travel insurance, then read this article.