Trying to plan a week road trip in these areas. Planning on renting a car. Will be coming from Greece and was originally planning on flying into Bari or Brindisi but better flight times and prices flying into Naples so considering doing that and getting our car there and driving but I’m honestly nervous about driving out of Naples? Wondering if we should forget that idea? Hoping to spend 2 nights each at a nice beach town and make day trips. Would like to see Alberobello, Locorotondo, Ostuni, Otranto ,Gallipoli, other towns we shouldn’t miss?. Would love to rent a boat for a day and putt around the coastline and some beach time. Have been to Italy several times before, saw lots of churches, art etc and always made my own itinerary but I’m struggling with the best way to do this one. Hoping southern area will be a different “feel”. We fell in love with having breakfast and coffee while sitting by the ocean in Vernazza and while I know this is a different area, would love to find places where we could do that and make day trips. Any advice or suggestions is much appreciated ❤️
Posted by
Washington DC
28247 posts
I haven't had a car in that area so can't really help with a coastal itinerary aside from recommending ViaMichelin.com as a source of routing suggestions and estimated driving times. If you plot a route and zoom way in, the most scenic roads will be highlighted in green. I see a lot of green around Martina Franca (in the Alberobello area) and along the coast in the far south.
I would definitely want to see the beautiful Baroque city of Lecce. The coastal towns are cute as the dickens, and of course you'll have the trulli in Alberobello, but Lecce would add a lot of architectural variety to your itinerary.
Posted by
CA, USA
1253 posts
Driving from Naples to Bari is probably going to take about 4 hours. Add in the time to get your rental car and much of the first day may be taken up just getting over to Puglia. Given that you have only a week maybe the flight to the Adriatic side makes more sense, all things considered.
There aren't a lot of guidebooks to Puglia but we found "Lonely Planet Puglia & Basilicata" useful for getting an overview of the towns, then finding blogs to read where people discuss their visit and also looking at YouTube videos people have posted walking around various towns.
What time of the year are you planning on going?
Posted by
North Italy
395 posts
Naples airport to Bari is about 3 hours according to Google Maps, but you might find it takes longer because there are quite a lot of temporary speed limits for work in place. It's an easy drive- I've done it. You won't be driving in Naples, from the airport you get on to the autostrada almost immediately. Even in the Naples area once on a dual carriageway or autostrada it's no different from driving anywhere else on an autostrada in Italy. Well, that's not, true, there's not much traffic on the autostrada from Naples to Puglia so it's a lot less stressful than those in the north of Italy and coming down towards the centre.
Posted by
Idaho, USA
7877 posts
Hi Tammy, I’m planning to be in that area next year. From your description, here’s a couple of places you might enjoy:
POSEA - Polignano Sea Suites at Polignano a Mare. I reserved the room with the nice balcony with the chairs to enjoy a relaxing morning.
Dimore Marinare at Trani. I ended up needing to drop this location, but these rooms have a beautiful view. I had planned originally to stay here for the first two nights in the Puglia region.
I agree about being sure to see Lecce. The baroque architecture, plus everything I’ve been reading has pointed to staying here three nights,