PUGLIA

Practical update (August 2026): Public transport serves Puglia, so a rental car is helpful rather than essential. Airport transfers, regional timetables, attraction hours and all prices mentioned below should be checked for your travel dates; they describe our earlier trip.

Puglia lies in southern Italy, on the heel of the country's boot. It is known for magnificent beaches, superb food and warm hospitality. The region drew extra international attention when Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel married there, and its popularity rose again after the pandemic.

If your ideal holiday combines an atmospheric Italian road trip, memorable food and towns with real character, Puglia is for you. Many itineraries begin in Bari, the regional capital, then wind south through smaller towns.

We bought return flights to Bari, packed our bags, rented a car and followed that classic route. Public transport exists, so a car is not essential, but it gave us the freedom to drive through picturesque villages and stop whenever a café or photograph caught our eye. Long southern-Italian siestas sometimes meant the café chose us rather than the other way around—but that was part of the holiday.

Brindisi Promenade

The region becomes crowded in summer. Alongside tourism, fishing and agriculture remain central to local life. Puglia is especially famous for wine and olive oil; its sun-ripened vegetables and generous use of olive oil make the cuisine very hard to resist.

BEST PLACES TO SEE IN PUGLIA

Ferzan Ozpetek movies. You'll see Lecce very closely especially in his movie "Fasten Your Seatbelts

Best time to visit Puglia is the late August, early September. It would be still crowded but not so much and you can still swim. We visited Puglia in mid-November and the weather was not suitable for swimming. It was mostly sunny but there were rainy days as well. But thanks to our rent-a-car we just drove away from the rain.

BARI

They know how to decorate a balcony.

A street view from Bari Historical City Center

Bari is Puglia's capital and a thoroughly Mediterranean city. We stayed for three nights and loved it. Travellers arriving by air can reach Bari Centrale by train, bus or shuttle; check current airport transport before travelling.

One of them is a shuttle service from BRI airport to Bari Centrale During our trip, an airport shuttle to Bari Centrale cost €5.Linea 16The local Line 16 bus was the cheaper option during our visit, costing €2 to Piazza Moro by Bari Centrale, though staff did not readily mention it.
If you arrive to Bari from Napoli, as we did, the bus takes 3 hours and you again reach Bari Centrale.
If you're coming from the villages such as Brindisi, Foggia, Taranto, Otranto to Bari, you should check the company COTRAPCOTRAP and regional rail services connected Bari with towns such as Brindisi, Foggia, Taranto and Otranto. Check current timetables directly because routes and operators change.

Bari is lively even in an early Sunday

Bari Vecchia

We arrived to Bari on a Wednesday night, the streets were kind of empty and there were shady people around. They even tried to scam us while we were trying to buy a local sim card in Bari downtown. We got really angry and left the shop. When we got the heavenly smell of a focaccia between the narrow and chaotic streets of Bari Vecchia, then we understand that we were actually hungry. Life was once more beautiful. Actually, we were not the only one who got the smell. We waited for 15 people, and finally got our huge focaccia with cherry tomatoes and sea salt and asked for just €1.50. We had most romantic dinner between the houses like a fairy tale in a few centuries old courtyard, on a rusty bench, under a weak yellow light.