Rome to Puglia: how to get there, without illusions

Updated 28 September 2026

Puglia is further from Rome than the map suggests. Ostuni is about five hundred and eighty kilometres away, almost all of it motorway, which in normal conditions takes five and a half to six hours. Bari is slightly closer, Lecce slightly further.

So the real question is not the distance, but which option copes best with that distance given your luggage and the people travelling with you. Below are the numbers for the three ways of doing it, and the cases where each one wins, including the ones where a car with driver is the wrong answer.

The numbers, without optimism

By road it is roughly five hundred and eighty kilometres to Ostuni, with just under five hundred of them on the motorway and tolls of around forty euros. Real driving time is five and a half to six hours excluding stops: with two short breaks, door to door comfortably reaches seven hours.

By train there are direct services from Roma Termini along the Adriatic coast, Ostuni included, a handful of them each day. The fastest are a little over five hours, but several take more than six and some reach seven and a half. Tickets start at around twenty euros per person booked well ahead, and climb steeply close to the date.

By air, the flight from Rome to Brindisi takes a little over an hour, which on paper settles the argument. The sum changes once you add the trip to the airport, security, waiting time and then the thirty-five kilometres between Brindisi and Ostuni: you save less time than you think.

When the train wins

If you are travelling alone or as a couple, with one bag each, and your destination is a town on the Adriatic line, the train wins almost every time. It costs less than anything else, nobody has to drive, and it drops you in the centre of town.

The useful coastal stations are Bari, Monopoli, Fasano, Ostuni, Brindisi and Lecce. One recurring trap: Ostuni station is not in Ostuni. It sits a couple of kilometres below the old town, uphill. With suitcases you will still need a lift.

When flying wins

Flying makes sense when you are starting from an airport rather than from Rome itself, that is, when Puglia is the second leg of a journey you have just landed from. In that case the domestic flight saves you crossing the city twice.

It also makes sense when time matters more than money and you travel light. It loses most of its advantage with four people: four tickets plus two airport transfers compare badly with a single vehicle.

When a car with driver makes sense

The first case is a group with luggage. From three people upwards, with hold suitcases, the comparison changes: the price is per vehicle rather than per person, and it is one single journey, with no changes, no stairs and no security queues.

The second is a destination outside the towns. Most places to stay in the Valle d’Itria are masserie out in the countryside, kilometres from the nearest village and with no public transport. Arriving by train still means finding a local taxi, which in the evening is not always there.

The third is the itinerary. If you want to break the journey at Matera, at Alberobello or along the coast, the car is the only option that allows it without rebuilding the whole plan: stops are agreed in advance and are part of the quote.

The fourth is timing. A midnight arrival or a five in the morning departure, with children or with a flight to catch, are the situations where the price difference stops being the main criterion.

What a car with driver costs

The two most requested routes have a fixed rate: Rome to Ostuni is 1,300 euros by sedan and 1,450 by van, Rome to Bari 1,150 and 1,300. These are per-vehicle prices, one way, before ten per cent VAT, with fuel and tolls included.

For other destinations in Puglia, from Lecce to the Gargano, the figure depends on actual kilometres, tolls, how long the vehicle is committed for and any overnight stay for the driver. It is worked out in advance and given as a single amount that does not change once accepted.

What is worth knowing is how to read it. The price is per vehicle, up to eight passengers in the van, and includes fuel, tolls and the driving hours. Divided by four people, it compares with four tickets, not with one.

For the return leg, ask for both quotes together: the vehicle has to come back anyway, and a round trip is easier to organise.

Can it be done as a day trip?

No, and it is not a matter of willpower. There and back in one day means eleven or twelve hours of pure driving, before you spend a minute anywhere: the legal limits on driving and rest hours do not allow it, and common sense would not either.

Puglia deserves at least two nights. If you only have one free day from Rome, other destinations hold up better: the Amalfi Coast, Naples, Tuscany or the Castelli Romani.