Bari to Salento Road Trip: 360 km, 5 Days to Lecce

Italy’s heel: sun-bleached stone towns, cone-roofed trulli, olive groves and a turquoise sea on two coasts. Puglia is flat and easy to drive, and quieter than the north — a road trip of long lunches and swimming stops.

Day 1 — Bari to Polignano a Mare (40 km)

Start in Bari’s old town, then down the coast to Polignano a Mare, its houses perched over a cove cut into the cliff.

Day 2 — Alberobello and the trulli (30 km)

Inland to Alberobello, a whole town of conical trulli houses, and the Itria valley around Locorotondo.

Day 3 — Ostuni, the white city (35 km)

Ostuni, the dazzling “white city” on its hill above the olive plains.

Day 4 — Lecce, the baroque capital (80 km)

South to Lecce, the “Florence of the South”, carved from soft golden stone.

Day 5 — Salento coast (180 km)

The tip of the heel — Gallipoli, Otranto and the coves toward Santa Maria di Leuca where the two seas meet.

Tolls and costs

Italy has motorway tolls, but much of Puglia is on toll-free coastal and country roads. Summer is hot and busy — start early. Use the cost calculator for your dates.

This trip is also in the free Roadcut trip planner: change the number of days and where you sleep each night, pick your vehicle to see the fuel cost, check the weather on the road, and open each day in Google Maps, Apple Maps or Waze.