Ostuni Travel Forum

My friend and I will be staying at this hotel but we do not want to hire a car as we've never driven outside UK before. Is the hotel near to the beach? If not, is it within walking distance or is it near to any local transport?
Every map I have looked at is very confusing.
Would you recommend Ostuni as a place to stay for 9 days?
Thanks for your help.

I have not been to this hotel (or Ostuni, either); however, from looking at the hotel's website as well as www.viamichelin.com, it seems to me that they are expecting you to have a car.

It looks as if the hotel is 4 kilometers west of Ostuni on the way to Cisternino. Ostuni itself looks like it's 5 kilometers from the sea (as the crow flies), and the hotel looks like it's on the other side of Ostuni (i.e., even farther from the sea).

I see that the hotel website talks about a minibus being available; I would assume that this could be used to pick you up at the train station in Ostuni and perhaps go to a few destinations, but I don't know how much latitude you would have.

There is possibly a bus from Ostuni to Cisternino, but the fact that the hotel website doesn't mention one makes me think that if there is one, it doesn't run very often (or maybe it doesn't stop near the hotel). I see that even the Ostuni train station is not in Ostuni itself, but a couple of kilometers to the north.

In any case, just based on what I see, I would think that you really want a car. There are a lot of things to see in the neighborhood that might be difficult without it. Driving in Italy isn't so bad, if you stay out of the big cities (and you will). I've driven in the UK and managed not to kill anybody ;-)

If you rent a car, take all the insurances - it's expensive, but cheaper than arguing with an car rental agency employee about whether you actually caused that ding.

As for 9 days, well, it depends on you. I would go beserk staying in a country place for 9 days, especially without a car, but that's me...

Hopefully, someone will come along who has actually been to this hotel...

Bill

Bill is right about Ostuni's distance from the sea. Ostuni's train station, on the main north/south line between Bari and Brindisi is a few kms east of town and if you had a car you could park there if you wanted to take the train to the many interesting towns along the coast.
I would only add that I am a fairly anxious driver and I've had no problems driving in southern Italy (except for the hell of Naples.) The region is densely populated but largely rural, and anywhere you might want to visit from Ostuni will have clearly marked parking areas at the edge of town allowing you to avoid driving into the center.
As for a nine day stay, Ostuni is a nice place, but I don't know about nine days staying in an isolated out of town hotel without one's own transport.