Naples vs Puglia: which is better for Airbnb investment? (2026)

Bottom line

Naples edges ahead of Puglia on higher occupancy (24% vs 18%), stronger RevPAR (£12 vs £5).

Head-to-head metrics

	Naples	Puglia
Median occupancy	24%	18%
Median daily rate	£69	£72
Median RevPAR	£12	£5
Active listings	6,595	23,576
YoY occupancy	+9.2 pts	+11.4 pts
YoY daily rate	-3.6%	+2.4%
Regulation risk	—	—
Annual night cap	None	None
License required	No	No

Full analysis: Naples vs Puglia

On the money side of this comparison — what a listing actually earns against the nights it has available — Naples finishes clearly ahead of Puglia. Revenue per available night — rate and occupancy combined, the figure that actually reaches an owner — is 129% higher in Naples: £12 against £5. Naples's listings run at 24% occupancy against 18% in Puglia, worth 6 extra points of booked calendar every year. Those gaps are wide enough to survive a normal year's variance.

The two markets reach their revenue by different routes, which is what makes this pairing worth reading rather than just tabulating. Puglia is the rate market: £72 a night against £69, some 4.9% more, but it converts fewer of those nights at 18% occupancy. Naples is the volume market, filling 24% of its calendar at a lower headline price. Revenue per available night settles it: £12 in Naples against £5. Rate is what you advertise; RevPAR is what you bank.

That verdict needs a caveat, because Puglia is not simply the weaker market of the two. Puglia's calendar is the flatter of the two — 8.3 points between its best and worst month against 30.6 in Naples — which makes debt service easier to underwrite. Puglia is the deeper market at 23,576 active listings against 6,595, which usually means better comparables going in and a wider buyer pool coming out. If your model leans on that dimension, the ordering above can reasonably flip.

Neither Naples nor Puglia currently has a verified short-term rental regulation record in our register, so the comparison above is a yield comparison only. Regulation is the single largest source of downside in this asset class — an unverified market is an unpriced risk, not an absent one.

The two calendars also behave differently. Naples peaks in September at 53.4% and bottoms in November at 22.8%; Puglia runs from 47.3% in August down to 39% in June. Puglia is the steadier of the two at 8.3 points peak-to-trough against 30.6 — easier to underwrite against a mortgage — while Naples concentrates its return into a shorter window and rewards operators who price the peak aggressively instead of holding a flat rate all year.

Who each suits, then. Naples suits buyers who want a conventional, lightly regulated entry. Puglia answers to the same regulatory profile, so the split between them is operational rather than legal. It is also the momentum side of this pair. Every figure above comes from the same Inside Airbnb snapshot pipeline on both sides, dated 2025-09, filtered to listings with at least one booking in the last twelve months. Occupancy medians are drawn from 4,139 active Naples listings and 20,801 in Puglia.

Frequently asked questions

Is Naples or Puglia better for Airbnb investment?

Naples, on the data we track. It leads on stronger RevPAR (£12 vs £5), higher occupancy (24% vs 18%), and higher median annual revenue (£4,391 vs £1,913). Puglia is not the weak side of this pair, though — it wins on a flatter season (8.3-point swing vs 30.6).

Which has higher occupancy, Naples or Puglia?

Naples, at 24% median occupancy against 18% in Puglia — a gap of 6 points. That is a real but modest edge; a well-run listing in Puglia can close most of it. Over the last twelve months Naples gained 9.2 points and Puglia gained 11.4 points, so the gap is closing.

Which has higher nightly rates, Naples or Puglia?

Puglia, at £72 a night against £69 in Naples — roughly 4.9% more. The nightly rate is not the whole story, though. On revenue per available night — rate multiplied by how often the room actually sells — Naples comes out ahead at £12 against £5, so Naples's cheaper nights are more than repaid by how often they fill.

Which has stronger year-over-year growth, Naples or Puglia?

Puglia, on occupancy: +11.4 points over the last twelve months against +9.2 points in Naples. Nightly rates fell 3.6% in Naples and rose 2.4% in Puglia over the same window. One year of movement is a direction, not a trend — weigh it against the regulation picture before treating it as momentum.

Which is the bigger Airbnb market, Naples or Puglia?

Puglia, with 23,576 active listings against 6,595 in Naples. Size cuts both ways: a deep market gives you comparables, contractors and an exit, while a thinner one means fewer near-identical rivals competing for the same search results.

How much can you earn from an Airbnb in Naples vs Puglia?

Naples earns more: roughly £4,391 a year for a median listing against £1,913 in Puglia. Those are gross booking revenues before cleaning, management, platform fees, furnishing amortisation and tax — budget for a meaningful share of them, and note that a median listing is a median operator, not a good one.

Go deeper on each city

Market guide

Airbnb in Naples →

Occupancy, ADR, neighborhoods, regulation

Market guide

Airbnb in Puglia →

Occupancy, ADR, neighborhoods, regulation

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