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

Bottom line

Sicily edges ahead of Puglia on higher occupancy (24% vs 18%), stronger RevPAR (£7 vs £5).

Head-to-head metrics

	Puglia	Sicily
Median occupancy	18%	24%
Median daily rate	£72	£69
Median RevPAR	£5	£7
Active listings	23,576	29,746
YoY occupancy	+11.4 pts	—
YoY daily rate	+2.4%	—
Regulation risk	—	—
Annual night cap	None	None
License required	No	No

Full analysis: Puglia vs Sicily

On the money side of this comparison — what a listing actually earns against the nights it has available — Sicily finishes clearly ahead of Puglia. Revenue per available night — rate and occupancy combined, the figure that actually reaches an owner — is 35.5% higher in Sicily: £7 against £5. Sicily'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. Sicily is the volume market, filling 24% of its calendar at a lower headline price. Revenue per available night settles it: £7 in Sicily 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 14.3 in Sicily — which makes debt service easier to underwrite. Its strongest submarket, Faeto, clears £32 RevPAR on its own — city medians hide that kind of spread. If your model leans on that dimension, the ordering above can reasonably flip.

Neither Puglia nor Sicily 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. Puglia peaks in August at 47.3% and bottoms in June at 39%; Sicily runs from 43.2% in August down to 28.9% in November. Puglia is the steadier of the two at 8.3 points peak-to-trough against 14.3 — easier to underwrite against a mortgage — while Sicily 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. Puglia suits buyers who want a conventional, lightly regulated entry. Sicily answers to the same regulatory profile, so the split between them is operational rather than legal. 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 20,801 active Puglia listings and 23,804 in Sicily.

Frequently asked questions

Is Puglia or Sicily better for Airbnb investment?

Sicily, on the data we track. It leads on stronger RevPAR (£7 vs £5), higher occupancy (24% vs 18%), and higher median annual revenue (£2,601 vs £1,913). Puglia is not the weak side of this pair, though — it wins on a flatter season (8.3-point swing vs 14.3).

Which has higher occupancy, Puglia or Sicily?

Sicily, 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.

Which has higher nightly rates, Puglia or Sicily?

Puglia, at £72 a night against £69 in Sicily — 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 — Sicily comes out ahead at £7 against £5, so Sicily's cheaper nights are more than repaid by how often they fill.

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

We can only measure one side, so this comparison stays open. Puglia moved +11.4 points on occupancy year over year. Sicily lacks a comparable snapshot from roughly twelve months earlier, and we would rather leave the cell empty than compare against a mismatched date.

Which is the bigger Airbnb market, Puglia or Sicily?

Sicily, with 29,746 active listings against 23,576 in Puglia. 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 Puglia vs Sicily?

Sicily earns more: roughly £2,601 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 Puglia →

Occupancy, ADR, neighborhoods, regulation

Market guide

Airbnb in Sicily →

Occupancy, ADR, neighborhoods, regulation

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