Walking in Puglia and Basilicata
5 nights — from USD2390
Overview
Fascinating and uncrowded, Puglia offers a host of attractions, including deserted Greek and Roman ruins, lively fishing villages, a chain of medieval hilltowns, and some of the cleanest beaches and water in the Mediterranean. It even boasts its own style of architecture, barocco leccese, featuring ornately carved facades on churches and palazzi which you’ll discover in the delightful city of Lecce. One other attraction you’ll see only in Puglia are the trulli, whitewashed cones of unmortared stone that serve as miniature barns. Explore all this and more on a walking tour through this magical landscape you’ll never forget.
Highlights
- Take walks each day in the gently undulating Pugliese countryside
- Visit the picturesque towns of Lecce, Ostuni, and Matera
- Explore the Alberobello landscape dotted with trulli
- Enjoy the wonderful cuisine and wines of the region
Depart From: Bari
Finish In: Lecce or Bari
Starting Dates: Any day, all year long
Fitness Rating: 1-3 (Ratings Explained)
“...definitely do another tour with Girosole...”
My daughter and I really had a good time in Puglia. Our guide was excellent! He was really flexible in moving the itinerary around to suit the weather God and our physical endurance. His choice of restaurants for dinners was indeed world class. He even brought Morgan Freeman (yes the actor) to dinner with us in Matera. My daughter and I have very good meals in all the days we were in Puglia. All the dinners were simply out of this world – with good varieties, very local food and supremely fresh ingredients were used throughout. Even lunches were simply divine.
We will definitely do another tour with Girosole again. Thank you for making all the arrangements.
Sophia Lee
Itinerary Outline
Here is an outline of a suggested daily itinerary. You can shorten or lengthen this tour to fit your travel dates. For further information, please request a detailed itinerary.
- Day one: Your guide meets you upon your arrival in Bari and transfers you to Matera, an intriguing city of caves carved into the bare rock – the famous Sassi.
- Day two: In the morning you explore in depth the Sassi district with a local guide. After lunch, you walk to Matera’s belvedere to enjoy a splendid vista of the surrounding countryside.
- Day three: Today you transfer to Lecce – rightly known as the “Florence of the South” – at the heart of the Salento penninsula. Along the way, you visit Ostuni, the white city, and Alberobello, famous for the trulli (round houses with cone shaped roofs).
- Day four: After a guided tour of Lecce, you drive to Gallipoli and the nearby natural park of Portoselvaggio where you enjoy a walk to the crystal clear waters of the Ionian sea.
- Day five: Featured today is the town of Otranto, the easternmost point of Italy from which crusaders, pilgrims and merchants once departed for the far shores of the Mediterranean, including a walk in a nearby botanical reserve.
- Day six: After breakfast, your guide helps you on your way to the train station or airport with connections to Rome and Milan.
What’s Included
We suggest the following inclusions based on the proposed itinerary (above) and prices (below). Keep in mind that you can modify these as per your own preferences.
- 5 nights accommodation with en-suite facilities
- breakfast each day
- 1 dinner & 1 lunch
- full-time, professional Tour Leader
- guided walks each day
- specialty foods tastings
- paid entrance to all included activities
- all land transfers to and from tour area, and during tour
- travel guidance for pre/post-tour activities
(Not included are airfare, wine and other beverages with alcohol, personal purchases such as laundry, phone calls, frigobar items etc., and anything not specifically included above.)
“...wonderful and entertaining guide...”
Ulyssee demonstrated great flexibility and this turned out to be a very enjoyable road trip. Sometimes the best adventures are unplanned. We loved the church in Otranto, and the visit to the botanical gardens was a very pleasant surprise. To be honest, I feared that this was going to be some sort of tourist trap where the guide takes you to a friend’s establishment so you can buy something. I am glad to be wrong. I recommend that you keep this on your itinerary. Ulyssee dropped us off at the train station and overall was a wonderful and entertaining guide. We liked him very much. We had a terrific time in Puglia and we are looking forward to telling our friends about a part of Italy that not so many people get to visit. Thanks for a wonderful tour. We will recommend Girosole to anyone who we might encounter who is planning a trip to southern Italy.
Dick Dickinson
Pricing
We price this tour for the following categories of accommodation. We also tier-price based on your group’s size. You can keep your tour private to your own group or you can open your tour for other travelers to join, thereby taking advantage of our tier discounts. Single Supplements (sing. supp.) are charged on single occupancy rooms only. All prices are quoted per person in USD.
accomm. level |
2-3 p |
4-5 p |
6+ p |
sing. supp. |
comfort-select |
2790 |
2590 |
2390 |
390 |
select-first class |
3290 |
3090 |
2890 |
490 |
first class |
3790 |
3590 |
3390 |
590 |
You can schedule this tour to start on any day of the week, all year long. As with all our tours, you tell us the dates you would like to start your tour, allowing you the maximum in flexibility and convenience (full explanation).