Puglia Southern Italy Holiday 2023 | Newmarket Holidays (2023)

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• Highlights
• Itinerary

What does this price include?

• Day One – Fly to Italy

  Fly to Bari, meet your tour manager and board the coach to transfer to your comfortable beachside hotel in Torre Canne. Settle in, and depending on your flight time, perhaps enjoy a refreshing drink on the terrace before dinner.

• Day Two – Day at leisure or optional excursion to Monopoli and Polignano a Mare*

  Today, you're free to rest, relax in the hotel and make the most of your waterside location. Take a dip in the pool, pay a visit to the hotel’s fitness centre or simply curl up with a book on a terrace or in a lounge. If you feel like exploring further afield, you can rent bicycles from the hotel, or stroll into the nearby fishing port and the small resort of Torre Canne to see its tiny harbour and lighthouse.

  Alternatively, you can join the optional excursion to visit the white-washed houses and the imposing Bell Tower of Monopoli.After which, it is on to breathtaking Polignano a Mare, perched on a cliff edge overlooking the crystal-clear waters of the Adriatic, it offers some of the best beaches in Italy.

  *This excursion is only available for 2024 departures.

• Day Three – Included Apulia tour

  The first of our included excursions is a perfect introduction to the unique region of Apulia, or Puglia. It begins with a visit to the stunning hill-town of Ostuni, one of Southern Italy’s most spectacular locations, its whitewashed houses and cobbled streets set on three hills. The town’s maze of alleyways is perfect for wandering and opens out to reveal some spectacular views, while the old town's beautiful squares offer several bars and cafés from which to watch the world go by.

  Leaving Ostuni, we'll travel back, across the vine- and olive-covered landscape dotted with conical trulli houses, to Alberobello. Here, hundreds of the whitewashed buildings with their tapered roofs cluster together to create one of Italy’s most arresting sights.

  Return to Torre Canne for dinner, at the end of a fascinating day.

• Day Four – Included Lecce city tour

  The Baroque treasure-chest of Lecce is one of Southern Italy’s most appealing cities. Today’s included tour will include the opportunity to soak up the atmosphere of this historic trading centre, where elegant buildings, ornate churches and marbled courtyards reflect the town’s past importance. Explore the old town, which surrounds the ruins of a great Roman amphitheatre, one of several Roman remnants in the city, before we return to Torre Canne in time for dinner.

• Day Five – Day at leisure

  Spend another day relaxing at your hotel, perhaps enjoying a dip in the pool or the sea, or catching some sun in the hotel’s gardens.

• Day Six – Included Matera cave tour

  Saving the best of our included excursions till last, today you'll head into the neighbouring province of Basilicata, to Matera. This enthralling labyrinth of a town is a cultured oasis in and otherwise sparsely populated landscape, and is famed for the extraordinary Sassi. This maze of ancient cave-dwellings was inhabited as recently as 40 years ago, and is now a UNESCO World Heritage site. Arriving in Matera in time for lunch (payable locally), you’ll have the opportunity to discover the history of this fascinating place, with its chiese rupestri (churches hewn from the rocks), and to wander through its ancient streets and colourful piazzas.

  After a fascinating day you’ll head back into Puglia and return to the shores of the blue Adriatic.

  (Video) PUGLIA TRAVEL GUIDE 2023: Beaches to Ostuni & Matera 🇮🇹🌴⛱️

• Day Seven – Optional tour of Castellana, Locorotondo and Martina Franca

  The final day of your holiday offers a last chance to rest and relax at the hotel or in Torre Canne, or to join a last optional excursion – this time into the Apulian countryside. First stop on the tour will be the extraordinary caves at Castellana, an underground network of towering stalagmites and stalactites and vast, cool caverns formed over the centuries. Wrap up warm in the cool temperatures then emerge to and head to your second stop – the majestic, whitewashed, circular hill-town of Locorotondo. Here, the surrounding vineyards are famed for their crisp white wines, and you'll visit a local cellar for the opportunity to taste the local vintages, as well as some other regional specialities, before you round off an enjoyable day with a short call in the historic town of Martina Franca, where an enthralling Baroque heart is hidden behind the modern buildings of the new town.

• Day Eight – Fly back to the UK

  Say goodbye to your Apulian hosts, and board the coach to begin your journey back to Bari airport where you'll check in for your flight home at the end of a fascinating, relaxing tour of Puglia.

Dates & Prices

Hotels

Further Information

• Monopoli and Polignano a Mare optional excursion

  This excursion is only available for 2024 departures.

• Hotel transfer times

  The transfer time from Bari Airport to the hotel is approximately one hour.

• Entrance Fees

  Since some attractions visited offer free admission to visitors at certain times of year, we do not include entrance fees. These will be payable locally where applicable. This applies to excursions that are included in the price of your holiday and to excursions booked as optional extras.

• Meals in Italy

  Guests on half-board arrangements will be served a three-course evening meal, and can expect a first course of traditional pasta or soup, a main meat or fish course accompanied by one or two types of vegetable, and a simple dessert of fruit, cake or Italian ice cream. Breakfasts will usually consist of bread rolls, jam, cereal, ham, cheese, fruit juice, tea and coffee. Menus will vary from hotel to hotel, but choice will be more limited than in a normal restaurant. In some instances, individual guests who have booked with the hotel independently may be offered a different menu from those who are staying at the hotel as part of a package tour.

• Combining hotel transfers

  We sometimes need to combine transfers to and from your hotel. We always try to keep any wait to a minimum, but you may be asked to wait at the airport for up to an hour, while other incoming flights arrive, before the transfer to your hotel. Similarly, we may need to transfer you back to the airport up to three hours before your flight home departs.

• Disabled access

  The majority of our tours involve a certain amount of walking, including a short walk from the coach stop to the town, attraction or venue you're visiting. If you are bringing a wheelchair, please let us know at the time of booking so that appropriate arrangements can be made.

• Italian hotel room tax

  Some regions of Italy have introduced a room tax of between 1€ and 3€ per person per night, payable directly by the guest to the hotel on check-out. You will be advised by your tour manager in resort if a particular hotel is implementing this charge.

• Itinerary changes

  Occasionally, for operational reasons, we may have to change the order of the excursions on your holiday. The final day-by-day itinerary will be confirmed on your Final Travel Documents, which you will receive approximately three weeks prior to your departure.

• Foreign Office Travel Advice

  Visit www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice to find out the latest Foreign And Commonwealth Office travel advice for your holiday destination, as well as information about passports and visas.

• Airport development fees

  An Airport Development Fee has been introduced at a few UK Airports. You will be required to pay this charge at the following airports prior to checking in for your flight: Blackpool, Newquay and Norwich. The amount varies from airport to airport, but it is generally between £5 and £10 per person. Please visit the airport's website for further information.

• Travelling to Europe

  Rules may have changed since you last travelled to European Union countries as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. The following are useful guidelines which will help you prepare for your next adventure. You do require government issued passport to travel.

  Names - It is very important that all passenger names are exactly as per your passport although we do not require middle names.

  (Video) South Italy Puglia 2023

  Passport - Your passport must meet two requirements to travel to an EU country and to Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. It must be: Less than 10 years old on the day you return home (please check the "date of issue") and valid for at least 3 months after the day you return home (please check the "expiry date").

  Visa - You do not need a visa for short trips to most EU countries, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. You’ll be able to stay for up to 90 days in any rolling 180-day period.

  European Travel Information & Authorisation System (ETIAS) - Commencing in late 2023 or 2024, all citizens of the United Kingdom will require a ETIAS electronic form completed prior to their arrival into the EU and Schengen member countries. The cost for this travel authorisation will be €7.00 per person with exceptions for under 18’s and over 70’s. The latest information and further details can be found at www.etias.com.