The Gargano

On this page we present the wonderful gargano, first giving some brief practical information to advise the best beaches and destinations for a travel itinerary on this Pugliese promontory.

Holidays in Gargano: practical information

The main destinations for a trip to the Gargano are usually Peschici and Vieste, splendid citizens perched over the sea and surrounded by numerous beaches. Tourism here is obviously mainly seaside, but thanks to the many historic towns and the possibilities of trekking, the Gargano deserves the journey even outside the summer. Moreover, the most beautiful attraction of the coast of this part of Puglia are actually caves and cliffs, which can be appreciated by tourists all year round, and even deserted beaches have their charm.

To move between the different locations and change beaches, a car or a motorcycle is very useful. The distances are short, but there are many points of interest that, from tourists, is nice to make different stages.

All in all, even in August we always managed to park near the beaches, perhaps paying a few euros. Any nautical means, from the kayak to the boat (we had sup inflatable in the car), it is very useful to admire the coast and avoid the crowds.
Having your own vehicle also allows you to sleep in the hinterland ... just do 10 Car minutes to pay much less than the houses on the coast (but for those who want to save the Gargano is also full of campsites).

Travel itinerary in the Gargano

Arriving from the north, the first destination to appreciate is Lake Varano, the largest lake in central-southern Italy. Here you can stop eating fish or watching the sunset. Nearby, you can admire the cave of San Michele and the village of Cagnano Varano, with a small but charming historic center, with an atmosphere of other times.

On a holiday in the Gargano you can admire different picturesque historic villages, both on the sea, such as Rhodes Garganico, which perched in the hills, as a Vico del Gargano. The beautiful Peschici, with its white houses, is a fundamental destination for a trip in this part of Puglia.

After Peschici, continuing to the east, a series of sandy bays separated by rocky tips on which turrets and trabocchi are launched (the trabocchi are wood piles used to fish, typical of the Adriatic coast). Some of the beaches are more isolated, more touristy, such as the Bay of Zaiana and that of Manaccora, at whose shoulders there is also a gigantic cave.

The Turkish Cala is instead a more isolated beach. To get to Cala dei Turchi you can easily park on the promontory that separates it from Cala Lungo to then get off with a path. On the nearby rocky tips there are towers and trabocchi.

By continuing to follow the itinerary along the dick of the Gargano, there are many possible beaches, bays, caves and towers where to stop. We did not find a clear sea on the northern coast of the promontory, both for the wind and for the type of backdrop, but to bathe looking around is still spectacular.

The wind on the Gargano is quite frequent, and between the beach of La Chianca, in front of the omonime islet, and that of Capo Vieste on the right days dart windsurfing and kitesurfing.
Thus comes to Vieste , which is magnificent.

The most recent part of the city is quite wide, but they are the old white houses on the promontory that attract travelers. It is fascinating to take the narrow alleys of Vieste, and then get to the panoramic streets on the sea. You can even take a bath, and here we had a brilliant idea: D dive, put all our belongings in a watertight bag and swimming long Long Vieste, admiring it from the water.

A fantastic trip in the trip. We then switch towards the tip of the peninsula, near where the kids died from heights for me vertiginous.
Near Vieste there is the very long beach of the Shilater, which starts practically by the Faraglione di Pizzomunno.

What could be better than to see and bathe in such beautiful places? Ah yes, go to eat, in the evening, in a very tasty agriturismo and be filled with local cheeses and delicious dishes. Although the typical travel itinerary in the Gargano follows the coast, it is enough to go a few kilometers in the interior to find a scrubby landscape, with olive groves, mountains, farms and woods (the famous Umbra forest, which is in Puglia, in the Gargano).

Continuing southwest, the coast of Gargano becomes, if possible, even more beautiful.

From San Felice beach, inserted in a beautiful natural scenery, we started for a trip in inflatable paddle stand up. As an alternative to rent a kayaking or take a boat trip to admire the coast of this part of the Gargano. In fact, the stretch of sea between the Arch of San Felice and the great broken cave is worth the journey.

Between impressive cliffs and strange holes in the rock (beautiful also the bell cave) we arrive precisely to the Grotto Slounded Grande, a kind of great lagoon among the cliffs to which one access only with a cave on the sea. This cave can also be reached by kayaking also from the bay of fields.

The whole coast here deserves to be explored, because they meet truly remarkable points ... one of these is the bay of the zagare, that tourism is unjustly closed (only hotel guests can access a part of the beach ), but that you can still go to admire (even better, precisely, include it in a canoeing).

Our travel itinerary in the Gargano has ended with the bay of the Zagare, but, as anticipated, between beaches and villages, without neglecting the wild internal of the promontory, there is much more to see. In short, the gargano does not only deserve a weekend excursion, but a much longer holiday, especially if you are passionate about sea activity ... good trips !!!

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