Puglia is an enormous and varied region, from the natural beauty of the Gargano National Park at the northern most tip down to the historic majesty of Lecce and and beyond in the deep south. From top to bottom would take a good 4 or 5 hours drive but if you fancy exploring beyond the Vallè d’Itria a two centre vacation might just suit you. This week we explored the Tremiti Islands just north and a part of the protected Gargano National Park. These islands are easily accessible by ferry / jet foil from Termoli. Whilst this is a 3 hour drive from Alberobello it is worth every second and is largely on the Autostrade. After a crossing of just under an hour by jetfoil, which is scheduled 4 times a day in summer, you arrive at the tiny port on the main Island of San Domino. Only two of the islands are inhabited, San Domino and San Nicola. You can’t take a car to the island as a tourist although the residents do have cars there. There are lots of taxi minibuses in the port ready to take you to your hotels. Generally each hotel offers its own shuttle service. The main town is up a short but steep hill through the pine woods. When you reach the town of San Domino you are treated by lots of hotels and restaurants as well as a number of small privately owned properties. We chose to stay at the Hotel Gabbiano and had a sea view room with a balcony which over looked the Island of San Nicola.
The island is rugged and I advise you to take walking shoes and or rock shoes if you want to explore extensively. You can walk the longest length in about half an hour and a full round the island walk would take about 3 hours. It’s really badly sign posted everywhere but google maps kind of helped us! Some areas are described as ‘Cala’ but are in fact rocky coves with no access to the sea. Spectacular nonetheless with amazing caves you need to be prepared to scramble a bit to get to the more remote ones. We found Cala Rondinelle, Cala Inglese and Cala Benedettini all stunning.
Another way to explore a little further would be to go in a tourist boat or hire your own motorboat and explore from the sea. Canoes are also available to hire and you can even take a two day excursion by canoe around the islands.
If you want a beach to lie on the main Arene beach next to the port is a compact busy area with mainly sunbed/ umbrella to hire areas. This little cove is calm and shallow with a largely sandy base in the sea and perfect for small children, there are bars and restaurants and souvenir shops here too.
We also found a more secluded cove accessible via some small steps just below our hotel. Marked on the map as Cala Matano it’s has a few sunbeds and umbrella and some limited space if you just want to take your own towel. The cove is beautiful surrounded by sheer cliff faces and full of crystal clear water.
There is a small beach bar serving food and drink at the top of the steps to the beach and ice creams and drinks can be purchased at the shack on the beach.
The area is very popular with scuba divers and we saw an excursion exploring the sea just beyond our cove. Lots of people were also snorkelling and one guy (with appropriate diving gloves on) retrieved a sea urchin. Rock shoes are a good idea if you want to clamber onto the rocks as they are sharp! Eating out offers plenty of options. One night we tried a large central restaurant called La Fenice. This has lots of variety on the menu and you can watch the chef making fresh pizzas in the kitchen. It also had a nice area by a small swimming pool for pre dinner aperitivo.
We also tried the Capatosta. A smaller restaurant off the beaten track. It serves an edgy menu of trendy burgers and made a great change to the standard pizza/ pasta/ secondi grills you get everywhere else.
The Tremiti islands aren’t a luxury destination. It’s all quite raw round the edges but stunning beautiful and peaceful. It’s offers a chance to explore with all the mod cons you need to make your stay comfortable. Our hotel had aircon in the rooms and offered spa services. We saw truly stunning sunrises and crossed the island to a remote point to see the sunset.
We stopped to listen to the racket of the cicadas in the trees, we climbed up and down cliff sides when we got got lost and relaxed in beautiful coves.
All in all a lovely mini break and highly recommended