10 Nature & Parks in Puglia That You Shouldn't Miss

October 15, 2021 Marianna Hollaway

Coordinates: 41°0′31″N 16°30′46″E / 41.00861°N 16.51278°E / 41.00861; 16.51278
Restaurants in Puglia

1. Grotta del Soffio

Via Doppia Croce Litoranea Gagliano del capo-Leuca, 73040 Santa Maria di Leuca, Castrignano del Capo Italy
Excellent
83%
Good
15%
Satisfactory
1%
Poor
1%
Terrible
0%
Overall Ratings

5.0 based on 435 reviews

Grotta del Soffio

2. Jonian Dolphin Conservation

Viale Virgilio 102 C/o Molo Sant'Eligio, 74121, Taranto Italy +39 345 713 8425 [email protected] http://www.joniandolphin.it/
Excellent
97%
Good
3%
Satisfactory
0%
Poor
0%
Terrible
0%
Overall Ratings

5.0 based on 921 reviews

Jonian Dolphin Conservation

3. Grotte di Castellana

Piazzale Anelli, 70013 Castellana Grotte Italy +39 080 499 8221 [email protected] http://www.grottedicastellana.it
Excellent
66%
Good
24%
Satisfactory
6%
Poor
2%
Terrible
2%
Overall Ratings

4.5 based on 4,645 reviews

Grotte di Castellana

Reviewed By W5713EWvalerieb

We booked the long tour in English and it was perfect. A must see in Puglia and if your legs are able to carry you this far the long tour is definitely worth the 3€ plus compared to the short tour. Our guide was Claudio and he was the best, guiding us with funny stories, a lovely smile and perfect English.

4. Parco Naturale Regionale Litorale di Ugento

è inteso parco tutta la costa di Ugento, 73059, Ugento Italy +39 0833 986074 [email protected] http://www.parcolitoralediugento.it/parco/index.php
Excellent
57%
Good
28%
Satisfactory
7%
Poor
2%
Terrible
6%
Overall Ratings

4.5 based on 134 reviews

Parco Naturale Regionale Litorale di Ugento

5. Bahia Porto Cesareo

Via Torre Lapillo, 97-99 Bahia del Sol, 73010, Porto Cesareo Italy +39 336 988 5815 [email protected] http://www.facebook.com/BahiaPortoCesareo/
Excellent
63%
Good
21%
Satisfactory
7%
Poor
3%
Terrible
6%
Overall Ratings

4.5 based on 1,476 reviews

Bahia Porto Cesareo

Bahia, is an exclusive Beach Lounge Club that overlooks the beautiful beach of Torre Lapillo. You will be enveloped by the magical atmosphere that Salento alone can emanate. A combination of images, aromas and flavors that will remain forever etched in your mind. Our staff always awaits you with a smile to make you spend wonderful holidays or simply for small moments of relaxation. Let yourself be pampered by all our comforts: latest generation sunbeds, suites, restaurant with zero-km products, free Wi-Fi and much more. In other words, the ideal location to regenerate forces by the crystalline Ionian sea. La Bahia has become a must. Impossible not to be fascinated. Bahia Porto Cesareo Live a summer full of emotions

Reviewed By AngelaS4230

Wonderful place. Beautiful Location and stuff. Nice waiters, especially Andrea. Very sympathetic and helpful.

6. Porto Selvaggio

73048, Nardo Italy +39 389 167 5488 http://www.facebook.com/portodeiselvaggi/?ref=ts&fref=ts
Excellent
66%
Good
22%
Satisfactory
7%
Poor
2%
Terrible
3%
Overall Ratings

4.5 based on 1,535 reviews

Porto Selvaggio

Reviewed By 759elib - Sydney, Australia

If you are this deep in the south, you already are immersed in the magnificent coastline and communities that shape and dot the landscape. When i say deep, i mean on the Salento Peninsula, the heel of the Italian boot, where this shelving limestone cove is dominated by a 16th-Century watchtower at the end of Puglia’s finest beaches. Its name means “ wild harbour”, so while the femme and i were doing excursions around the feral rock-strewn bay, serenaded by the rustling wind in the umbrella pines. We paused frequently for a plung into the cold water and to chew on delectable we brought with us for a bite. The bay’s rocky platforms are perfect to launch yourself into the briny.

7. Area Marina Protetta di Torre Guaceto

Via Sant'Anna 6, 72012, Carovigno Italy +39 0831 990882 [email protected] http://www.riservaditorreguaceto.it
Excellent
58%
Good
25%
Satisfactory
9%
Poor
5%
Terrible
3%
Overall Ratings

4.5 based on 1,541 reviews

Area Marina Protetta di Torre Guaceto

Torre Guaceto Marine Protected Area (MPA) is located in southeastern Italy (southern Adriatic Sea), it covers about 2220 ha and it was established by the Mininster of Environment with a Decree on December 4, 1991. The MPA, falling within the municipalities of Brindisi and Carovigno, has a coastaline of about 8 km from the Apani area till the littoral of Punta Penna Grossa and it extends from the shoreline to 50 m depth. The management authority of the reserve is a consortium composed by the Municipal districts of Carovigno and Brindisi and the no-profit association World Wildlife Fund (Wwf-Italy) Torre Guaceto, besides a MPA, is also a State Natural Reserve extending for about 1.200 ha, having a marine front of 8 km. It was established by the Ministry of Environment, with a Decree on February 4, 2000. Besides the reserve includes the wetland of international interest "Torre Guaceto" according to the Ramsar Convention. Within the framework of the EU programme "Natura 2000" and of the linked Italian programme "Bioitaly", the Region Apulia, according to the EU Habitat Directive 92/43 proposed Torre Guaceto as a site of Communitary Interest named "Torre Guaceto Macchia San Giovanni". Furthermore, the Region Apulia individuated the wetland of Torre Guaceto as a Zone of Special Protection (ZPS) according to the EU directive 79/409 "Birds". The Site of Communitary Interest includes a marine priority habitat for the EU, the Posidonia oceanica meadows. The Management Consortium of Torre Guaceto has approved the management plan of the Site of Communitary Interest (Dir. 92/43 EC) "Torre Guaceto Macchia San Giovanni". The document has been sent to the Ministry of Environment for its approval. Torre Guaceto MPA is divided in three zones, according to the different protection: A Zone, no-entry, no-take zone; B Zone, the General Reserve; C Zone of Partial Reserve. The coastline is characterized, along the western sector, by a series of small subrectangular coves with pocket beaches, until the eastwads projecting promontory of Torre Guaceto. At east of this promontory the coast is mainly sandy, with reduced rocky formations and low rocks emerging right in front of the promontory and eastwards from it (little isles of Apani), and is characterized by a regular, sinuous coastline. The eastern coastal sector, furthermore, is incised by ten little valleys oriented from South to North, some continuing also underwater. The inland part is devoted to the typical agricultural practices of the area, continuing the plant cover present also outside the Reserve, with secular olive trees, mixed cultures, and red soils, not covered by vegetation. In the area between the road and the coast, terrains are in a more natural condition. The spatial succession ranging from beach, dune, and Mediterranean scrub ends up with agricultural areas (mainly vegetable gardens) and some reforestation. The second coastal stretch, developing southwards, does not include neither dunes nor beach. It is characterized by a low and rocky coast, with small beaches and whose vegetation reaches the coastline. The dunes of Torre Guaceto maintain their maximal expansion, since there are wide stretches of grey dunes that reach 15 m in height. The dune environment is diverse and is characterized by habitats of interest for the EU such as: dunes with meadows of Brachypodietalia and annual vegetation; mobile littoral dunes with Ammophila arenaria ("White Dunes"); annual vegetation of marine deposition lines, and the coastal rocks with Mediterranean coastal vegetation, with endemic Limonium spp.. The waters facing on the coast are inhabited by bird species with strong affinity for marine environments (e.g. divers, grebes, petrels, cormorants) and for swamps, like those of the order Anseriformes, that often rest and forage in the waters of the marine reserve). Many anatids rest in marine waters both during migration and in other periods of the year, when they are not active. The submarine landscape is constantly characterized by two subsequent escarpments, parallel to the coastline and with a medium slope. These escarpments are divided by flat surfaces due both to erosion and, mostly, to deposition. The rocky midlittoral is characterised by the presence of red algae as Laurencia sp, and Corallina elongata and by a Cystoserietum that forms belts along the rocky littoral. The rocky infralittoral is characterized by photophylous algae and by sea urchin barrens and encrusting alge accompanied by the few animal species that resist the grazing activity of sea urchins. Posidonia oceanica meadows are one of the most characteristic habitats of the sandy infralittoral. The intricate morphology of the meadows forms a series of microhabitats that provide both food and shelter to numerous organisms, from fish and crustaceans to sponges, bryozoans, hydroids, anthozoans and bivalve molluscs. Patches of Cymodocea nodosa are also present. In the C zone there are stretches of precoralligenous formations with many organisms in perfect state; particularly numerous are both the yellow and the white sea fans (Eunicella cavolini, Eunicella singularis). Also the bryozoans Sertella sp. e Myriapora truncata are very common. Coralligenous formations are comprised between 22 and 30 m depth, with discontinuous distribution and forming a series of patches on the sandy bottom. Coralligenous formations become scarcer at depths greater than 30 m, reaching a depth of 45 m, where the sandy bottom is replaced by mud. Muddy bottoms are inhabited by a rich fauna of molluscs, brittle stars, sea stars, sea cucumbers, vagile and tubiculous polychaetes, with various types of tubular protections. Torre Guaceto AMP has obtained the Emas II Registration (Reg CE 761/2001) in 2005. In relation to the individuated driving forces (touristic diving, visits on federal properties and nearby areas, illegal fisheries, outflow of water from the Canale Reale and from the wetland, marine pollution) the environmental analysis for the EMAS registration of the Reserve set objectives of environmental conservation. Torre Guaceto is included in the SPAMI List, according to the Barcellona Convention.

Reviewed By BillK259

One of the most beautiful beaches along the Alto Salento coastline, and there are many to choose from! It is part of a larger nature preserve, for which Italy deserves great credit.

8. Togo Bay Beach

S.P. 340 Torre Lapillo - Torre Columena Torre Columena, 73010, Porto Cesareo Italy +39 327 610 5084 [email protected] http://www.togobayportocesareo.it/
Excellent
67%
Good
21%
Satisfactory
5%
Poor
3%
Terrible
4%
Overall Ratings

4.5 based on 1,495 reviews

Togo Bay Beach

Located in the beautiful place called Salento, among sandy paths and untouched nature, Togo Bay is an oasis of emotions between the dunes and the sea to enjoy the sun and the beach in perfect relaxation.

Reviewed By AMKRome - Rome, Italy

Togo Beach is a magical, whimsical place. It's strange because just when you think you've reached paradise just by being at the splendid ionian coast of Puglia, you discover that Togo Beach is a paradise within a paradise. So let me get all the essentials out of the way. The beach is superbly clean, the water is crystal clear (almost puts the Caribbean to shame), and the beach facilities are comfortable, high-end, and above-all COVID ready 100 percent. But what may not be stated enough or come across in all the other reviews is how amazing the service is. You order lunch and drinks? They are there in less than ten minutes. And not because the food is not fresh, it was and also delicious and healthy. The amazing staff of Togo bay have one thing in mind, and they execute it with strategic focus: that you have a good time, and leave wanting to come back. There is no loud overpowering music here. But sophisticated, beach vibes played at just the right time. There are no obnoxious party animals, but everyone seems to be at the party of their lives. And a nice mix of Italian and international guests. As well as a nice mix of families, young adults, and beyond. Now, I judge a place not by when things are going well, but when there is a glitch. One one of the days we were there, we arrived later than the designated hold time for your beach reservations, and they had rightly given it away. But even though they were booked to capacity, they did not let us walk away and managed to create something for us. And finally, when we were half way back home form Puglia, they called to say I had forgotten my ID at reception. Any ordinary place would have posted it back. But because this is TOGO bay, they couriered it and it was in my mail box the next day I was back home. Thank you Togo Bay for a wonderful post-lockdown beach holiday. See you in 2021!

9. Cava di Bauxite

Sito Naturalistico, Otranto Italy http://www.comune.otranto.le.it/territorio/gallerie-immagini/item/cave-di-bauxite
Excellent
62%
Good
28%
Satisfactory
8%
Poor
1%
Terrible
1%
Overall Ratings

4.5 based on 1,691 reviews

Cava di Bauxite

Reviewed By KONIKPK - Pezinok, Slovakia

This is nice palce 30m from city. Not too crowdy at October. We go on foot and walk around. Try it you can go with car or motorcycle or bike.

10. Vignanotica Beach

Strada Provinciale 53 al 18,5 km C/O Centro Turistico Vignanotica, 71019, Vieste Italy
Excellent
58%
Good
29%
Satisfactory
8%
Poor
3%
Terrible
2%
Overall Ratings

4.5 based on 1,253 reviews

Vignanotica Beach

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