Puglia and the South - Undiscovered Italy

Tour Itinerary

• Day 1 • Fly to Bari

  Following your flight to Ireland, you will be met by your tour manager for the coach transfer to your hotel. After check-in, you'll have rest the day free. Depending on your arrival time, you may like to explore Claremorris (which is about a 10-minute walk away) and its interesting range of shops and bars. At the far end of the town you'll find McMahon Park, where you can enjoy a delightful five-kilometre circular walk around Clare Lake. Alternatively, why not make the most of the hotel’s leisure centre and beauty studio?

• Day 2 • Day at leisure or optional excursion to Polignano a Mare

  Explore the lunar-like landscape of the The Burren, the world’s largest limestone pavement, known for its rare plants, wildlife, and ancient monuments older than Egypt’s pyramids. At the Burren Visitor Centre, a film and interactive exhibits explain the region’s unique environment and history. Later, visit the dramatic Cliffs of Moher, rising 702 ft above the Atlantic for five miles, where coastal paths and viewing platforms reveal sweeping views toward the Aran Islands, the Kerry Mountains and Galway Bay, with an award-winning visitor centre built into the hillside.

• Day 3 • Included Apulia Tour

  Visit Glen Keen Farm, one of the largest sheep farms along the Wild Atlantic Way, where you’ll learn about seven generations of farming, watch skilled sheepdogs respond to whistle and voice commands, and enjoy tea or coffee with homemade scones. Later, take a relaxing cruise on Killary Fjord, a spectacular glacial fjord starting at Nancy's Point, before continuing to Westport, where you can explore the harbour and Quay area with its converted coastguard buildings, cafés, bars and restaurants, or stroll along the town’s tree-lined mall beneath the slopes of Croagh Patrick.

• Day 4 • Included Leece City Tour

  Galway City beckons today. The old centre surrounds ancient Lynch’s Castle and a pedestrianised thoroughfare leads down to the thriving waterfront. Join our tour manager for a guided tour before exploring at leisure. Enjoy lunch in one of Galway’s countless eateries, take a harbour cruise, explore the city's cobblestone streets, visit its imposing (and unexpectedly modern) cathedral, or perhaps make the most of the varied shopping.

• Day 5 • Day At Leisure

  Possibly saving the best until last, this long, but wonderfully scenic day will reveal Connemara. This stunning landscape of pale grey mountains, golden beaches, sparkling loughs, rugged bogs and shimmering waterfalls is a place of remote beauty that's also home to the hardy, agile - but also gentle - Connemara Pony. The route takes you on a lovely drive past Lough Mask and Lough Corrib and on to the Maam Cross. We continue along the Inagh Valley to stunning Kylemore Abbey, a Benedictine Monastery founded in 1920. Learn about its history and its tales of romance and tragedy, explore the six-acre Victorian Walled Gardens and visit the Gothic Chapel and the restored rooms of the Abbey before returning to the hotel.

• Day 6 • Included Matera Cave Tour

  Depending upon the time of your flight, you may be able to spend a final few hours relaxing at your hotel, or perhaps exploring the local area, before returning to the airport at the end of a wonderful few days.

• Day 7 • Optional Tour of Castellana, Locorotondo and Martina Franca

  Depending upon the time of your flight, you may be able to spend a final few hours relaxing at your hotel, or perhaps exploring the local area, before returning to the airport at the end of a wonderful few days.

• Day 8 • Fly back to the UK

  Depending upon the time of your flight, you may be able to spend a final few hours relaxing at your hotel, or perhaps exploring the local area, before returning to the airport at the end of a wonderful few days.