Highlights of Puglia

Fabio was fabulous. We lost out on the room lottery twice. I would slow it down a little. Maybe 3 nights in one place.

Tour leader Fabio went above and beyond in itinerary leadership and support during self-pay dinners etc. He is a fount of knowledge about the area and Italy in general.

We thoroughly enjoyed our Puglia tour. Fabio was a wonderful guide. He was very knowledgeable, humorous, and kind. Matera was an unexpected highlight for me. The hotels in Matera and Alberobello were outstanding- a great mix of historic charm and quiet elegance. The hotel in Lecce could use some updating. Our first room was extremely dark and dingy. We requested a room change- even offering to pay a little more- but no need as Fabio and the hotel staff were very gracious to accommodate our request. The itinerary was a perfect blend of guided tours and individual time to explore independently. We appreciated contributing to a group kitty from the start and not having to worry about daily trips for the city guides and drivers. I highly recommend joining the group dinners as Fabio chose amazing local restaurants that we would not have found on our own. This tour was a great value for the experience we received!

The Puglia tour in general is interesting and was worthwhile. The places visited were interesting & staying in a Trulli house was fun. I was, however, disappointed by the Tour leader who while she was good at putto g information on what’s app it was at times a bit late… The biggest problem was the lack of consideration for the group, some of whom were slower, and several of whom were hearing impaired, it felt at times as if that was an annoyance to the tour leader. The Tour leader was not up to the standard I expect & have previously experienced with Explore.

Highlights of Puglia lived up to expectation - so many highlights! Whole itinerary was excellent as was our tour guide Sonea; whose organisational skills and suggestions for restaurants/optional additional activities were first rate.

Puglia was a wonderful region to explore and the towns visited are beautiful. Our tour leader, was very good. It would have been good to have the same bus and driver for the whole tour, rather than a different driver and bus for each leg (some buses were better than others). Matera was the highlight destination of the tour for me, and the local guide was excellent. The accommodation was extremely disappointing. The late change to the Bari hotel meant we stayed in a rather dull area far from the historical town and esplanade area. The Alberobello Trullo accommodation was tired, dated and worn. It was located in the middle of a very noisy construction zone which commenced at 6am and then ramped up considerably at 7am each morning. We did raise this at the time but were told nothing else was available. I provided feedback to Explore and they were informed us that “the trullo met the standard agreed under our long-standing partnership”. Puglia is definitely worth visiting. However, considering the price of this tour, I expected better accommodation and felt greatly let down by the Alberobello Trullo accommodation which was advertised as a highlight. Staying in a Trullo was one of the reasons I picked this tour so it was extremely disappointing and upsetting and fell way short of my expectations and for this reason I would not recommend Explore.

Excellent trip with choices and free time to rest or swim. Suggestion to Itinerary On day 2 after Altamura and bread tasting try and include the trip to Gravina with the minibus -- NOT an optional train journey back there on day 3. We did this by not having lunch day 2 as we were full with bread!! and leaving a little earlier from Altamura and then continuing to Castel de Monte .AJ the guide was very helpful re this. Then day 3 afternoon we had more time to explore Matera which we needed to be fair.