Puglia: Cultural Immersion Excursion in the heel of Italy
Wine, food, cooking classes, walking tours, bike rides, and more
March 23, 2025 – April 3, 2025
Bonus: Add 2, 3, 4, or 5 nights post trip for Dan and Deb’s Rome tour.
This trip has achieved its minimum participant level. There are 8 spaces left.
11 Days / 10 Nights
10 nights four-star resorts, wine tasting, 8 lunches and dinners (some wine-paired), Michelin-rated restaurants, two half-day easy bike tours (one is optional) through the countryside, walking tours in 4 ancient villages, cooking class, two wine tastinga, tour and olive oil tasting, more.
Please read all the details below on the Details/Itinerary page AND the linked Puglia Logistics page for all details about all aspects of the tours.
Contact Morningstar See-Ski-Savor Tours directly at
[email protected] or call us (520) 405-5508.
We love chatting about our Puglia trip!
from @ $2,985
FIRST DEPOSIT MUST BE IN TO US BY NOVEMBER 15, 2024
See logistics page for details.
We have a new partner for this tour and we are excited to welcome the friends, family, and clients of:
Dr. James Bachman and wife Julie
Jim is a dentist in Bend, Oregon. He has always been excited to hear the details of our yearly adventures to Europe on my visits. He and Julie decided that this year, they would not jut hear about the tours, but they would experience one for themselves. So, this Puglia trip will be co-sponsored by Jim and Julie. We look forward to spending time with Jim and Julies crew in Puglia 2025!
Add some days in Rome with Deb and Dan BEFORE your Puglia Tour
You will most likely going thru Rome on your way to Bari, Pugla. Why not stop over and enjoy the most historic city in the world. We have been to Rome 17times and have organized many group tours there as well. We will offer you extra pre-trip days in this amazing city, personally led by us daily. You will see things ou have never seen, no matter how many times you have been to Rome. And you will get to stay in an 18th century villa hotel! Add 2, 3, 4, or 5 days.. why not?!
This is Puglia
Join Dan and Deb in one of their favorite places in Italy for their 5th eleven-day visit to this little-known spectacular region.
Bonus: Puglia (poo lee ah) is small and we will never have a drive longer than one hour and a half during the entire journey.
Puglia is a breath of fresh air… something completely unexpected… a balm for the spirit…a respite from the crowds …a break from the touristic… a rabbit hole which transports you back 30 years. Puglia is the heel of Italy. For those fortunate enough to visit, it connects to simpler times and a natural landscape that is increasingly difficult to find. No hype, no hordes of tourists… just natural wonders, great wine and food, and fascinating history.
In the Spring of 2024, 35 folks joined us in Puglia for our tour. It was our 5th Puglia group tour. We want to repeat Puglia in 2025 with you!
See below for the many exciting details of this Puglia journey. Take the time to read the descriptions of the itinerary. Be sure to look at the numerous linked photo galleries. If you do, you will understand our enthusiasm for this region Italy’s heel.
If you want to experience how Italy used to be, join us on our wine and food tasting journey through Puglia. It will be a journey you will never forget.
Included in this outstanding travel value:
AIR
LEAVE USA March 23, 2025. The nearest major airport to Bari is Rome FCO. Of course, you can route your air thru other cities, as you chose. But no matter, you MUST arrive into Bari, Italy on March 24, 2025 for your first hotel night of the tour. If you would like to arrive a day or two earlier to shake off the jet lag and recharge, we can arrange extra hotel nights at either our 4-star Excelsior Hotel or our 5-star luxury Bari hotel, upon request. You fly out of Bari any time on either April 3, 2025. The LAST HOTEL NIGHT of the tour is April 2 in Bari.
NOTE: If you are flying into Rome, you can book 55 minute flights from FCO to Bari airport. CAVEAT/ WARNING: Make sure to get a flight that is non-stop! Otherwise, what should take an hour can take five hours. Plan carefully and accordingly. Further, there is a 3.5 hour train ride from Rome to Bari as well. Organinzing all your air to/from Bari is each participant’s responsibility. Please: pay attention to all the details and make sure your flights are on correct dates and that your flights mesh with each other.
Day by Day Itinerary with ALL the details below
DAY ONE MARCH 24
Arrive in Bari
Arrive in Bari March 24, 2025 after your overnight flight from USA and check into your hotel. The Hotel Excelsior is a 4-star property near the lovely pedestrian shopping area.
DAY TWO March 25
Monopoli
On our way to Masseria Cervarolo we will stop for a half-day visit at the ancient port town of Monopoli where you will have free time to wander around this charming seaside village.
Optional Activity: Wine-paired lunch at the spectacular Piazza Palmieri Restaurante. Spectacular!
We offered this lunch last year and literally everyone signed up. There was not one regret. Palmieri offered up the best warm seafood appetizer we ever had along with excellent main courses. For $45 you will have a very memorable lunch including wine. If you are not a seafood fan, we can easily substitute the seafood appetizer and main course with other offerings.
Menu:
Hot seafood appetizer
Seafood first course
1 glass of white wine
1 glass of red
Water and coffee
Cost: $45 You MUST sign up for this lunch before final payment, end of January. Cost will be added into your final invoice.
We cannot recommend this enough. It will be an excellent lunch AND a fun way to kick of the tour with our fellow adventurers.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
March 25 afternoon: Arrival at Masseria Cervarolo This property is an old farm/fortress that has been beautifully restored. Many of the rooms are trullis! Replete with a beautiful pool area and a Michelin-rated restaurant, Cervarolo is perfectly located and within short driving distances of all the sites we will visit.
Afternoon March 25: Optional activity: Generous pours of local wines…WINE TASTING with a local Som, right at beautiful Cervarolo! This is a great opportunity to try some local wines from nearby vineyards with a really nice local som lady, Teresa. Learn a ton about the Puglian wines you will be drinking. We will do this @5:30ish.
COST: $25 This activity must be signed up for before the last payment in January. The fee will be included in the final invoice amount.
DAY THREE March 26
Martina Franca / Locorotondo / Optional AM bike ride
Spend a morning exploring the ancient towns of Martina Franca and Locorotondo on your own. A wine-paired lunch overlooking a beautiful vista will be served in Locorotondo for everyone.
OPTIONAL ACTIVITY: For active, adept bike riders, we are offering a half-day bike ride thru the countryside in place of the city visits. This ride is fantastic! You will ride about 4 hours thru gorgeous countryside on secondary roads with little traffic. If you love biking, DO NOT MISS THIS. It is worth every penny. The ride will end at Locorotondo where we will meet the rest of the non-biking group and have the same lunch described. It will include the same lunch as above.
COST: $110, includes for transportation to starting point of ride, bike (electric-assist bike upon request, add $33), and guides: $110. This must be signed up for by time of final payment at end of January. The fee will be added to your final invoice. We need minimum of 10 riders.
March 26 Included event: Cooking class and wine-paired dinner at Masseria Cerverola. First, a Puglian cooking class in the late afternoon. A 4-course wine-paired dinner at the Cervarolo’s Michilen-rated restaurant follows, both included in your tour events. Bonus: A local som will be there during the entire meal to share notes about each wine! As with our other masserias, we will be the only guests in the hotel…all ours.
DAY FOUR March 27
Lecce
Lecce is one of the best-preserved baroque cities in the world. Two-hour-walking tour followed by free time and lunch on your own.
Depart Lecce and return home to Cervarolo for some late-afternoon free time to relax and enjoy Cervarolo.
DAY FIVE March 28
Easy Bike ride through countryside
Half-day bike ride, Parco della Dune Costiere… The ride takes us through the Ostuni countryside with panoramas of the Adriatic coast and the Puglian landscape with end point being the beach town of Tonne Canne. Electric bike upgrade available ($33). Easy ride with spectacular scenery! For lunch we will stop by a sea-side town for a buffet put on by a family-run La Limonaia.
After the ride and lunch, we will visit an ancient Masseria where the same family for generations have been making olive oil..
We will do a fascinating tour and olive oil tasting.
DAY SIX March 29
Alberobello, the city of Trullos
Alberobello, a Unesco site. This town has more trulli per square foot than anywhere in the world. Upon arrival in the morning, we will explore the village with the best guide in Alberdobelo! Then free time to wander, shop, and have a lunch on your own.
After Alberobello, it is on to Alta Mura and our next masseria experience: Masseria Pitti, a farm/fortresses from the 1600s. Olive oil and wine was produced in caves under the properties. The defensive fortress-like estates were constructed to ward off pirate attacks.
Part of the group will be at Masseria Pitti as an upgrade. Those choosing to not upgrade will be at the 4-star Hotel Fuori in nearby Altamura.
Both properties are 10 minutes apart. The package includes the 4-star Hotel Fuori Le Mura in Altamura and the Pitti is an upgrade. Two of the included wine-paired dinners will be at the Pitti with the third being a 3-hour walking dinner tour in Altamura. Everyone will participate in all the Pitti activities, including the dinners. Our charter bus will provide the short rides needed between properties. Best of all: we will be the only people in the Pitti…all ours.
DAY SEVEN March 30
Gravina
We arrive in the morning for a unique walking tour of this historic village, with underground olive oil and wine making facilities that date back many centuries.
OPTIONAL ACTIVITY: Time for an amazing wine-paired lunch at one of our fav Puglian restaurants! Deb and Dan discovered Mamma Mia’s restaurant overlooking the ruins of Gravina and it was one of the best meals we had on our trip. Puglia is known for its truffles and Mamma Mia’s makes a memorable truffle-based pasta you will savor and love. Not a truffle fan? No problem… easy substitue pasta. This will be a 2 hour extravaganza replete with 8 apetizers, pasta main, desserts, and of course a LOT of wine! Tellin ya: You are patzo (crazy!) if you don’t do this lunch!
ps: Did we mention that this place has one of the most amazing views anywhere!
COST: Mama Mia’s 2 hour lunch: $55. As with the other optional events, you must sign up for this before the final payment deadline, end of January.
DAY EIGHT March 31
Free day in Alta Mura or optional bike ride in the countryside
A breather! We have added an extra 4th day and night in our Alta Mura stay for this tour. Alta Mura is fabulous old town to explore on your own. Sleep in, relax, and choose between two activities or do nothing! Those staying at the Masseria Pitti have the option of riding into Alta Mura with Gianni our driver mid-morning for a fun day of exploring, shopping, lunch… whatever YOU want. Those at the Fuori Hotel are already on the edge of Alta Mura.
OPTIONAL BIKE RIDE: For those who want a more adventurous day, we are in the process of organizing an optional bike ride for the day in the countryside surrounding us.
Cost: $110 for transport to starting point, bikes, (electric-assist bikes +$33), guides. This must be signed up for before time of final payment, late January. Fee will be included in your final invoice amount. Minimum of 10 needed.
DAY NINE April 1
Matera
Get ready to be stunned. Matera, an ancient hilltop town that features 2,000-year-old cave homes under the modern city, will be our tour for the day. Free time to explore and have lunch. After some free relaxation time at the Pitti, you will be in for an extraordinary experience. Mattia, son of one of the owners of Pitti will guide us on a 3-hour walking dinner tour in Alta Mura. Prepare to eat more than you thought possible!
DAY TEN April 2
Return to Bari for a free afternoon and night before return flights the following day to USA.
We leave the Pitti and Fuori to return to Bari. We will drop you off at your 5-star SEASIDE hotel in Bari and you are free to enjoy Bari on your own. There are many shops, restaurants, and views to enjoy as you explore on your own. Stay as long as you like and do what you please. You will simply take a taxi back to the Nicolas hotel for your evening stay.
Testimonials
FROM PAST PUGLIA CLIENTS
This tour of the Puglia region is fantastic. From the great food and wine (not to mention great prices), to the beautiful accommodations and breathtaking countryside, I can say this tour is one not to miss. The planning and attention to detail by Dan and Deb is great! The daily schedule is well thought out including plenty of time for relaxing lunches and shopping. Every town and city was unique from each other, packed with its own history and beauty. Falling in love with this region is guaranteed, there’s not a thing not to like. You will also enjoy the hosts, Dan and Deb. Lots of fun and laughter are always included.
Puglia with Dan and Deb is truly amazing! They do a wonderful job of planning. Everything was covered! When any issue arose they were quick to address. And of course they made sure we had plenty of wine! Puglia was the best! The people are very welcoming, food first class and plentiful, sites beautiful…could not ask for more!
Had an amazing trip to Puglia Italy with Dan and Deb. Our hotels/Masserias were so amazing as was everything about the trip! Dave and I would highly recommend it to anyone wanting an experience of a lifetime in Southern Italy!