Self guided Puglia cycling holiday

Environment

Pedal power is, of course, one of the most environmentally friendly ways to travel, meaning that your holiday is a low impact option. You could consider making it even more so by taking public transport to the start of your trip. We always recommend using public transportation and give useful and detailed information on how to reach the arrival location and leave the departure location with no private transfer, only using bus or trains.

We use family run hotels like the Hotel Cuor di Puglia in Alberobello, the family all do their part in managing the hotel including the Grandad who often hands out welcome drinks. They minimize water and energy wastage but not changing bedding and towels daily but on request instead.

Albergo La Terra in Ostuni perfectly represents the local architecture – people in Ostuni are extremely proud of their status of “White City” and a local, popular association meets regularly to paint the walls white and keep the tradition alive. Some of the transfers in Otranto are provided by a local transfer company located in the local railway station, after a project of renewal of the old building. The service is actually provided by a cultural association promoting sustainability and social inclusion, and their headquarters inside the train station have become a place of cultural exchange and territory valorization.

Community

One of the great aspects of a cycling holiday is the ability to stop off en- route to visit local markets, enjoy a drink in a small café and meet the local people. Italians are very welcoming and particularly appreciative when people try to speak their language so why not learn a few phrases before you go?

Staying in small, family run hotels and eating at local restaurants along our journey enables us to support a variety of local businesses. We’re confident it ensures you get a better experience too as you relax and enjoy the hospitality of the local people and get the chance to sample lots of the delicious local specialities after a hard day’s pedalling! We only choose local providers in country for the luggage transfers and bike rental to help the local economy.

We also choose not to include all meals in the trips, we believe that the best way to get to know a destination is leaving you free to choose where and what you want to eat, chatting with the locals for suggestions and trying things that you may have never heard of instead of having something prepared every single day. This also helps support multiple local business rather than one restaurant or hotel.

In addition to the above, we are continually looking for ways to improve and are proud to be ‘Responsible in everything we do’. Education is key and so all staff, Tour leaders and partnering suppliers are trained in responsible and sustainable tourism. At our Head Office, we continually strive towards a sustainable and planet-friendly working environment, including having solar panels installed and a company commitment to reducing our plastic usage. As well as this, we have valuable and longstanding partnerships with UK charities Toilet Twinning and Send a Cow, plus many smaller initiatives and projects around the world. We’re members of UK travel industry bodies Tourism Concern and AITO because we believe it’s important to share our knowledge and experience, as well as learn from other operators. We acknowledge that air travel has a negative impact on our environment, so we work together with Cool Earth to offset carbon and protect our important rainforests.