Puglia cycling tour

Planet and people

Accommodation & meals: We spend the week, on this cycling vacation, in independent and historical hotels, in Monopoli, Conversano, Alberobello and Pezze di Greco, including one in traditional trulli buildings and another in a masseria surrounded by 173 acres of agricultural land. . All the hotels are privately owned by locals and at least 75% of the staff are local residents. Our customers provide income to an area that does already benefit from some tourism; however the hotels we use are all small properties (ranging between only 8 and 32 rooms). The vacation is on a B&B basis with three evening meals and customers are encouraged to eat out in local restaurants for the remaining nights. Where dinner is included, the first night is in a local restaurant and the other two nights are at the masseria where the dishes are homemade and the focus is on Puglian cuisine, using high quality, locally-sourced seasonal produce where possible. Most of our hoteliers have also demonstrated commitment to sustainable practices in the following areas: waste management, saving water and saving energy.

Community: We have designed the trip, in collaboration with local agents who have the best inside knowledge. On this trip we encourage and enable our guests to try local cuisine and support local businesses, visit local attractions, cafes, bars and restaurants, purchase homemade produce including local specialities such as the most amazing olive oils (from the 11,000 olive trees) and homemade jams at the masseria, purchase gifts and crafts as well as chat with local people to discover what life is really like in the Puglia region.

Group size: This is a self-guided vacation with departures every 2-3 days and low passenger numbers, helping to keep environmental impact to a minimum, and reduce over-tourism. Self-guided vacations that are managed by our partner agents (such as the Puglia region) are possible with a minimum of two people on any departure dates, however we would always hope that more people would want to visit this beautiful area of open spaces, quiet beaches and fresh, natural produce!

Activity: Few vacations have as little detrimental impact on the environment and local residents as a cycling trip. It is a quiet, low impact activity requiring comparatively little resources to support. We encourage our customers to either walk or cycle between hotels therefore reducing the overall carbon footprint on the vacation.

UK office: In addition to the careful planning that goes into each and every one of our tours, we also have a policy of operating our office in a responsible manner - to reduce the impact on our local environment. We turn off all lights, printers, photocopiers and PCs at the end of each day: a PC monitor switched off overnight saves enough energy to microwave six meals; leaving a computer on 24/7 costs four times more than if you switch it off; a photocopier left on overnight uses enough energy to produce over 1,500 copies. We use energy efficient light bulbs and make sure they're regularly cleaned - dirty bulbs can reduce the amount of effective light by over 25%. We've turned down every radiator by one degree in a bid to reduce energy consumption by as much as 10%. All our brochures are printed on paper from sustainable sources and sent in bio-degradable packaging. We strive to reduce paper consumption and, what we do use, we recycle. We recycle all our used laser printer and inkjet cartridges.