The Gargano and the Tremiti Islands

The Gargano Promontory And The Tremiti Archipelago, Including The UNESCO Inscribed Foresta Umbra Ancient Beech Forest And The Fifth Century Cave Shrine Of Monte Sant'Angelo · Vieste, Puglia

The spur on the back of Italy's heel: a limestone promontory sticking forty kilometres into the Adriatic, high enough in the middle to carry a beech forest that has been there since the last ice age and is a UNESCO site of its own, and edged all round with white cliffs, sea caves and small bays. Along that coast stand trabucchi, timber fishing machines on stilts with nets slung from cantilevered arms, some of them centuries old in design and several now serving dinner. At the eastern point is Vieste, a white town on a rock with a sea stack standing off its beach. Inland is Monte Sant'Angelo, a cave shrine to the archangel Michael that has been a pilgrimage site since the fifth century and is the southern end of the same line that runs through the Sacra di San Michele and Mont Saint-Michel. Thirty kilometres offshore lie the Tremiti islands, reachable in summer. This is three different places in one and none of them is a beach holiday on its own.

Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II, Vieste, Puglia, 71019, Italy

NO OPENING TIME HERE WAS CHECKED. The structure: the coast, the beaches, the Foresta Umbra paths and the towns are public and never close. The shrine at Monte Sant'Angelo opens daily with a midday interval and shorter winter hours, closing for services. The forest visitor centre is seasonal. SEA CAVE TRIPS AND TREMITI FERRIES ARE SUMMER-ONLY and cancelled in swell. Most coastal hotels and restaurants close from about November to March. Confirm the boats before building a day around them.

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