7 days of free time between Dubrovnik and Sicily - Need some ideas! Maybe Puglia?
Has anyone added some free time of their own before the Sicily trip in Puglia? The schedules don't sync to do Puglia with Tauck's Sicily only trip. I'm intrigued by what I see of Puglia. Anyone been on their own? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you.
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Spend more time in Venice?
Gretchen: Let us understand correctly. You want to do the Croatia tour first, which ends in Venice, then you want to have 7 free days in Puglia before going on to the Sicily trip, which starts in Catania?
Puglia is not as accessible as other parts of Italy.
You could possibly fly from Venice to Bari or take a train. Once in Bari you would ideally want to get around by car, or with a guide. You could also probably find group day tours.
But then you'd have to get to Catania. I suggest you look at rome2rio.com for logistical options.
There are other places in Italy where you could spend a lovely 7 days and have easier logistics. Maybe save the Puglia tour for another time. British has suggested more time in Venice. The Dolomites are also just a 2 hour drive from Venice. Lots of day trip options from there as well. Ryanair has a regular route from Bologna to Catania, and we really enjoyed that region last year. Lots of great day trips from Bologna.
You might also find this website useful:
https://www.flightsfrom.com
You can search direct flights from different cities.
Best of luck!
I did the Puglia tour with Tauck immediately following the Bellissima Northern Italy tour that ended in Venice, so I can't comment on doing Puglia alone. However, I did fly ITA from Venice to Bari, changing planes in Rome. Much to my surprise, the flights were good and my checked luggage arrived in Bari.
Have you looked at changing the order of tours- do Puglia (or Sicily) first and Adriatic Treasures second? In the past that has worked for other people trying to do tours back to back.
We just booked our first back to back tours. I’m not talking about these tours because we’ve been to Croatia and took the Puglia tour years ago when it was brand new. For the tours we booked it worked out perfectly. The first tour ends where the second begins, just two nights in between. We have not specifically planned anything in those two days, except relax. Certainly if we are still full of energy we might schedule something last minute.
Another thing you could do is fly to Bari after a few extra days in Venice and stay there for a couple of days as it has a nice historic area—-which sadly we could not plan because we were with friends who were first time Tauck people and my husband was still working so we did not have any extra days. And yes, the start of the Tauck tour is a good hour’s drive away.
I called up Tauck to orchestrate my two back to back tours that we were on this past May, Tuscany and Puglia. They explained to me that their “software” has the ability to sync back to back tours and make it work. I was able to incorporate 2 gift of time days before the second tour started and everything worked out very well. We had to find our way (via train our own ) where the second tour started and Tauck picked us up. It’s easier than trying to figure out the days yourself.