Cycling in Puglia is a popular way to explore our region’s diverse landscapes, from rolling olive groves to dramatic coastal cliffs. With quiet country roads, historic towns, and a mild climate, Puglia offers a mix of scenic rides and cultural experiences. Cyclists can pedal through whitewashed villages, stop at ancient ruins, and enjoy fresh local cuisine along the way. Whether following the Adriatic coast or winding through the Valle d’Itria, Puglia’s routes cater to all levels, making it an ideal destination for an immersive and active adventure.
For those planning a cycling trip, there are several options to suit different travel styles. Autonomous self-guided bicycle tours offer complete freedom, allowing cyclists to set their own pace, choose accommodations, and explore local dining options independently. Hybrid self-guided tours, organised by tour companies, provide the best of both worlds—riders follow curated routes with detailed guidance while accommodations, luggage transfers, and meals are prearranged.
For a fully supported experience, guided tours include expert leaders who handle navigation, logistics, and local insights, ensuring a stress-free ride. These tours often feature vehicle support, cultural excursions, and group camaraderie, making them ideal for those who want to focus entirely on the journey without the planning.
Below, you’ll find a selection of resources to help you choose the best cycling tour in Puglia, from rental services and route maps to tour operators offering guided and self-guided options.
Cycle Tour Resources
Fully independent
For those who enjoy spontaneity and don’t mind handling logistics, Puglia Region’s Tourist Bureau has a useful resource for self-guided, independent bike tours. Suggesting twelve different itineraries from Gargano to Salento, these are routes that can be travelled by bicycle, as also on foot, via ancient paths and along quiet country roads.
Their itineraries cater for all abilities and preferences. Each itinerary can be subdivided into a number of stages, for week-long journeys, daily excursions or long weekends. Their guide includes local information by reference to the routes, including history, sites of interest and local dishes and produce.
To get you inspired Puglia Promozione also have a digital guide with QR codes to take you to the route on Google Maps. The region is broken down into four parts.
Each part has a QR code for each route, taking you to Google Maps with the route pre-plotted. For example (for the South of Puglia route):
Hybrid Self-Guided Bike Tours
If you want to eliminate the hassle of planning while preserving the flexibility of independent cycling, Salento Bici Tour offers the best of both worlds. They also offer e-bike tours. We met with Carlo Cascione, one of their founders, having found out about them from Guardian Travel writer Liz Boulter who cycled 600 miles around Puglia In six days on an e-bike with them.
Salento Bici Tour
Exploring Puglia on Two Wheels: The Magic of Salento Bici Tour
Salento Bici Tour provides an immersive cycling experience that allows travellers to explore Puglia (and beyond) at a leisurely pace, combining sustainable travel with cultural discovery. A wide variety of longer tours and short excursions are available, both guided and self-guided, with notable options combining cycling with culinary adventures food and cycling with language learning.
The Story Behind Salento Bici Tour
Founded in 2011, Salento Bici Tour began as a social initiative promoting cycling as a primary mode of transport. They have since expanded their efforts into a fully-fledged tour operator, “I Slow You,” specialising in cycling and walking tours. Run by Carlo Cascione and Giulia Tenuzzo, whose mission is to encourage sustainable mobility and environmental awareness while offering authentic travel experiences. Social enterprise is still at the core of their mission, the business element being a means to fund the other.
Why Choose Salento Bici Tour?
Salento Bici Tour offers a variety of cycling experiences tailored to different fitness levels and interests. The region’s predominantly flat terrain, Mediterranean climate, and diverse landscapes make it ideal for cycling. Whether traversing olive groves, historic villages, or coastal paths, each route is designed to balance activity with leisure, ensuring travellers have the opportunity to savour local cuisine, visit artisans, and connect with the region’s history.
Tour Options
Self-Guided Tours
For independent travellers, self-guided tours come with detailed maps, GPS devices, and comprehensive route notes. Highlights include:
- Salento Classic – A seven-day journey through historic towns, scenic countryside, and stunning coastal views, including stops in Lecce, Otranto, and Gallipoli.
- Family Bike Tour – Shorter daily distances suitable for families with children, incorporating visits to farms, interactive museums, and local workshops.
- Food & Wine Tour – A week-long culinary adventure, cycling through vineyards and olive groves with tastings of regional wines and traditional Puglian cuisine.
Guided Tours
Travellers looking for deeper cultural immersion can opt for guided tours, where local experts provide insights into history, cuisine, and nature. These include:
- Salento Classic Guided Tour – A week-long experience featuring visits to Byzantine crypts, hidden coastal gems, and local food tastings.
- From Matera to Lecce – A multi-terrain journey covering three distinct landscapes, from the UNESCO-listed city of Matera to the baroque elegance of Lecce.
Day Excursions
For those with limited time, single-day excursions focus on specific themes:
- Coastal Rides – Scenic routes along Puglia’s breathtaking shoreline, stopping at historic watchtowers and pristine beaches.
- Cultural & Historical Tours – Visits to ancient olive oil mills, medieval castles, and baroque town centres.
- Gastronomic Adventures – Exploring local markets, cheese-making farms, and traditional bakeries, followed by tastings and workshops. These include the Bike & Cook Experience, combining cycling with hands-on cooking classes, where travellers learn to prepare traditional Puglian dishes with local chefs.
Tailor-Made Trips
Salento Bici Tour also designs customised itineraries for schools, corporate retreats, and private groups, ensuring unique and personalised travel experiences.
Commitment to Responsible Travel
At its core, Salento Bici Tour champions responsible and sustainable travel. Their tours are crafted to minimise environmental impact, promote local economies, and provide authentic cultural exchanges. By choosing cycling travellers actively contribute to environmental conservation. Moreover, the tours often incorporate visits to local artisans, organic farms, and family-run establishments, ensuring that tourism benefits the community directly. This approach fosters genuine connections between travellers and locals, enriching the experience for both.
Bicycles and Equipment
Salento Bici Tour provides high-quality bicycles suited to different needs:
- Hybrid Bikes – Ideal for both paved and light off-road trails.
- E-Bikes – Electric-assisted bikes for those wanting an easier ride.
- Accessories – Including panniers, GPS devices, child seats, and safety gear.
The Perfect Way to Explore Salento
From the baroque architecture of Lecce to the coastal beauty of Otranto, cycling with Salento Bici Tour offers an unparalleled way to experience Puglia’s charm. Whether a seasoned cyclist or a casual traveller, these tours provide an engaging, eco-friendly alternative to traditional travel.
Ready to experience Puglia on two wheels? Salento Bici Tour awaits with open roads and unforgettable adventures. Tours include accommodation, daily lunch or dinner and tastings of local products, baggage transport, and GPS guidance. E-bikes are available as an optional extra.
Read about our experience with Salento Bici Tour (coming in April 2025).
Puglia On Bike | Bike Rental in the Valle d’Itria
For a bike rental service in the Valle d’Itria, we recommend Puglia on Bike. They offer multi-location pick-up (from Bari or Brindisi airports, Locorotondo and Monopoli). We have spoken with them, and met them a few times at Puglia tourism fairs. They seem pretty nice, helpful and enthusiastic when we have spoken with them. We haven’t done a rental with them, but Rons Bikes Blog used them, “a great bike rental place”. See below for their firsthand account of their bike tour in Puglia.
In addition to rentals, Puglia on Bike can organise transfers, luggage storage and have plenty suggestions on routes.
Puglia to the Amalfi Coast
Some tour operators organise trans-regional tours, such as Farm to Fork Fitness Adventures. We bumped into their partner and co-owner Pina Finazzo in one of our favourite Ostuni restaurants. She told us about their plans for their Puglia to Amalfi coast bike tour for October 2025, one of a series of three 2025 “Italy with Spice” tours.
Since speaking with her their Puglia to Amalfi tour (October 4-11) has sold out, although a few places are still available on their Piedmont and Lombardy bike tour (20-27 September) and Tuscany and Umbria Tour (27 September – 4 October).
Rons Bikes Blog | Ridings in Puglia
For a firsthand account highlighting Puglia’s appeal as a cycling destination, we recommend this insight from Rons Bikes Blog Dot Com.
My mom and aunt had rented ebikes, and while they were great for keeping the pace up on the pavement, they were a bit cumbersome when the going got rough for a pair of 70 somethings. what troopers though, they (at least they told me) loved every pebble of exposed lime stone. the network of roads is amazing, and you can really only pick a few bad ones.
In November 2024, the author of Ron’s Bikes Blog embarked on a cycling trip to Puglia, Italy, accompanied by his mother, aunt, and partner, Tenzin. This marked their second visit to Italy within six months, driven by their passion for Italian cuisine and the country’s deep-rooted cycling culture.
They chose Locorotondo, a small town about an hour’s bus ride from Bari, as their base.
Navigating Puglia’s extensive network of roads, they utilised routes recommended by fellow cyclist Joe Cruz and expanded their journeys from there. The author traveled with a lightweight aluminum Klein Pinnacle bike, chosen for its compactness and suitability for varied terrains. The author’s mother and aunt rented e-bikes, which performed well on paved surfaces but presented challenges on rougher terrains. Despite these obstacles, they embraced the experience, appreciating every aspect of the diverse landscapes.
Main photo: Cicloturismo in Puglia – BigUp Eventi ©️ BigUp Eventi
