East Gargano in September Trip Report

We spent a whole week in Vieste, the third week in September 2019. We stayed in a Villaggio called Sabbiadoro which was a very convenient and inexpensive solution. The apartments are small and basically equipped but set in small groups surrounded by trees and bushes so there's a feeling of relaxation and contact with nature. The village is family run and the owners are very kind and friendly. It's about 5 minutes walk to the free beach and the price of the bungalow includes beach facilities - an umbrella, a deckchair and a sun-lounger. This is -to say we didn't spend our week in Vieste rushing around visiting places. The Scialara or Castello beach which we were near is just under three kilometres long with fine golden sand which is firm and ideal for walking on the shore, clean gently shelving water ideal for a dip, with the spectacular Pizzomunno at the end 

so the day we arrived (Sunday), Tuesday and Wednesday which were hot and Thursday which was unsettled we just enjoyed walking to Vieste and back for some shopping, wandering around the historical centre and along the promenade of Vieste itself,

walking up and down the superb Scialara beach and taking advantage of the free beach facilities to sunbathe, read and relax.

Anyway, this is the best thing about Vieste. It doesn't make a good base for touring around because the roads in and out of Vieste in all directions are quite narrow, and with a lot of bends. Don't decide to stay there to visit Monte Sant'Angelo or other places further afield, it's just too time consuming. Stay there to relax and enjoy the fine beach!

Nevertheless we also hiked along the coast between Sfinalicchio and Cala dei Turchi in the stretch of coast where there are lots of Trabucchi on the Monday, explored the coast road between Vieste and Pugnochiuso on the Friday and visited Foresta Umbra with a walk to Sorgente Sfilzi on the Saturday.

It was the third week in September and beach establishments were starting to close up for the season, there were still some people around but it was easy to find an empty stretch of beach if you wanted

but the weather was still excellent - the sea warm, daytime temperatures up to 27, a pleasant cool breeze some of the time and cool at night. We had one day of wind and some rain. Most shops, restaurants and facilities etc in Vieste were still open and it was a very pleasant and relaxing week.