Spur to action: new, greener breaks on Italy’s Gargano peninsula

The Gargano peninsula is a popular seaside haunt for Italians, but now a new breed of young operators are offering low-impact activities away from the crowds

The forest was deep, dark, almost mystical – ancient trees, mossy tussocks, rare glimpses of blue sky through the dense canopy. The afternoon air was cool and scented, and had we not been pedalling hard, I’d have needed the jacket from my pannier. Yet just that morning we’d been kayaking off a hot, sunny beach a few miles away.

That’s the beauty of the Gargano: the spur of Italy’s boot offers beach and mountains in one holiday – or even in one day. The peninsula is a limestone massif, rising to 1,056-metre Monte Calvo, ringed with 85 miles of beaches, white cliffs and secret coves. Inland, where we were cycling, is the Unesco-listed Foresta Umbra, home to giant oaks, pines and beeches plus 2,000 other species of plant. Horace mentioned the oaks in one of his Odes.