Venice Lagoon, near San Giorgio Maggiore
Trani, Puglia
Polignano a Mare
Otranto
Gallipoli, Puglia
Cruise the Grand Canal by private tender
Tour the Basilica di San Marco and Doge’s Palace
Dive the limestone cliffs at Polignano a Mare
Wander the trulli-filled lanes of Alberobello
Taste burrata and orecchiette in the Puglian countryside
Burano, the lace-making island
Murano, home of Venetian glassmaking
Trani Cathedral
Ostuni, the White City
Otranto’s old town walls
Late May through September gives the most settled weather, with the Adriatic generally calmer than Italy’s Tyrrhenian coast and less prone to the afternoon winds that can build up around Sicily and Sardinia. July and August bring the heaviest crowds to Venice and the Salento beaches, so late June or September offers a quieter alternative with equally warm water. Winter brings the acqua alta season to Venice itself, making a spring-to-autumn charter the more comfortable window.
Venice Marco Polo Airport (VCE) serves the northern lagoon directly, while Bari Karol Wojtyła Airport (BRI) or Brindisi Salento Airport (BDS) are the main gateways for a Puglia-based charter further south. The two ends of this coast are roughly 800 kilometres apart by sea, so most charters choose one region rather than covering both, flying into whichever airport sits closest to their planned start point.
In Puglia, Polignano a Mare and Otranto both offer clear water close to town, while the Venice Lagoon itself, particularly near San Giorgio Maggiore, gives a sheltered overnight anchorage with the city skyline as a backdrop. Trani’s harbour, framed by its pale pink cathedral, makes a scenic stop between Bari and the Gargano Peninsula, and Gallipoli’s old town, built on its own small island, offers a similarly photogenic base further south.
Venice alone rewards two to three days at a gentle pace, taking in the lagoon islands and the city’s canals by tender, while a Puglia-based charter typically runs five to seven days to cover the coast from the Gargano Peninsula down to Otranto and Gallipoli. Given the distance between the two regions, most guests treat Venice and Puglia as separate charters rather than combining both into a single week-long itinerary.
Venice has always experienced seasonal high water, known as acqua alta, most often between autumn and early spring rather than during the main charter season. Since the MOSE barrier became operational in October 2020, the system has been raised dozens of times to hold back exceptional tides, preventing the kind of flooding that once regularly submerged St Mark’s Square. Guests chartering between late spring and early autumn are unlikely to encounter any flooding at all.
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