Baia delle Zagare & Sea Caves by Boat
A short boat ride south of Vieste lies one of the most dramatic stretches of coastline in Italy: towering white limestone cliffs punctured by sea arches, flanked by emerald grottoes and dropping into water so clear you can count the pebbles six metres below. Baia delle Zagare — the Bay of Orange Blossoms — is the centrepiece, but the real magic is the full boat tour that threads through caves and
The Boat Tour Route
Wooden motorboats and larger gozzo vessels depart Vieste harbour daily from May through October, heading south along the Gargano cliffs. The route passes the Grotta Sfondata (a cavern open to the sky), the Grotta delle Viole (named for the violet hues its walls glow at midday) and the famous double sea arch at Baia delle Zagare, where the cliff has been hollowed into two stacked natural windows framing the sea beyond.
Smaller private boat hire lets you linger as long as you like in each grotto and swim in the turquoise pools at their mouths. Larger group tours are cheaper but move faster; either way, bring a snorkel — visibility in the caves can exceed 15 metres on calm days.
Baia delle Zagare Beach
The bay itself is accessible by a steep staircase cut into the cliff from the hotel above, or directly by boat. The beach is a narrow strip of white pebbles hemmed in by 90-metre cliffs on three sides and the open Adriatic on the fourth — genuinely one of the most beautiful enclosed bays in the Mediterranean.
Arrive by boat before 10:00 to claim a spot before the day-trippers descend. The water here is famously calm because the cliffs shelter it from the prevailing winds, making it ideal for snorkelling even when the open sea is choppy.
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