Puglia Bike Tour: Cycling Through the History of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

We had a great adventure with Marco on the Olive Oil tour. Marco was a font of knowledge about local history, terrain, flora and fauna, and of course, olive oil trees and the production of olive oil. He spent a full hour with us touring the local olive oil refinery in Montalbano and explaining and tasting the different oils. He was fun to be with and our tour could not have been better.

I met Daniele a few days earlier and she invited me to participate in the tour without me having it planned, I had no idea it even existed, and it really was one of the most beautiful and interesting activities I did in Puglia, which I definitely recommend to anyone who visits this region. The passion with which Daniele tells the story of the olive fields, their processing, the culture of the area, curious facts, make you see how much she likes her work and what she enjoys doing these tours. He knows a lot, so much that it's nice to ask him questions, whatever, not just olive trees. The bikes are in very good condition and Daniele makes sure that the terrain where the tour is done is also in good condition, so that there is no risk of someone being hurt. It's totally worth it!

My husband and I booked this bike tour for 9am on Tuesday, August 20. We booked it on Monday, August 19 at lunch - around 12:50pm. At the time of the booking there were 4 tour times. We picked the earliest one at 9am on Tuesday. There was a note at the bottom of the tour times, saying that this tour needed to be booked by 7am Tuesday morning. Having booked on Monday, we didn’t think we’d have any problems. We got our confirmation. I checked it that afternoon, again that night and the morning of. All seemed good. The meet up spot was in front of an empty house under construction. No signs or anything. We got there 10 minutes early and no one showed. A little before 9am, I messaged them, then called, then messaged again. I didn’t get a response. I went to Viator, who we had booked with and their chat line worked with us. By about 9:20am we found out it was cancelled. Shortly after we got a full refund. Please be aware we are not the only ones stood up. Viator has other reviews, which I read later of no shows by this company. Having only two full days in Puglia, this was definitely disappointing. Please be aware when booking this company.

Our tour guide Marco was amazing. We found out after the tour ended that this was his first time guiding this tour. That made it even more impressive. He was super prepared and such a great guy! The stops were all extremely informative and interesting. The olive oil factory was also a great experience. The sad part was the life that the peasants led in the 16-18 century working at the Masseria’s slaving their lives away….

We are a family of four, kids 11 and 9 years old. We had an excellent afternoon and can highly recommend this tour. Our guide, Anna-Lucia, was very knowledgeable and friendly and we learnt a lot about the local area while having fun and enjoying the ride. Great family activity.

The tour packed a lot into a short time. We learned about the history of the local area, enjoyed the beautiful surroundings, and got to sample some olive oil. Would thoroughly recommend!

This was a very easy bike trip that took us into the beautiful Olive grows, as well as some great historical finds that we would not have been able to see on our own. Henrique was an excellent guide, very informative and pleasant. I would recommend this experience.

We had a lovely biking trip with Anna. The bike is an excellent way to soak up the atmosphere and environment of the Puglian olive trees. Anna is a wonderful and knowledgeable tour guide who brought the history and nature of the environment to life. The highlight was the olive oil tasting!

well our trip started with a beautiful April day, sunny, blue sky, warm. Our family enjoyed our trip very much, learned alot from Enrico, our cycling guide, and had fun. The cycling distance is not long but it goes along roads you probably would never be on otherwise. Enjoy!

We loved our time biking in the olive tree groves! We learned so much from our guide, who clearly has a passion for bringing the stories of his community to visitors from around the world. Highly recommend booking this for your trip to Puglia - it was one of the highlights of our trip!