When to go
The main boat-tour season around Bari and Polignano a Mare runs from spring through autumn, with the widest choice from roughly April to October. Winter departures are much more limited and are often private or weather-dependent. This guide compares the months for a warm sea, calm water and fewer visitors, and helps you pick the right trip for the dates you have.
Because wind and waves can cancel a trip on the day, the most useful answer is often your exact travel date. Check your date to see the forecast or the typical sea conditions, the sea temperature and which trips are running.
Most shared boat tours from Bari and Polignano a Mare run from April or May until October, with some Polignano operators continuing into November. Sea temperatures rise from about 15 °C in April to around 27 °C in August, with the most comfortable swimming from June to September. Depending on the weather and sea conditions on the day, trips may be cancelled, cave access may be restricted, and swim stops may be skipped.
If your dates are flexible, June is the best all-round month. The sea is usually already warm enough to swim, the water is calmer than in any other month, and June comes before the high-summer peak in visitors to the coast. July and August have the warmest sea and are the months to choose for swimming and snorkelling. They are also the hottest months of the year, and there is little shade on an open boat.
For fewer visitors, choose May or October, when most operators still run, although the sea is cooler. September still has a warm sea, with fewer visitors to the coast than in August. Whatever the month, book cave and swim trips for the morning, when the sea is usually calmer, and book a sunset cruise as a separate evening trip.
Prices and review counts checked 18 August 2026; tour calendars checked 12 September 2026.
A boat tour on this coast means the same cliffs, caves and boats from one end of the season to the other. What changes is how warm the sea is, how often it is calm, and how many people are on the quay with you.
June is the month with the fewest rough days for a boat tour on this coast. Off Monopoli the waves stay under half a metre for about 72% of the month and reach a metre or more only about 7% of the time, the lowest share of any month, so cave entries and swim stops are rarely lost to the sea. The sea at Bari averages 23.4 °C, comfortable for a swim stop for most people. Afternoons average 28.3 °C, with about 3 rain days, and the sun sets at about 20:27, which makes the sunset cruise a late one. The main drawback is a real one: it is already summer, so book a week or two ahead for the trips with the most reviews.
The sea reaches about 27 °C in July and August, the warmest of the year, and rough water off Monopoli is rare, about 11% of the time in July and 9% in August. These are the months for anyone whose priority on a boat tour is swimming and snorkelling. They are also the hottest, with afternoons around 30 °C and about 15 days a month at 30 °C or more, and they are the peak weeks for visitors to the coast, so a morning departure and an early booking matter more here than in any other month.
September keeps a sea of about 25.5 °C, warmer than June, with afternoons around 26 °C. The drawback is that rougher days return: waves of a metre or more about 16% of the time off Monopoli, against 7% in June, so a booking for early in your stay gives you room to move it.
Both shoulder months have far fewer visitors than the summer, most tours still running, and afternoons in the low twenties. The sea is the difference between them: about 18.5 °C in May, a brisk swim at best, against about 21.5 °C in October, when a swim stop is still reasonable on a warm day. May has the calmer water of the two; October brings more rain days and more rough days as the autumn winds start.
Most shared tours have finished for the year. A few Polignano operators run into November, and after that what is left is private boats and cave trips on request. On a calm winter day the cliffs and caves are as good as ever with almost nobody else there, but the sea falls from about 18 °C in November to about 12 °C by February, so there is no swim stop, and it is rough far more often: waves of a metre or more between about 24% and 44% of the time from November to February off Monopoli. Ask an operator before you fix a date, and expect the skipper to make the call on the morning.
A boat trip is usually one part of a few days in Puglia. Browse live availability and ratings for a dolphin-searching sailing cruise, the Castellana caves, or a Bari street food walk for the evening you are not on the water.
Sea temperature is measured at the tide gauge in Bari port, waves at the buoy off Monopoli, and air temperature and rain at the Bari airport station. Sunset is for the 15th of the month.
| Month | Sea °C (Bari) | Sea calm, waves under 0.5 m (Monopoli) | Rough sea, waves 1 m or more (Monopoli) | Air high °C | Rain mm | Rain days | Sunset | Boat-tour season |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 12.4 | 28 | 44% | 12.6 | 51 | 7 | 16:49 | Limited, private or on request |
| February | 11.8 | 35 | 30% | 13.2 | 37 | 6 | 17:27 | Limited, private or on request |
| March | 13.1 | 31 | 32% | 15.7 | 41 | 6 | 17:59 | Limited, private or on request |
| April | 15.2 | 44 | 28% | 19.0 | 42 | 6 | 19:32 | Season opens |
| May | 18.5 | 54 | 9% | 23.7 | 30 | 4 | 20:04 | Main season |
| June | 23.4 | 72 | 7% | 28.3 | 29 | 3 | 20:27 | Main season |
| July | 26.8 | 58 | 11% | 30.6 | 18 | 2 | 20:24 | Main season |
| August | 27.2 | 44 | 9% | 30.5 | 13 | 2 | 19:51 | Main season |
| September | 25.5 | 47 | 16% | 26.2 | 42 | 5 | 19:02 | Main season |
| October | 21.4 | 40 | 18% | 21.9 | 54 | 6 | 18:12 | Main season |
| November | 18.0 | 28 | 24% | 17.6 | 62 | 7 | 16:34 | Some Polignano operators |
| December | 14.5 | 30 | 35% | 13.9 | 47 | 7 | 16:25 | Limited, private or on request |
Shaded rows are the months with a sea above 18 °C. Rain mm is the total across a whole month in an average year, not a daily amount, and it says nothing about how many hours it rained; the rain-days column counts days with at least 1 mm. Wave figures are the share of the month's hours, not of days. The season column follows what the operators publish: most run from April to October, a few Polignano operators continue into November, and outside that window a trip is private or on request and weather-dependent.
The sea off Bari is at its coldest in February, around 12 °C, and warms slowly through spring: about 15 °C in April and 18.5 °C in May. By June it averages 23.4 °C, and it peaks at about 27 °C in July and August before sliding back to 25.5 °C in September, 21.4 °C in October and 18 °C in November. Puglia's own bathing season, set by the regional ordinance, runs from 23 May to 13 September in 2026, which matches the months when a swim stop is part of most Polignano trips.
Calm water follows a similar curve but peaks earlier. The buoy off Monopoli records waves under half a metre 72% of the time in June, 58% in July and 44% in August, when the afternoon sea breeze puts a light chop on the water. From November to February the same buoy sees waves of a metre or more between a quarter and nearly half of the time, and the biggest seas of the year, up to 4.5 metres, arrive with the north-westerly winter storms. Strong winds are also more frequent in winter: the Bari station counts 10 to 12 days a month with winds of 10 m/s or more from December to March, against about 8 in July and August.
The air is a smaller part of the decision on a boat. Afternoons average 28.3 °C in June and 30.5 °C in July and August, when a hat and shade matter more than the temperature itself. Rain is rare in summer, with fewer than three rain days a month from June to August, and even November, the wettest month, averages only about seven. Daylight runs from about 15 hours in June to 9 in December, which changes the sunset cruise's departure time by four hours across the year but makes little difference to a 90-minute daytime trip.
Pick a date. Inside the next ten days the card shows the forecast for the hours boats run; beyond that it shows the typical conditions for that month, which are long-term averages and not a forecast.
Showing: typical June conditions (long-term averages, not a forecast)
June combines a calm sea with water warm enough for a swim stop. Book a morning departure, and book early in your stay in case a windy day needs moving.
Book the swim and cave trip or the Bari sunset cruiseForecast: Open-Meteo marine and weather models for the sea off Bari, read for 08:00 to 21:00 on your date. Typical conditions: ISPRA sea and wave records and the Bari airport station, as in the table above. Neither replaces the skipper's decision on the morning.
Three boat tours cover the season between them: a cave tour for the shoulder months, a swim-and-cave trip for the warm ones, and a sunset cruise for the evening.
From €34 per person · 4.6 ★ · 2,248 reviews
The 90-minute cave trip with the most reviews on this coast, and the one to choose for a spring or autumn date when a swim stop is not on the plan. It also takes winter bookings on request.
Check dates & pricesFrom €40 per person · 4.7 ★ · 1,774 reviews
The same cliffs and caves with a swim stop built in. Choose it once the sea has passed about 21 °C; its calendar closes for January, March and April.
Check dates & pricesFrom €40 per person · 4.9 ★ · 35 reviews
A two-hour aperitivo cruise from Bari timed to sunset, running through the main season. The departure moves with the sun, from about 20:30 in June to about 18:10 in October.
Check dates & pricesPrices are the lowest per-person price shown on GetYourGuide when we checked on 18 August 2026; the booking page is the current figure. Our pricing guide compares all 93 boat trips on this coast.
Two kinds of trip run at two times of day, and the sea usually behaves differently between them.
Cave and swim boat tours from Polignano leave at intervals through the day. Mornings are usually the calmer choice in summer, because the coast has an onshore sea breeze from the north and east that builds after late morning: the Bari station records a wind of 11 knots or more at midday on roughly six days in ten from June to August, while overnight the air is calm about a quarter of the time. The breeze rarely stops a trip, but it does put chop on the water by mid-afternoon, which matters most for the small open boats and for anyone prone to seasickness. It is a tendency, not a rule; a north-westerly blowing in from the open Adriatic can make a morning rough and an evening calm, and the skipper decides on the day.
Sunset aperitivo cruises from Bari are a different product with their own hour. They depart to reach open water before sunset, which is about 20:27 in mid-June, 19:02 in mid-September and 18:12 in mid-October, so a June cruise is a late evening out and an October one starts in the late afternoon and comes back in the dark. The cruise runs through the main season; what changes is the departure time and how many layers you want on the way back. See the sunset boat tours guide for the options.
The peak is measured, and so is the number of trips on offer in each month.
The best measure published for this coast is the number of nights visitors spend in hotels and other registered accommodation across the province of Bari, month by month. It is a proxy for how busy the coast is, not a count of people on any boat, and it misses day trippers and cruise passengers who never sleep ashore. Averaged over 2023 to 2025, it peaks in August at about 618,000 nights and bottoms out in January at about 118,000. June runs at about 73% of the peak, September at 82%, May at 67% and October at 64%.
So on your trip that means August is the peak for visitors to the province, well above June, and May and October carry about two-thirds of that peak. Foreign visitors peak a little later, in September, while Italian visitors peak in August. The province's curve is flattened by the city of Bari's year-round visitors; the Puglia-wide series is far more peaked, with August alone carrying about a quarter of the year's nights, and a seaside town like Polignano is likely to sit between the two. The number of tours on offer moves the other way: the Polignano listing on GetYourGuide shows 74 boat tours for a mid-October date and 31 for mid-January, so a quieter month inside the season still leaves plenty to choose from.
| Month | Overnight stays, province of Bari | % of peak |
|---|---|---|
| January | 118,115 | 19 |
| February | 124,655 | 20 |
| March | 185,030 | 30 |
| April | 327,481 | 53 |
| May | 412,580 | 67 |
| June | 452,792 | 73 |
| July | 526,087 | 85 |
| August | 618,159 | 100 |
| September | 505,760 | 82 |
| October | 394,785 | 64 |
| November | 183,850 | 30 |
| December | 180,604 | 29 |
Winter is limited rather than normal operation: most operators have finished for the year, and what is left runs privately or on request.
Operators on this coast publish a season that runs from April to October, and a few Polignano operators continue into November. From December to March the shared programme largely stops. Five of the eight trips featured on this site did still show winter dates on their booking calendars when we checked, but an open calendar on a small boat that sails on request is not a scheduled departure, and the operators make every winter sailing weather-dependent. Across the whole Polignano listing the choice falls from 74 boat tours for a mid-October date to about 31 in January, and the Bari listing from 17 to 13, with private charters making up much of what is left.
If you are here between December and March, treat a boat trip as something to arrange with an operator rather than to book off a calendar. The skipper confirms the day before or on the morning, and in winter the sea is rough far more often: waves of a metre or more about 35% of the time in December and 44% in January off Monopoli, against 7% in June. Book with free cancellation, book for early in your stay, and expect a message from the operator if the forecast turns. On a calm winter day the reward is the cliffs and caves with almost nobody else on the water, and the private charters are the trips most able to pick their hour to suit the sea.
Pack for the sea your boat tour will actually get, not for the calendar.
Swimsuit and towel
For a swim stop from June to September; a brisk option in May and October.
Hat, sunscreen and sunglasses
There is little shade on board and the sun reflects off the water.
A windproof layer
For any sunset cruise, and for daytime trips from October to May.
Water shoes
Useful on rocky coves and boarding ladders.
Seasickness tablets
If you are prone to it, take one before an afternoon trip or any day with a breeze.
A dry bag
For your phone; spray comes over the bow on the faster boats.
If your dates are flexible, June is the best all-round month for a boat tour from Bari or Polignano a Mare: the sea has usually reached about 23 °C, the water off Monopoli stays under half a metre about 72% of the time, which is the calmest of any month, and the July and August peak in visitors has not started. July and August have the warmest sea, at about 27 °C, and suit swimming and snorkelling best. May and October are quieter shoulder months with a cooler sea.
Only in a limited way. Most operators publish a season from April to October, and some Polignano operators continue into November. From December to March there are very few scheduled departures, and what remains is mostly private boats and trips on request. The sea is also rough far more often, so a winter trip is something to arrange with an operator directly, and to expect the skipper to confirm or move on the day.
The sea at Bari averages about 18.5 °C in May, 23 °C in June, 27 °C in July and August, 25.5 °C in September and 21 °C in October, measured at the port tide gauge. Most people find a swim stop comfortable from June to September, brisk in May and October, and too cold from November to April. The Puglia bathing season runs from 23 May to 13 September in 2026.
Morning departures are usually the calmer choice for the cave and swim trips, because in summer an onshore sea breeze often builds through the afternoon and puts chop on the water. Sunset aperitivo cruises from Bari are a separate evening trip timed to sunset, which is about 20:30 in mid-June and about 18:10 in mid-October, and they run through the main season.
It can be. Operators make the call on the day, and strong wind or waves are the usual reason a trip is moved or cancelled. Every boat trip we list offers free cancellation, and skippers commonly contact you to move a departure. Book the trip for early in your stay so a rough day can be rescheduled.
September is a good choice if you want a warm sea with the summer peak easing: the sea is still about 25.5 °C, afternoons average about 26 °C, and rain days rise only to about five in the month. The sea is rougher more often than in June, with waves of a metre or more about 16% of the time off Monopoli, so a morning departure and a flexible day help.
Every figure on this page comes from an official record. This is where each one came from, and where it stops.
Page updated 12 September 2026.
A calm sea and a warm swim stop from June to September, the caves from spring to autumn, and a sunset cruise on a summer evening. Check the live calendar and book with free cancellation.
See dates for the cave tour