Tour delle grotte tra terra e mare: Castellana Grotte e Polignano a Mare

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Alex d.

October 26, 2025

Fantastic caves, but the experience is totally spoiled by the way it's run. It started badly when we were charged to park out car in a large car park in the village centre not far from the caves. But since the caves are the only attraction in town, the cost of parking ought to be included in the ticket price for visiting the cave. After buying our tickets, we were shown to the "planetarium" which is a miniature imax-style surround cinema where they played an animated film about possible alien life on other planets. But nobody could see it. The projector was so feeble that it took a couple of minutes of dark adaptation to seven see the image. And then people kept opening the door, causing bright sunshine to flood in and ruin the dark adaptation. They also give you pretty terrible 3D glasses that make the picture even dimmer. I guess this planetarium show is there to stop kids getting bored between tours of the caves, and it's a nice idea in principle. But the fact that they didn't invest in a decent projector system and didn't fit a light-proof entry system means it actually irritating for a lot of people. I heard lots of murmurings of "well that's 30 minutes of my life I'll never get back" upon leaving. But my biggest gripe of all is the actual cave tour itself. Not only do they try to stop you from taking photos beyond the first cave, but there's no mention of this at all before you buy your tickets. I LOVE visiting caves and have visited hundreds of them over the years. This is the first time I've been prevented from taking photos. I asked one of the two ladies what the reasoning was, and she said "Because it's our copyright". Which is total nonsense. Nobody has copyright over things that they did not create. And caves are created by the action of water over millions of years, they aren't man-made! I ignored their protestations and continued to take plenty of photos. In the end they stopped trying to stop me. I later looked up what possible genuine reasons they might have, and it's to protect the rocks from the effects of flash. Well why isn't that a problem in any other cave anywhere else? In any case I was taking photos and videos using a phone and a GoPro. There was no flash involved. If they really have a problem with people bringing proper cameras with powerful flash, then they should just tell people that photos are okay as long as there is no flash. Another problem is with the way the tour is guided. The tour guide at the front made an effort for people to gather around her before speaking, but her very soft voice was impossible to hear, especially since some of the visitors had brought babies who were crying the whole way. Inside the caves all you could hear is the crying of babies. Many cave site tour operators get round this by using radio mics with speakers hidden behind rocks in the caves. That way the guide doesn't have to shout, and everyone can hear easily. But no, there was nothing like that here. In summary, my biggest gripe is about their ridiculous ban on photography. For some of us, taking photos of the spectacular rock formations is a big reason for visiting in the first place. Admittedly they do say "no photography" in the guide they give you, but you don't see that until after you've bought your ticket. Pretty nasty way to operate. There's no good reason for them to ban photography, especially if you're doing it without a flash. But if you're to afraid to stand up for yourself, enjoy some of mine.

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Wojtek C.

October 18, 2025

Great experience! The 50 min tour suitable for small kids (4 & 6 y.o. enjoyed it). A bit to brief for adults/teenagers. During a 1km walk you're going to see a few amazing stone formations, hear a bit of history about the caves, and have a chance to imagine how this place looked like before it was turned into a tourist attraction. No need for any special shoes or outfits - a jacket and a pair of sneakers would do.

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Esro

October 17, 2025

Nice cave but for us the experience was totally ruined by the 'can't be bothered' miserable attitude of the staff. One in the front and one in the back making sure that nobody took a surreptitious photograph, apparently, we were told because of the copyright of the company. I don't think you can copyright caves. More to do with the guards wanting to get through as quickly as possible. We were put in a massive group of around 100. All different nationalities, with an 'English Speaking' guide, although I'm English and I was picking up maybe 3 words of each sentence it was that bad. I could hardly see above people's heads we were so tightly packed and moving so quickly. No time to stop and admire the cave .. just rushed through like cattle. Twice we passed small Italian groups, all ambling along taking flash photos and video, yet we were rushed through so fast on the uneven floors, most of it badly lit. I'm surprised nobody fell and had an accident. We've been in lots of caves. Usually you go through alone, with headsets explaining the system. Some have music and light shows, making it very dramatic. This one is just boring. Not worth €18 per person. Total rip off.