BeeYond Travel is now an Outgoing Tour Operator Puglia

How many of you are familiar with the popular statement: “Nothing good comes easy”? We at BeeYond Travel can surely raise our hand, both hands actually. We had shared for a while now the “We Have Grown” news, but we had to work behind the scenes to make the right implementations before unveiling the new BeeYond Travel!

Growing is what makes us better and as reliable as you would expect when traveling overseas. But what do we mean when we say we have grown? And how did we do it?

Let’s backtrack a bit to 2016, when the first drafts of the villa rental company were drawn. We simply want to be the best Vacation Villa Rental out there. While dreaming with our head up in the clouds, we always kept our feet grounded.

We were aware that for the kind of service we wanted to offer, we needed to pick a small area and become the best advisors for the most discerning clientele. We picked one of the most beautiful countries in the world: Italy. Then one unique region: Puglia. This region offers tourism options all year long. The majority of people travel during the summer months, but there is another large percentage of people who choose to travel off season too. These travelers are not big fan of hot temperatures and dislike crowds; or many other reasons. Puglia, has much more to offer than just beach: history, culture and traditions can be felt everywhere, food it top notch, and we all agree we do not need to wait for summer to eat well.

Once we picked our beautiful corner of world, we literally moved there in 2017 and for 2 years we lived exactly like the locals and we explored every single corner of this amazing region. This was a stretch well worthed. We have met and selected the best professionals to help us out in this incredible journey. Thanks to our alliances, we were able to see the tourist traps and learn how to stay away because authenticity is key to us when delivering a certain level of luxury.

Professionalism is also key. Puglia for instance is packed with beautiful villas, but finding gorgeous villas and owners who can actually run those properties in a professional manner was not that easy. Unfortunately, many people think they can open up a restaurant, and be called Restaurateurs. Or refurbish a beautiful old farmhouse and be called Hoteliers. We know well it is not the case so we made sure we looked at the whole picture before “shaking hands.”

Along the way, our clients kept requesting more than the unique villas we offer. We decided then to offer tailored vacations with villas, transfers, tour guides, experiences, and anything in between that would create an amazing vacation.

BeeYond Travel, based in NY, evolves into Outgoing Tour Operator. After getting the necessary “checks” – insurance, certification, inventory, booking engine, proper staff, etc. – we are now proud to be probably the only Outgoing Tour Operator. Specializing in this small region capable of offering excitement all year long.

While we are in NY orchestrating unforgettable vacations, there is a Team in Italy coordinating the operation. The Team is directed by Paola Puzzovio. We are very humble so we will just say that she is the best local tourism expert in Puglia, a pioneer of enogastronomy, the first one to preach not only about food and wine but enogastronomy as an expression of culture of the local community. She is the person every traveler would want by their side while on vacation. We are so proud to have her on our Team making sure our travelers can experience a vacation in a way that they will remember forever.

The website got a new “engine.” Although it looks very similar to the previous version (we kept it that way because we all love its simplicity), under the “hood” multiple tools, and widgets. It allow us to keep track and manage inventory, reservations and payments all using the strictest encryption to guarantee your data is safe while on our site.

Tour Packages in Puglia by BeeYond Travel
Tour Packages in Puglia by BeeYond Travel

We have added new pages dedicated to Tours and Experiences.

Tour Experiences in Puglia
Tour Experiences in Puglia by BeeYond Travel

We have also added a new page dedicated to Cruises. We now offer day sailing excursions in Puglia and just because we like to always bend rules. Even our own, we offer week-long sailing cruises to the Eolian Islands aboard some very unique sailing yachts; one in particular can accommodate up to 12 people; we call it the Orient-Express of the sea! Check out the new page.

Cruise Tours Puglia, Sicily, Eolian Islands
Private Cruises provided by BeeYond Travel

We have changed some numbers but we continue to keep our Italian number to make it easier for our suppliers and travelers to reach us from Italy.

We promise to continue to evolve and we will continue to listen to our guests and suppliers because thanks to them we are who we are today. More tours and more experiences will be added but if you have specific places in Puglia where you wish to go or specific experiences you wish to book, let us know, just send us a request.

We hope you will enjoy the new BeeYond Travel and please keep your feedback coming.

Happy Travels,

The BeeYond Travel Team

Family Reunion, meet up again in Puglia for Vacation

In these first days of spring, if you are lucky, raising your eyes to the sky you can see flocks of swallows that come back after the long winter.

It is a fascinating spectacle that fills the heart with hope: the beautiful days are coming back, let’s get ready.

The return of the swallows is a moment of joy and serenity and we imagine that many of you have experienced this sensation.

No, we are not swallows, obviously, but how many times have we found ourselves looking up while waiting for a plane to land that brings home a family member who works or lives far away?

And who returns, does not feel a little like a small swallow who finally returns home, to find the nest he had left?

Airports and stations are places that could tell millions of these stories, tears of joy and long hugs.

Summer is the time when those who return home do not do it for a simple vacation, they want to embrace their origins and recharge their batteries.

In Puglia, the Family Reunions, are a real village festival: Everybody is called: cousins, second and third degree uncles, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. All ready to have fun, tell old anecdotes, stories of past lives.

Wouldn’t it be a good idea to even meet in another part of the world, a place that no one has ever seen and live it together, like a family?

Obviously, our advice is, also in this case, to choose Puglia: the BeeYond Travel villas have numerous beds and ensure the necessary privacy and tranquility that these moments deserve.

Waking up together, having breakfast, going to the beach, and then in the evening enjoying a barbecue in the moonlight: all these elements would make any family reunion unforgettable.

There are experiences that can be made here in Puglia that would strengthen ties that maybe the distance has weakened: gathering fresh fruits and vegetables and preparing them for lunch, perhaps after having learned to make orecchiette, the classic Apulian pasta. And then excursions in wonderful cities of art or in small villages, where you can lose yourself in the intricate streets and meet again in the only square of the village, perhaps led by the band that plays in honor of the Patron Saint.

No, it’s not a dream.

Now we understand why swallows always come back: they are doing well in Puglia and you and your family could say the same thing if you chose all this beauty for your holidays.

A Magic Christmas in Puglia

December is at the door and, needless to say it, the first thing that comes to mind when we think of this month is undoubtedly Christmas.

The cities are covered with lights and colors and the sparkling and chilly air in the evening is mitigated by the warmth of a celebration that everyone eagerly awaits.

Maybe you won’t believe it, but in our beloved Puglia, even Christmas time is great for treating yourself to a holiday right here.

Mercatini di Natale in Puglia

The mild climate and the usual warm welcome of the Pugliesi people make the days before the holidays even more magical, mesmerized between the beauty of the Apulian villages lit up for the Holidays and the scent of food that invades the streets.

Here at Christmas time, throughout the region it seems that a single table is set up that goes from north to south of the heel of the boot and invites all travelers and visitors to sit down and celebrate together.

On the table cartellate, pettole, taralli and succulent main course dishes.

Yes, many jokes regarding our endless lunches but, dear travelers, try to sit down once at the table of a Pugliese family at Christmas and you’ll be looking forward to coming back next year.

There are also numerous Christmas events organized in the various cities: the New Year’s Eve in Piazza del Ferrarese in Bari is a must for example.

Those who choose Salento as a destination for the upcoming holidays, can not miss the opportunity to visit the suggestive Living Nativity of Tricase (LE) and the monumental Nativity which every year adorns the Roman Amphitheater in Piazza Sant’Oronzo in Lecce.

On December 24 in Specchia is the day of the Pittula Festival, one of the oldest renewing itself for about thirty years. The pittule are typical frittelle salentine made with flour and oil and sometimes stuffed with tomatoes, turnips or olives.

So we advise you to hurry up, you are still in time to come and experience a Christmas in Puglia.

Down in Salento the elegance of Residenza DePietro will welcome you in Cursi,


 The reassuring Villa Elena‘s tower will welcome you in Galatone


 

The chic Casa degli Affetti will welcome you in Vitigliano


 

And the charm of ancient and modern blend of Palazzo San Giovanni will welcome you in Morciano di Leuca.

 

As always it is not up to us to convince you to choose Puglia for your vacation, we know in your heart, we Puglia is already on your wish list.

And if you really can not make it for this Christmas, there’s a whole New Year, 2019, to make it happen. All you have to do is contact us and, perhaps, this year under the Christmas tree you will find a vacation by BeeYond Travel.

Palazzo San Giovanni a special place in Puglia

Thanksgiving, our favorite Holiday of all. This Holiday is not about the gifts, it is not about the stress, it is not about the rush-rush; no…this Holiday is all about family and friends, something very important and especially in Italy where the gatherings assume a very deep meaning. One conception the world has about Italy is that we eat, eat and eat; but trust us friends, it is not just about the food, it is about the famous “giving” so celebrated on Thanksgiving Day. The giving which can simply be a good laugh, a good advise, an ear to listen, a landing hand, sharing a healthy meal with the family, the friends and all the ones we love. Italy has mastered this so much that still now down south and of course in Puglia, this does not happen just on Thanksgiving Day, it happens every day, naturally! 

On such special day we could not spare you from surprising yet once again with another amazing property: Palazzo San Giovanni in Morciano di Leuca Puglia 

This is the kind of place you can envision yourself along with your family and friends celebrate Holidays and Fun…all year long. This is among the few properties available anytime of the year and we at BeeYond Travel are so proud to offer you such place because we have seen it and we relived the atmosphere of milling the oil in the trappeti, ancient oil mills that surround the building. We have felt the strength of the Lecce stone of the fireplaces that are in the rooms. We perceived the skill of the sculptors who created the star vault of the breakfast room with that same Lecce stone. All this has the infinite power to bring you back in time where you can reconnect with your root, re-energize and be thankful for what we have.

You can see all pictures and details about Palazzo San Giovanni  by clicking this link:  https://goo.gl/5CztmJ

With a humble heart, to our discerning travelers we say Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Traveling.

“Region of the Year” – An important recognition for our beautiful Puglia

People from Puglia have always known: Puglia is the most beautiful region in the world.
Its aromas, its sea, its traditions, its cuisine, its favorable climate, even its dialect: all this makes the place where people live the best we could wish for.

However, receiving acknowledgments is always a pleasure.

And, if the award is the highly sought-after award Food & Travel Italy Reader Awards, awarded each year to the region that most amazed with its beauties and peculiarities readers of the international food and wine magazine “Food and Travel Italy”, then the satisfaction for we Puglia is double.

This is the reason that led readers to choose Puglia as Best Destination 2018:

“The breath is suspended at every glance: everything is harmonious splendor combined with flavors, aromas, essences that recall our beloved Italian territory. History, landscapes, nature, ancient villages that hold priceless heritage for humanity: Locorotondo, the Trulli of Alberobello, Ostuni, Lecce, the magnificent stretches of the Salento coast, the ancient farms. An imaginary but not imaginary itinerary, because the rocks are real, the architectural structures are presented in all their beauty, the nature decantes its mighty presence, the sea brings breaths of wind, the sun ripens vineyards and radiates the ancient olive groves : we are in Puglia and we would not want to be elsewhere. “

The award was accepted by the councilor for the tourism and cultural industry Loredana Capone in Cagliari during the award ceremony.
On this occasion, the Salento was also awarded as a territory of the year and Lecce as a 2018 destination.
Will it be thanks to the beautiful villas that BeeYond Travel searches every time for you?

We want to believe it, and anyway, we are proud to be part of a region so rich in beauty, history, and passion.

Come to Puglia, you have no more excuses now.