Water Parks in the Puglia Region

It took a few years, but the "parco aquatico" or water-park has finally caught on in the Puglia region. With summer right around the corner, what better time than now to get a bead on some of the best water parks in southern Italy!

It used to be that if you wanted to enjoy a water park, you pretty much had to head north. But fortunately in the last few years the concept of the water park has spread south. Visitors can now find water parks in southern Italy and while maybe they are as big as some of the ones up north these are definitely a lot of fun, and that's what counts!

When it comes to water parks in southern Italy, the parco-aquatico SPLASH is one of my favorites! The SPLASH waterp park can be found on the outskirts of Gallipoli and is open from mid-June to mid-September.

As water parks go, this one is pretty cool although nothing really out of the ordinary in terms of rides, slides, pools and flumes. SPLASH has some other play areas for younger kids and is well patrolled and very safe. It's also not completely out of the loop being located right on the outskirts of Gallipoli. Anyone under the age of 15 needs to b accompanied by a adult, but older kids will enjoy having their run of the park. The SPLASH water park is also located near Rivabella (read all about it here). Ticket prices average about 15 euro. For more information give the great folks at SPLASH a call at (0039) 0833-273-400 or drop them an email at www.splashparco.it.

Heading north past the port city of Bari you can find another popular water park in southern Italy: none other than Acquapark Ippocampo conveniently located near the city of Foggia. It's easy to see why Aquapark Ippocampo is so popular with the kids: the park has slides and flumes up to 165 yards in length, with "dare devil drops" 75 feet high with a 75 degree slope. There's even a mini-park for youngsters. Acquapark Ippocampo really allows parents and their families the opportunity to plan their entire day thanks to a day and night disco and restaurant and the park has plenty of safe parking. Ticket prices average about 15 euro. Give the Ippocampo folks a call at (0039) 0884 571 397 or check out their website at www.ippocampo.it.

Last on our list of water parks in Puglia is the ACQUAFANTASY waterpark which is also in Foggia. A good selection of water slides, dare devil flumes and kiddy pools, I kind of think of Aquafantasy as the adopted younger brother of the Ippocampo water park. Not quite as big but still a lot of fun. Call or write them at (0039) 0882-995-484 or check out their website at www.aquafantasy.it .

This list is not all-inclusive, you can read about more water parks in Italy here.

In the meantime remember: museums, castles and markets all have their place for visitors - there certainly are plenty of each in Southern Italy, but NOTHING beats a water-slide on a hot day!