Ponza On the trail

Guided walk to the bentonite mine at Le Forna

Ponza

Le Forna's white cliffs were dug for bentonite until the work stopped, and everything was left where it stood. The walk goes round the workings the island has been quietly taking back ever since.

How the day goes

  1. Meet at Bar Tartaruga at the northern end, away from the port crowd.
  2. Along the cuttings above the sea, past what the mine left behind.
  3. How the clay came out and where it went, told on the ground it came from.
  4. The natural rock pools of Le Forna are down the road for afterwards.

Industrial ruin rather than beach: it is a walk about what people did to this island, and the swimming comes after.

Where it is

Ponza at its real position from Rome, with everywhere else we list behind it — so you can see how far out this one is.

Ponza, and where it is from Rome Ponza drawn at its real position relative to Rome. The faint dots are the other places we list, so you can see how far out this one is. Rome Ponza

Open it where the roads are

Takes you to Via Corridoio 34, Ponza island, 04027, the address the operator publishes.

Getting there

Getting there, the comfortable way

  • 2 honce you are there
  • Rent a car for the day

    The day stays yours: you leave when you want, stop where you want, and come back when the light goes.

    • You pick it up in Rome and drop it back in Rome
    • No timetable to build the day around
    • The stops on the way are the good part, and they need a car

    Affiliate link — you pay their price, never more, and they pay us. You book with Localrent, and anything about that booking goes through them.

    See prices on Localrent
  • Have a driver take you, door to door

    No parking to find, no wrong turns, and you leave when the day is done.

    • Picked up where you are staying, dropped back there
    • No parking to find and no ZTL to worry about
    • Nobody spends the day driving

    Affiliate link — you pay their price, never more, and they pay us. You book with Welcome Pickups, and anything about that booking goes through them.

    See prices on Welcome Pickups

Also around Ponza

A snorkeler floating face down in clear water On the water

Guided dives on the reefs of Ponza

A dive centre on the Ponza waterfront running guided dives on the island's offshore reefs, plus PADI and SSI courses and rebreather training.

See the day

More on the trail

A stony ridge path across open highland On the trail

Monte Soratte from Sant'Oreste

6.8 km and 691 metres of climbing, with a guide and never more than ten of you.

€49 per person

Books on Nature of Sal — Salvatore Benintende

See the day
A child in a harness crossing a rope bridge between trees On the trail

A morning in the trees

Clip into a harness and cross the trees: from age four there is a course to do.

€5 per person

Books on ViviAvventura

See the day

We have not verified this one yet. Everything below comes from the operator and we have not checked it — treat it as a lead, not as a listing.

Photograph by sandrino100, Wikimedia Commons — CC BY 3.0. Not this place: it shows what the day looks like, and will be replaced with the operator's own photograph or ours from the field.

Links marked affiliate pay us a commission — you pay the operator's own price and we never take your money. How we rank