The Red Bull Cliff Diving comes back to Polignano a Mare from Friday 25 to Sunday 27 September 2026: it is the thirteenth time the high-diving competition has stopped here, and it is the last European round of the season. Women dive from 21 metres, men from 27, above Lama Monachile. Here are the dates, where to watch from, how to get there without getting stuck, and what to know before you go.
At the end of September, for three days, Polignano looks up. The Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series, the international high-diving circuit, returns to the town from 25 to 27 September 2026: the organisers announced it at the end of March, when they presented the seventeenth season. For Polignano it is the thirteenth time — enough for the local press to call it the event’s Italian “home”.
The dates, and where Polignano sits in the season
The 2026 season opened in Bali from 20 to 23 May, the first time in Indonesia, and went on to St. Petersburg, Florida (5-6 June), to Copenhagen, with dives from the roof of the Opera House (27 June), and to Mostar, where divers jump from the Stari Most (31 July-1 August). Polignano is the last stop in Europe: after it only the finale remains, which in spring was planned for Muscat, Oman, from 12 to 14 November, though the organisers still called it subject to confirmation.
Coming late in the season means the standings matter at Polignano: it is one of the rounds where the title is decided. At the start of the year the reigning champions were Australia’s Rhiannan Iffland and the French-British Gary Hunt, with Canada’s Molly Carlson and Romania’s Constantin Popovici chasing them.
A dive in numbers. Women take off from 21 metres, men from 27. The flight lasts about three seconds, and divers hit the water at more than 85 km/h.
Where they dive: Lama Monachile, and a private house
The venue is Polignano a Mare at its most famous spot: the cliff at Lama Monachile, the cove below the old town, with white houses dropping straight into the Adriatic. That amphitheatre shape is what makes the Apulian round one of the most spectacular on the circuit.
And there is one detail that makes it unique: the platforms are built on top of the houses, and to reach them the divers walk through the living room of a private home, then take off from a terrace. For three days, whoever lives there has the world’s best divers passing through the house.
Italy’s Elisa Cosetti on the platform in 2021, on her Polignano debut. Below, the crowd on the rocks and on the boats. Photo: Romina Amato / Red Bull Content Pool.
Where to watch from
You watch from land and from the sea. The rocks around Lama Monachile fill up with spectators, and boats gather below the platforms: in photos of past editions the cove is a carpet of hulls and people.
- Come early. The spots on the rocks with the best view go well in advance, and the closer it gets to the finals, the fuller the town becomes.
- Closed shoes, not flip-flops. The rocks at Polignano are raw limestone, uneven and slippery.
- Water and a hat. At the end of September the midday sun in Puglia is still strong, and there is no shade on the rock.
The timetable is not out yet. The programme for the three days, with the times of the rounds and finals, and the rules for the viewing areas are published by the organisers shortly before the event: check them on the official redbull.com site before you set off.
How to get there without getting stuck
On competition days the problem is not getting to Polignano, it is where to leave the car. The old town is pedestrian and watched, and parking means the paid car parks on the edge of town, with a shuttle.
- By train from Bari: the best option. From Bari Centrale it takes about 35 minutes, and Polignano station is a five-minute walk from the old town.
- By car: 35 km from Bari on the A14 motorway, around forty minutes. On competition weekend, leave the car in the outer car parks and do not try the centre.
The round that lights up
In 2021 the platforms were dressed in Salento luminarie. Photo: Mauro Puccini.
Polignano does more than lend its cliff. In 2021 the diving towers were dressed in Salento luminarie, the arches of lights of Apulian saints’ feasts, and the competition took on a signature that could only be local. That year Gary Hunt won again, and Italy’s Alessandro De Rose finished third, in front of his home crowd.
And in 2018, at the prize-giving on the beach, we were there too: the two winners that year, Gary Hunt and Rhiannan Iffland, left Polignano with a box of Apulian products from La Terra di Puglia.
Polignano, September 2018: Gary Hunt and Rhiannan Iffland at the prize-giving.
A week earlier, another feast. The weekend before, from 19 to 21 September, Polignano celebrates the feast of the Most Holy Crucifix in piazza Vincenzo Capobianco: it is in the town’s official summer 2026 calendar. If you want to see both faces of the town — the religious feast and the diving — you have two weekends in a row.
Come for the diving and go home with a piece of Puglia: extra virgin olive oil, taralli and preserves, shipped directly by us.
