40.35° N · 18.17° E
The heel of Italy: Lecce and its pale-stone Baroque, Otranto's mosaic, Gallipoli on its island and a coast of towers all the way to Leuca.
What to do
Each plan says how long it takes, who it's for and whether you can book.
Visit · 2–3 h · Every day · From €11
Visit · 45 min · Morning and afternoon · Church
Boat · 3 h · March – October · From €30
Itineraries
Days and weekends already planned out, with how to get between each stop and who to book with.
Plan the trip
Each choice narrows the next: the season shapes how best to travel, and how you travel decides where you stay and where you eat.
When to go
May, June, September and early October, with sea for swimming and without the August crush. In August the coast is full, but it's the month of the Notte della Taranta. Winter is mild and rainy, and many lidos close.
How you travel
Choose how you're travelling and we'll tell you where to stay, how to get around, where to eat and which services you'll need. We only show the ways of travelling that make sense here.
To get to the Salento from Spain, the airport with direct flights is Bari: according to Geocalia's route table, there are non-stop flights from Madrid, Barcelona, Seville and Valencia. Brindisi is closer to Lecce, about 39 km, but from Spain you get there with a stopover. From Bari to Lecce it is about two hours by car, some 150 km, or a little under two hours by train.
The Salento is flat and distances are short: from Lecce you are about 45 minutes from Otranto and Gallipoli, and a little over an hour from Santa Maria di Leuca. With a car you choose each day the coast with less wind and reach the coves and the masserie inland. In return, Lecce's centre is a limited-traffic zone, and in Otranto and Gallipoli the convenient thing is to park outside the old town and go in on foot.
Where to stay
We show you what suits the way you travel.Change how you travel
Why we like it: Five-star hotel in an 18th-century palace in the centre of Lecce, opposite Santa Croce, with a rooftop, spa and a garage with valet parking.
Why we like it: Masseria among olive trees on the outskirts of Otranto, with 29 rooms in wrought iron and stone, a courtyard pool and the Fimmine restaurant with its own kitchen garden.
Why we like it: Small hotel in a 19th-century palace in Gallipoli's old town, behind the cathedral of Sant'Agata, with a terrace over the sea and the gulf.
Where to eat
From set lunch menus to Michelin stars. We mark the price level and what to order at each place.
What to order: the vegetable antipasto and focaccias, the spelt spaghetti with cheese, aubergine and small tomatoes, and the salt cod on potato foam; for dessert, the homemade sweets
What to order: the Contadino antipasto to share, the orecchiette with turnip tops or the ciceri e tria, and for a main course the mixed grill or the fish of the day from the display case
What to order: the 4-course (€45) or 6-course (€72) tasting menu, for the whole table; à la carte, the lamb turcinieddhri or the whipped and fried salt cod with celline olive cream
Nearby
The closest places, whichever country they are in.
Tips
From Lecce or from a village in the middle of the peninsula you reach both coasts in under an hour.
Check the forecast in the morning: in strong wind, the sea on the sheltered coast will be calmer.
The stone turns golden and the centre fills with people strolling.
On the Adriatic coast you mostly swim from the rocks.
Drive the coast from Otranto to Santa Maria di Leuca, stopping at the watchtowers and coves. It's high coast almost all the way.
The old town and the lidos fill up at the same time. Go early in the morning or at sunset.
The southern tip of Apulia, the heel of the boot: a flat, windy limestone peninsula between the Adriatic to the east and the Ionian to the west. It covers the whole province of Lecce and part of those of Brindisi and Taranto. It's a land of olive trees, dry-stone walls, 15th- and 16th-century watchtowers facing the sea and white villages. In a few inland villages, the Grecìa Salentina, Griko, an ancient Greek dialect, is still spoken.
Lecce, the capital, is the Baroque of southern Italy, carved in a soft, pale limestone, Lecce stone, which is easy to carve. Start at the Basilica of Santa Croce: begun in 1549 and finished in 1695, with a façade full of animals, grotesque figures and foliage, and a large rose window. Continue to Piazza del Duomo, enclosed like a courtyard, and Piazza Sant'Oronzo, with half a Roman amphitheatre in view. Leave by the Porta Napoli and pass the castle of Charles V. Lecce is the best base: it has a train, restaurants and sits in the centre of the peninsula.
Otranto, on the Adriatic coast, is Italy's easternmost town: the Palascìa lighthouse, about 5 km away, marks the east tip of the peninsula. Its cathedral, consecrated in 1088, has a mosaic floor from 1163 to 1165 made by a workshop led by the monk Pantaleone, with the Tree of Life and scenes covering the whole nave. In a chapel are kept the remains of the townspeople killed by the Ottomans in 1480. Above, the Aragonese castle, rebuilt in the late 15th century.
Gallipoli, on the Ionian, has its old town on a limestone island joined to the mainland by a 16th-century bridge. Inside are the castle, the Baroque cathedral of Sant'Agata and, beside the bridge, the Greek Fountain. Below the wall is the Purità beach, and to the south, the lidos of Baia Verde.
Santa Maria di Leuca, at the tip, is where the two seas are said to meet. On the cape are the 18th-century basilica De Finibus Terrae, joined to the harbour by a staircase of 284 steps, and a lighthouse about 47 m tall. Below, the coast has sea caves and 19th-century villas.
The Adriatic, from Otranto to Leuca, is high and rocky, with coves, caves and deep water: for swimming from the rocks and seeing the coast by boat. The Ionian, around Gallipoli, has more sandy beaches and lidos. As they're two seas facing opposite ways, in strong wind one coast is usually calmer than the other: if you stay inland, you can choose each day.
The Salento's traditional dance, fast and hypnotic, born of the rites of tarantism, which used music to cure the supposed bite of the tarantula. In August it's celebrated by La Notte della Taranta, a travelling festival with about twenty stages in the villages, from Lecce to Galatina via the Grecìa Salentina. It ends with a big concert in Melpignano, which in 2026 was on Saturday 22 August.
Fly to Brindisi, the nearest airport, about 39 km from Lecce, or to Bari, further but with direct flights from Madrid, Barcelona, Seville and Valencia. Lecce is also the end of the Adriatic railway line, with trains from Bari and northern Italy. From Lecce, Ferrovie del Sud Est trains reach Gallipoli and other villages, but for the coast and small villages the car is the most practical. In August, traffic to the beaches is heavy: set out early.
Orecchiette, aubergine parmigiana and potato pitta are dishes of the area. Also order the catch of the day in the coastal villages, and local red wine. In Lecce's pastry shops, breakfast is a pasticciotto, a little custard pastry.
What to do. In Lecce, the Baroque with the LeccEcclesiae ticket, which opens Santa Croce, the Duomo and three more monuments, and the lift up the Duomo bell tower. In Otranto, the cathedral and its mosaic. At the tip, the boat to the Leuca caves, with two swimming stops. On the Ionian, the walk round Gallipoli's old town.
Where to eat. In Lecce, the Osteria degli Spiriti, Salento cooking under stone vaults, open on Sunday lunchtime. Near Otranto, the agriturismo Il Contadino, with handmade pasta and grilled meats, every day. For a special dinner in Otranto, Materia Hostaria, with a tasting menu.
Where to sleep. In Lecce, the Patria Palace Hotel, a five-star opposite Santa Croce. In the countryside near Otranto, the Masseria Montelauro, with a pool. On Gallipoli's island, the Palazzo Mosco Inn, to get everywhere on foot.
Questions
Four to six. One for Lecce, one for Otranto, one for the coast to Leuca, one for Gallipoli and one or two for the beach.
In Lecce, if you want a city and a train. In Otranto or Gallipoli, if you want the sea at your door. In an inland masseria, if you're going by car.
To Lecce, Otranto and Gallipoli, yes, by train. For the coves, Leuca and the small villages, a car is almost essential.
In August. The festival tours about twenty villages and ends with the Melpignano concert, in the second half of the month.
The Ionian has more sand and calm water; the Adriatic, rock and very clear water. It depends on the wind each day.
In some inland villages, in the so-called Grecìa Salentina, south of Lecce.
Geocaliahttps://www.geocalia.com/en/italy/apulia/salento
