Why Choose Lecce
The Smart Way to Explore Salento
Many travelers split their stay across multiple locations, losing up to 40% of their trip to driving, check-ins, and logistics.
Lecce is the heart of Salento. From here, iconic destinations like Alberobello, Ostuni, Otranto, Gallipoli, and Santa Maria di Leuca are just 15–50 minutes away by car.
One base. More freedom. A better journey.
A Virtual Walk Through the Baroque Heart of Salento
ONE CITY.MANY STORIES. THE PERFECT STRTING POINT FOR YOUR SALENTO JOURNEY
Lecce is not just a destination. It’s an experience to walk, feel, and taste.
This virtual tour begins where every great journey in Salento should start: from Lecce, its historic squares, ancient gates, hidden churches, museums, and authentic flavors.
Take your time. Imagine the light, the stone, the rhythm.
Piazza Duomo
Piazza Sant’Oronzo
The true heart of Lecce. Here, Roman history meets contemporary life. The Roman Amphitheatre, partially uncovered, tells the story of a city layered through centuries.
Santa Croce & Baroque Churches
Entering Lecce Through Its Ancient Gates
THREE DOORS. THREE WAYS INTO THE CITY
Porta Napoli
The most monumental gate, welcoming travelers arriving from the north. A symbol of Lecce’s historic openness and grandeur.
Porta Rudiae
The oldest gate. More authentic, less touristic. A bridge between Lecce and its deep-rooted traditions.
Porta San Biagio
Facing the south, this gate leads toward the Ionian coast. Elegant and balanced, it marks the transition between city and countryside.
Lecce Beyond the Streets: Museums & Culture
STORIES PRESERVED, IDENTITIES REVEALED
Lecce is also a city of museums: archaeology, contemporary art, sacred art, and local craftsmanship. Each space adds depth to the city’s story, beyond the walk.
Lecce Through Taste: A Gastronomic Tour
BECAUSE SALENTO IS ALSO MEANT TO BE EATEN
From traditional pastries to street food, from local bakeries to wine bars, Lecce offers a gastronomic journey that reflects its land: simple, intense, authentic.
A food tour in Lecce is not an extra. It’s part of understanding the city.
Why Start Your Salento Journey from Lecce
ONE BASE. INFINITE POSSIBILITIES
Lecce is walkable, vibrant, central.
From here, the entire Salento opens up — coastlines, villages, landscapes — without changing accommodation.
SALENTINIAN GREECE
These winds enrich and change the landscape of Salento's marinas. By choosing Lecce as the main destination, tourists can best organize a tour of the Salento marinas...depending on the winds and atmospheres desired
This is one of the most beautiful places in Salento, as evocative as it is mysterious, around which stories and legends revolve, giving the place even more charm.
Otranto
Otranto, the "gateway to the East," is so called because it occupies the easternmost point in Italy. Among the most picturesque destinations, Otranto is a real must-see jewel of the Adriatic coast. Consecrated on August 1, 1088, by the Papal Legate Roffredo, under the papacy of Urban II, it is the largest cathedral in Salento.
Santa Cesarea Terme
Overlooking the Canale d'Otranto, Santa Cesarea Terme is a charming town in Salento that stands on a cliff overlooking the sea. Nestled between the blue sea and the green of thick vegetation is its town center, which is characterized by Moorish palaces, elegant villas and whitewashed houses.
Attractive, indeed, Gallipoli has always been, since its very ancient origins. The beach closest to the center of Gallipoli so much so that it is embraced by the ancient castle walls is that of Purità, suitable for both day and night life. Around Gallipoli then for a stretch of the Ionian coast, sand gives way to rocks. North of Gallipoli is the inlet of Porto Selvaggio, immersed in Mediterranean scrub and a dense coastal pine forest that slopes down to the sea.
You will find yourself in the Porto Selvaggio and Palude del Capitano regional nature park, among the most unspoiled stretches of the entire Salento region.
Santa Maria al Bagno is characterized by stupendous historical residences from the beginning of the 20th century that you absolutely must visit on your vacation in Puglia. From the tourist point of view Santa Maria al Bagno is as interesting as ever thanks to the undisputed landscape value that characterizes it.
Santa Caterina
Santa Caterina is a beautiful and reserved hamlet of the town of Nardò, in the province of Lecce. Easy to reach by any means of transportation, it undoubtedly constitutes a nerve center for all those who love Salento and its beaches. Only ten kilometers from the more renowned Gallipoli and Porto Cesareo, it offers its visitors the chance to enjoy both the hilly air of its upper part and the cool sea breeze of its seafront. The bathing room in Santa Caterina di Nardò.
It was customary in the 1800s and early 1900s for ladies of a certain rank to benefit from bathing by the sea, with all the discretion and confidentiality that the case required. The ladies would access it from the land and bathe undisturbed, shielded from curious eyes and the summer sun that would burnish their white skin, making it resemble that of peasant women working the land.
Porto Cesareo
Among the most beautiful beaches in Porto Cesareo is the renowned Dune Beach, which stretches from the archaeological excavations of Scala di Furno to the promontory that precedes Torre Chianca. It is a long sandy beach protected by dunes where you will find the bathing establishments Le Dune and Tabù; the last part, however, is free. Another beautiful beach but smaller than Le Dune is Lido Conchiglia. The beaches south of Porto Cesareo, on the other hand, are less spectacular but can be easily reached on foot.
Punta Pros ciutto
Punta Prosciutto is another of Puglia's most beautiful beaches and, according to the British newspaper The Telegraph, one of the most beautiful beaches in the world.