Discover Salento from Lecce: 5 Incredible Places in the Heart of the Mediterranean

One of the privileges of staying in Lecce is that Salento begins almost as soon as you leave the city. In roughly forty minutes by car, you can reach Otranto on the Adriatic, Gallipoli on the Ionian coast, the Alimini Lakes or Porto Selvaggio. But proximity does not mean they should all be compressed into one itinerary. These five places reveal completely different landscapes and make far more sense when given time. We would divide Salento into two directions: east for Otranto, the Alimini Lakes and the Bauxite Quarry; west for Porto Selvaggio and Gallipoli.

If you want to explore these places freely, we would choose a car. It gives you the freedom to stop, change plans and reach natural areas away from the main towns without making the day unnecessarily complicated. During summer, Salento in Bus connects Lecce with several destinations across the peninsula, including Otranto, Alimini and Gallipoli, and is a useful alternative if you prefer not to drive; for Porto Selvaggio, and especially when combining several stops in one day, a car remains considerably more flexible. The service is seasonal, so check current timetables shortly before travelling.

OTRANTO Distance from Lecce: approximately 40 km Coast: Adriatic Otranto is one of those places where the sea and history work together. It is Italy’s easternmost municipality, and its historic centre remains enclosed by walls, narrow streets and fortifications overlooking the Adriatic. The Aragonese Castle introduces the city’s military history, while the Cathedral contains the vast medieval floor mosaic that alone makes it worth going inside. We would not experience Otranto simply as a seaside stop: arrive with enough time to walk through the old town, enter the Cathedral, follow the walls and stay as the light begins to change. That is when Otranto stops feeling like a destination and becomes once again a city facing the eastern edge of the Mediterranean.

GALLIPOLI Distance from Lecce: approximately 39 km Coast: Ionian The first thing to understand about Gallipoli is that it has two distinct parts. The modern city remains on the mainland, while the historic centre occupies a small limestone island connected by a bridge, surrounded by fortifications and the sea. The Castle effectively marks the entrance to the old town; from there, we would forget about the car and continue on foot through the walls, the Cathedral of Sant’Agata, Santa Maria della Purità and streets that repeatedly lead back towards the water. If we had to choose a time to go, we would arrive in the afternoon and stay into the evening: Gallipoli makes far more sense when the historic centre is not simply somewhere you pass through, but where the day eventually ends. Vehicle access to the centre is regulated by a ZTL during certain periods, so always check the latest rules before driving in.

PORTO SELVAGGIO Distance from Lecce: approximately 33 km Coast: Ionian Porto Selvaggio is different because the experience begins before you even see the sea. It forms part of the Porto Selvaggio e Palude del Capitano Regional Natural Park, and reaching the main bay means leaving the car behind and walking through the pine forest for around twenty minutes. At the end, you do not find a long equipped beach, but a small rocky cove, clear water, cliffs and Mediterranean vegetation. That is precisely why we recommend it. Comfortable shoes, water and travelling light make a real difference here: we would not go simply to “spend time at a beach”, but to spend a few hours inside a natural landscape and let swimming become only one part of the experience.

ALIMINI LAKES Distance from Lecce: approximately 36–37 km Coast: Adriatic Just north of Otranto, the landscape changes once again. Alimini Grande and Alimini Piccolo form a system of two lakes surrounded by vegetation, close to the Adriatic coast and within an area that is also particularly interesting for birdlife. We would not go simply for a quick photograph and leave: Alimini works best as the slower part of the day, perhaps before moving towards the sea or Otranto. It is one of the places that best explains why Salento is not merely a sequence of beaches: within a few kilometres, the landscape moves from pine forest to inland water, wetlands and dunes before returning once again to the Adriatic.

BAUXITE QUARRY Distance from Lecce: approximately 40 minutes by car Area: Otranto — Orte The Bauxite Quarry looks as though it belongs to another landscape entirely. Mining activity ended in the late 1970s, and water gradually infiltrating the former quarry created the small lake that now contrasts with the mineral-rich red earth and surrounding vegetation. It is a landscape created by human intervention and then completely rewritten by nature. The site is only a few kilometres from Otranto, so we would never make a separate journey from Lecce simply to see it: we would build it into the same day as the town. In February 2026, the Municipality of Otranto confirmed that pedestrian access to the site would remain guaranteed and announced work to improve safety around its more difficult sections; once there, always respect any paths, barriers and instructions in place.

For the Adriatic side, we would build a day around the Alimini Lakes, Otranto and the Bauxite Quarry. Alimini in the morning, while you still want to walk and spend time in nature; Otranto for the historic centre, the Cathedral and a longer pause; then the Bauxite Quarry in the afternoon, while still leaving enough daylight to walk the paths comfortably. The three are close enough to one another that the day never becomes a sequence of hours spent in the car. For the Ionian side, we would reverse the rhythm: Porto Selvaggio first, Gallipoli afterwards. Porto Selvaggio needs daylight, walking and time by the sea; Gallipoli works particularly well as the second part of the day, when you can cross the bridge, enter the old town and stay into the evening. This is not a compulsory itinerary: it is simply how, in our view, these places speak to one another most naturally.

From Lecce, it is easy to think of Salento simply as the territory that surrounds the city. Once you begin crossing it, that idea quickly disappears. On one side lies the Adriatic of Otranto, Alimini and the red earth of the Bauxite Quarry; on the other, the Ionian coast of Porto Selvaggio and Gallipoli’s fortified island. Between them are olive trees, dry-stone walls, countryside, small towns and roads through which the landscape continually changes. These five places are not here so that you can say you have “seen Salento”. They are here to show you how different it is from what you imagined while you were still in Lecce.

Road conditions, parking, ZTL restrictions, seasonal transport, park access and trail conditions can change. If you are driving, check your destination and parking options before leaving; if you are using public transport, always verify the latest Salento in Bus timetable. In natural areas, bring water, appropriate shoes and anything else you may need rather than assuming services will be available. Salento is close to Lecce: that is precisely why there is no reason to rush through it.