Discover the South of Puglia with Day Trips from Lecce

What's there to discover the south of puglia? All possible as day trips from lecce!

I loved Lecce as a base (we stayed at a great place!) to discover the South of Puglia as part of our 10-day roadtrip. Lecce as a city is amazing and you can easily spend a couple of evenings discovering all the great bars and restaurants in Lecce (read about them here!). In the south of Puglia, you’ll find the best beaches of Puglia as well as one of the cutest beach towns, Gallipoli. Unfortunately, the day we were planning on visiting the beaches, the weather turned and it rained like crazy. Hence, I wasn’t able to visit all the beaches on this list and unfortunately also missed out on the supposedly prettiest one: Punta Prosciutto.

First of all, don’t miss out on discovering Lecce itself. There are plenty of beautiful cathedrals, churches and alleys to discover. Read all about Lecce here!

I would advise to combine several sights in one day. Unfortunately, our schedule didn’t allow for this 3rd day and the weather wasn’t on our side, but I would still like to share all my prior research with you in a clear overview.

On day 1  we combined Corigliano D’Otranto and Gallipolli.
On day 2 we were planning on driving the east-coast of southern Puglia while visiting Grotta Della Poessia, Spiaggia Torro Dell’Orso and Otranto. If you feel like it, you can drive even more south.
I would advise to take a day 3 to visit  Spiaggia di Porto Selvaggio (a national park including beaches) and Punto Prosciutto, one of the most beautiful beaches of Italy.

1. corigliano d'otranto

Corigliano is a small village south of Lecce, and can be perfectly visited on the way to the more famous Gallipoli. We parked our car (free along the road) and walked about 5 minutes through some cute streets (see picture 1), before we arrived the main square and the famous Castle of Monti. What I liked about the spot, is that you get a more authentic view of Puglia when visiting such a small village. 

Corigliano d'Otranto, Daytrip from Lecce, Puglia
Corigliano d'Otranto, Daytrip from Lecce, Puglia
Corigliano d'Otranto, The south of Puglia
Corigliano d'Otranto, Daytrip from Lecce, Puglia
Corigliano d'Otranto, The south of Puglia

2. gallipolli

Gallipolli is probably the most famous location from this list. When planning the full Puglia Itinerary, we were actually doubting if this would be a place we should spend the night as well. In the end, we were happy we didn’t, but also very happy we visited and had a stroll around for a day! Actually, Gallipolli is too cute to only spend a couple of photos on, hence I created this full photographic Gallipolli overview. Click here if you would like to see a broader impression of the city! We parked at the parking near the port of Gallipolli. Online we got the information this was for free, but in the end we did pay a small amount. 

Gallipolli is also a great place to stay if you are looking for a seaside location to spend the night. Book your stay here. 

Beach in Gallipoli, Puglia, Italy
Photographing Gallipoli, South of Puglia
Photographing Gallipoli, South of Puglia
Gallipolli, South of Puglia, Italy, Daytrip from Lecce

3. Grotta della poessia

This was amazing!! I ran into this place on Instagram – surprise, surprise – and we just had to go. When we were there, everyone was just watching the caves and it was pretty quiet, as I realized from some online pictures that it can become really packed in summer. The good things was, that this allowed us to enter the water by ourselves! I was a bit scared it was going to be really cold, but the sea temperature was super comfortable (October). Definitely a place to visit as a day trip from Lecce and a great way to discover the South of Puglia.

Grotta della Poessia, South of Puglia, Lecce, Italy
Grotta della Poessia, South of Puglia, Lecce, Italy
Grotta della Poessia, South of Puglia, Lecce, Italy
Grotta della Poessia, South of Puglia, Lecce, Italy

4. Spiaggia torro dell'orso

One of the beaches that I highlighted on my map (I always use the app Mapstr to highlights spots I potentially want to visit in a certain area), but when we left the car, we already saw the dark clouds approaching. Less than 5 minutes later, it started pouring…

SPIAGGIA TORRO DELL'ORSO, Lecce, Puglia, Italy

5. torre sant'andrea

Unfortunately, we didn’t have the change to visit Torre Sant’Andrea. Looking at the pictures, it does look like the Algarve in Portugal! Definitely worth to put on your list.

6. otranto

Otranto is a coastal village that would make a perfect stop around lunch. I already looked up some suitable restaurants and ended up with Sapori & L’altro baffo.

7. piscina naturale di marina serra

Driving south in Puglia even further, you’ll end up at Piscina Naturale Di Marina Serra, a natural swimming pool, which in certain way can be compared with Grotta della Poessia. If you don’t have time to visit both, I would go with the Grotta della Poessia.

8. spiaggi di pescoluse

A beautiful beach located near to the far south part of Puglia. You’ll be up. for some clear blue waters! 

9. Spiaggia di porto selvaggio

Spiaggia di Porto Selvaggio is a place I would have loved to visit. It is a national park, that has opportunities for some short hikes, see some nature, but also to relax at more hidden beaches.

10. Punta prosciutto

The bluest sea and the whitest beach of Puglia, according to images. If you are looking for a nice day at the beach from Lecce, this is definitely the place to go!

Source: https://www.zingarate.com/italia/puglia/lecce/punta-prosciutto.html

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Read all articles about puglia here:

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Discover the South of Puglia, with day trips from Lecce, Italy

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Discover the South of Puglia, with day trips from Lecce, Italy