Airports near Lecce.

Lecce (and Salento) is served by Salento Airport in Brindisi which is about 40 minutes to an hour from Lecce, depending on traffic and which part of Lecce you’re staying in. You can easily book a transfer from the airport to Lecce here.

Although it’s a good bit further you can also fly to Bari Airport. From there you can jump on the metro from Bari Airport to Bari Centrale Train Station, and then it’s a two-hour train journey to Lecce (there is a faster 1-hour and 20-minute train service occasionally). You can pre-book a train from Bari to Lecce here.

There is no direct train from Bari Airport to Lecce (take the metro to Bari Centrale and pick up a train to Lecce from there).

You can also find bus services to Lecce from both airports if you ask at the tourist information desk.

Trains to Lecce.

Italy has a great national train service and Lecce train station connects directly to Rome (5hrs 30 mins), Milan (just under 9 hours) and Venice (just over 9 hours). Most of Italy’s other major central and northern cities are easy to reach with one change, just make sure you’re prepared to allow plenty of time (11-16 hours).

There are tonnes of great online booking platforms now but two of the best are Rail Europe (the old Loco2) and the Trainline. Both of these have the same tickets at the same prices, which are the same prices that the train companies will sell you tickets at if you buy directly on their websites. So you don’t need to worry about getting ripped off. Not that the tickets are cheap!

Lecce is served by Le Frecce (the arrows) & Intercity trains run by Trenitalia (now private but previously the national train service). Their fleet of Frecciarossa (Red Arrows), Frecciabianca (White Arrows) and Frecciargento (Silver Arrows) are the faster trains, whilst Intercitys tend to stop in more places. In reality, these are just brand names now, in my experience all the rolling stock/train carriages are mixed and they’re all clean and air-conditioned, with plenty of plugs and storage space. You might hear some local telling you not to get on an Intercity train because the carriages are boiling hot and full of insects. Ignore it all, it’s just bullshit (they probably haven’t got a train in 50 years). Whilst the local regional trains are pretty run down, all the Intercity & Frecce trains are, from my experience, very clean and tidy.

If you’re connecting in the north of Italy you might find trains run by Italo or other private operators, which are all also lovely, clean and fast trains.

Another option is to buy directly from the Trenitalia website and apply for a Carta Freccia (points-based loyalty card), although a Carta Freccia is probably only worth it if you live in Italy, or travel on Trenitalia trains several times a year.