SECRET SALENTO

It's a bit more complicated to arrive here than it is to arrive in the more well-traveled parts of Italy, but the difference in effort is paid off in the end. You will need to arrive in Lecce, Bari or Brindisi in order to begin your Salento vacation. You can arrive in any of these places by train, but if you are coming by air you must fly into Bari or Brindisi. Brindisi is farther south and therefore Salento is more easily accessible from this airport, however, Bari is a larger airport with more flights arriving and departing from a wider variety of other locations and so you may have no other choice than to fly into Bari. If you are coming from within Italy, check Alitalia, Ryanair and Easyjet for flights. If you are coming from continental Europe, Easyjet and Ryanair are your best bets (flying into Bari). If however, you are arriving from outside of continental Europe, you may need to fly to Rome on a larger carrier and transfer to Bari or Brindisi through the smaller carriers. Once you are in Lecce, Bari or Brindisi, you can either rent a car or take a bus to your final destination. There is a very old, very small train that travels to certain parts of Salento from Lecce. On the other hand, the bus system is very well organized, dependable, and clean. You can also plan to take a taxi from any of the train stations or airports to your hotel destination - however it will be costly - for example, from Lecce train station to Maglie cost 80 Euro in June 2007.

If you are driving, in most cases it is simpler from every direction to bring A16 to Bari and then take the Bari Nord exit to Brindisi-Lecce. From Lecce, simply follow the road signs to your destination of choice: Gallipoli, Maglie, Otranto, Tricase, Santa Maria de Leuca to name a few. Take a look at the map of Salento in the General Information page.

TRAIN INFORMATION

www.trenitalia.com

www.fseonline.it