Cammino del Salento (Salento Way)

Why walk it

The official site presents the walk as an experience that changes those who set out: testing yourself, discovering your own determination and coming home a different person. Along the way you meet walkers from many countries and share a few kilometres or whole days with them, each with their own story and reasons.

The landscape takes centre stage: open sea and sky, unspoilt nature, little-used paths and centuries-old olive trees. On the Via del Mare you walk on sand and through pine woods, then along the cliffs south of Otranto, past the Palascìa lighthouse, Italy's easternmost point, and the coves of Porto Badisco, where sea urchins can be tasted.

There is a dimension of faith too: the route recalls the old pilgrim roads bound for Santa Maria di Leuca and ends at the De Finibus Terrae sanctuary, where the peninsula ends between two seas. And there is the freedom of a slow pace: choosing when to set off, following a side path out of curiosity, leaving everyday routine behind.

Sources: Cammino del Salento - sito ufficiale (home) · Cammino del Salento - Via del Mare

From Lecce to the end of the land

The Cammino del Salento leads on foot from the baroque centre of Lecce to the De Finibus Terrae sanctuary at Santa Maria di Leuca, at the tip of the Salento peninsula where the Ionian and Adriatic seas meet. The official site presents two routes sharing a single goal: the Via del Mare, which reaches the Adriatic on the very first day, and the Via dei Borghi, which spends its first three days inland among dry-stone walls and olive groves.

For 2026 the official site lists the Via dei Borghi as closed, pending an improved line; the walkable itinerary is therefore the Via del Mare, five stages covering 115 km. From Otranto onwards the two routes overlap and follow clifftop paths past watchtowers, natural pools, caves and small coves.

The route is run by FEM s.r.l.s., a private company based in Cutrofiano, and can be walked in three ways: in a group with a guide, independently with an organised package, or entirely on your own by buying the Pilgrim Passport. The Ministry of Tourism includes it, on italia.it, among the religious routes of Puglia.

Sources: Cammino del Salento - sito ufficiale (home) · Cammino del Salento - Le due vie · Cammini religiosi in Italia - italia.it (Ministero del Turismo)

The five stages of the Via del Mare

1. Lecce - San Foca, 25 km. From Porta Napoli the route crosses the old town to Piazza Sant'Oronzo, turns towards the Castle and leaves the city via Merine and the fortified village of Acaya. It reaches the Cesine reserve and follows the coast to the San Foca seafront. 2. San Foca - Otranto, 24.6 km, via Roca, Torre dell'Orso with the Two Sisters sea stacks, Torre Sant'Andrea, the Alimini lakes and the Baia dei Turchi.

3. Otranto - Santa Cesarea Terme, 22.6 km: from the harbour the path follows the coast to Torre del Serpe, the lake in the former bauxite quarry, the Palascìa lighthouse and Porto Badisco. 4. Santa Cesarea Terme - Marina Serra, 24 km, passing Porto Miggiano, Castro, Cala dell'Acquaviva and Tricase Porto. 5. Marina Serra - Santa Maria di Leuca, 20 km, via Marina di Novaglie, the Cipolliane path, the Ciolo bridge and Gagliano del Capo, up to the sanctuary.

The overnight stops are therefore San Foca, Otranto, Santa Cesarea Terme and Marina Serra, with arrival in Leuca on the last stage.

The Via dei Borghi, closed for 2026, branches off at Piazza Sant'Oronzo towards Porta San Biagio and passes Sternatia and Corigliano d'Otranto before rejoining at Otranto; italia.it describes it as 135 km in six stages.

Sources: Cammino del Salento - Le due vie · Cammino del Salento - Via del Mare · Via dei Borghi del Cammino del Salento - italia.it (Ministero del Turismo)

Terrain, waymarking and season

Via del Mare stages measure between 20 and 25 km, and the official site estimates five and a half to six and a half hours of walking for each. Surfaces alternate between asphalt and dirt track; the second stage is almost all unpaved, and on the first two stages some stretches run along the beach or through Aleppo pine woods. Italia.it rates the Via dei Borghi as medium difficulty.

Some passages need care: after Castro Marina, from Punta Correnti, there are about 2 km of rocky shoreline that are tiring with a backpack, and the site suggests the parallel paved road instead; after heavy rain it is better to avoid the Ciolo canyon and stay on the coast road.

Waymarking is light: round and rectangular orange stickers, hand-painted orange arrows and recycled-wood signs with the route symbol or the letters CdS, checked periodically. The site warns that stickers and signs are sometimes removed: if markers disappear, stop and find the route again carefully. The site advises against walking in summer because of the excessive heat.

Sources: Cammino del Salento - Le due vie · Cammino del Salento - Via del Mare · Cammino del Salento - Segnaletica · Cammino del Salento - Come arrivare a Lecce · Via dei Borghi del Cammino del Salento - italia.it (Ministero del Turismo)

Passport, hospitality and transport

The Pilgrim Passport is the route's credential: a booklet with room for stamps, a travel diary, partial distances, water points and checklists. It entitles holders to reduced rates at partner businesses on both routes, which the site lists as hostels, B&Bs, campsites and restaurants, plus museums and experiences, and buying it supports the waymarking and promotion of the path. It can be posted to you, collected at the partner hostel in Lecce or bought in San Foca. Walkers who reach Leuca with their stamps can request the Testimonium, issued in Leuca and in Lecce.

The starting point, Lecce, can be reached by train, with direct services from Rome and frequent ones from Bari, or by air via Brindisi airport, about 45 km away, with a direct bus. The site recommends arriving the day before.

Public transport between stages is sparse: in summer the Salento in Bus service covers almost the whole route, while for the rest of the year only the return from Leuca to Lecce remains, by bus on weekdays or by train from Gagliano del Capo station, about 7 km from Leuca.

Sources: Cammino del Salento - Le due vie · Cammino del Salento - Passaporto del Pellegrino · Cammino del Salento - Testimonium / Attestato finale · Cammino del Salento - Come arrivare a Lecce

Pilgrims bound for Leuca

The official site links the route to the old pilgrimage roads that ran down from Rome to Santa Maria di Leuca, seen as an edge of the world. The Testimonium received on arrival recalls the medieval document that certified a completed pilgrimage and granted protections: today it has no legal value, only a symbolic one. The Passport also contains an image of the Madonna Maris Stella.

Along the coast the route meets places rich in memory: Porto Badisco, where tradition says Aeneas first set foot in Italy, as Virgil tells it, and, on the last stage according to italia.it, the Erma Antica, where the old pilgrims' stone ritual is performed, before the 284 steps climbing to the De Finibus Terrae sanctuary.

The Via dei Borghi, now closed, ran largely through the Grecìa Salentina, an area that keeps traditions and a language of Greek origin, Griko.

Sources: Cammino del Salento - sito ufficiale (home) · Cammino del Salento - Via del Mare · Cammino del Salento - Passaporto del Pellegrino · Cammino del Salento - Testimonium / Attestato finale · Via dei Borghi del Cammino del Salento - italia.it (Ministero del Turismo)

Places along the route

Lecce

Baroque architecture, papier-mâché and Salento food: a city of telling details.

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Photo: Giuseppe Milo / Wikimedia Commons — CC BY 3.0 · Resized and converted to WebP.

Torre dell’Orso

Sea stacks, pine woodland and a contrast with Melendugno’s inland villages.

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Photo: Freddyballo / Wikimedia Commons — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Resized and converted to WebP.

Otranto

The cathedral, Adriatic landscape and time to explore the historic centre.

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Photo: Bernard Gagnon / Wikimedia Commons — CC0 · Resized and converted to WebP.

Santa Maria di Leuca

The sanctuary, seafront architecture and the outline of the coast.

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Photo: Bernard Gagnon / Wikimedia Commons — CC0 · Resized and converted to WebP.

Places of faith on the route

To taste along the way