Things to do in Brindisi
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Brindisi
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Best months: warm sea, long evenings, everything open and none of the August pressure.
Connoisseur shoulder: mild, quiet and cheapest, with some beach and boat services winding down in October.
Hot and busy but manageable, with the full summer programme and the St Lawrence feast on 21 July.
Worst month to choose deliberately: Ferragosto crowds, fullest beaches, priciest ferries and masserie.
Mild, very quiet and cheap cultural season, with thinner ferry, tour and boat schedules.
What's on
- Festa Patronale di San Teodoro e San Lorenzo first weekend of September
The patronal festa with a procession by sea around the harbour, fireworks and days of celebrations.
- Feast of St Lawrence of Brindisi 21 July
Liturgical feast of the city's most famous son, with observances in the centro storico churches.
- Corpus Domini procession Sunday of Corpus Christi in June
Traditional Eucharistic procession through the centro storico from the cathedral.
- Summer on the Lungomare July and August
Open air concerts, food stalls and late passeggiata nights along the Regina Margherita waterfront.
Best things to do in Brindisi
Colonne Romane
The surviving Roman column marks the end of the Via Appia above the harbour, and sunset is its great moment.
Lungomare Regina Margherita
The palm lined harbour promenade where Brindisi walks, drinks and watches its working port at sunset.
Museo Archeologico Provinciale Francesco Ribezzo
A superb, intensely local museum of bronzes and sea recovered finds on Piazza Duomo, doable in half a day.
Tempio di San Giovanni al Sepolcro
A round Crusader church modelled on the Holy Sepulchre, with marble lions, fresco fragments and a citrus patio.
Chiesa Santa Maria del Casale
A luminous church by the airport fence whose walls of Byzantine style frescoes include a vast Last Judgement.
Monumento al Marinaio d'Italia
A giant rudder shaped memorial whose top gives the definitive panorama over both inlets of the harbour.
Castello Alfonsino di Brindisi
The red sea fortress on Sant'Andrea island, visitable only by guided tour, with the best harbour views in the city.
Castello Svevo di Brindisi
Frederick II's land castle over the western inlet, the twin of the sea fortress and a quiet waterfront walk.
Where to stay in Brindisi
Centro Storico and Lungomare
first trip, no car, food and sights
Everything walkable, restaurants around you and the station 10 to 15 minutes away for day trips.
Casale
transit nights, marina and Monument access
Handy for early flights and the harbour boat side, but you cross to the centre for dinner and sights.
Masseria countryside
splurge, pool and estate cooking, with a car
Whitewashed farm estates in the olive plain 10 to 15 minutes out, silent and spacious, not walkable.
Think twice about
- Costa Morena and the outer port industrial zone
Ferry docks, truck traffic and no walkable life. Fine for a pre dawn ferry, wrong for a holiday base.
- Brindisi station perimeter
Functional and deserted feeling after the last trains. Sleep a few streets inside the centre instead.
- Casale and airport fringe without a car
Pleasant residential streets that strand you into taxis for every dinner and sight.
Best restaurants in Brindisi
Oltrevia
The city's splurge table, a small serious seafood restaurant working from the morning's catch at a refined level.
La Calendula
A refined southern Italian and seafood kitchen in the city's top price band, suited to a quiet grown up dinner.
Già Sotto l'Arco
One of the most beloved restaurants in the whole area, a short drive away in Carovigno, for a special occasion dinner.
La Locanda del Porto
The harbour institution for Puglian seafood, famous for whole fish baked in salt, and popular enough that you must book.
Vieni A Casa Ca Ti Cucinu
A small home style kitchen whose name promises a grandmother's welcome, serving generous Puglian seafood cooking.
Cascipò
A quieter, local feeling seafood kitchen strong on antipasti, seafood pasta and grilled fish, without the big room buzz.
Numero Primo
Tenute Rubino's waterfront wine bar, the place to taste Susumaniello red, rosato and sparkling by the glass over dinner.
Braceria Semeraro
A market square grill house where you choose your cut at the counter and they grill it, steaks and bombette included.
Outdoor things to do in Brindisi
Riserva Naturale Torre Guaceto
A protected marine reserve of dunes, wetlands and wild sandy shore with clear water and no beach clubs.
Brindisi Bay Boat Tour
A one hour circuit of the bay past both castles, the Sailor's Monument and the Roman Column, seen from the water.
Ostuni
The White City, a dazzle of whitewash above a plain of ancient olives, reached by train and shuttle in under an hour.
Lecce
The Baroque capital of the Salento, 30 to 40 minutes by direct train, for Santa Croce, the Duomo and the amphitheatre.
Alberobello
The UNESCO trulli town, best done on a Valle d'Itria day with Locorotondo and Ostuni and a mozzarella making stop.
Parco Archeologico di Egnazia
A whole Roman port city in open fields by the sea, where you can walk the Via Traiana and explore its necropolises.
Punta Penna Grossa
The nearest broad sandy beach to the city, in the reserve's orbit, for an easy swim day without club prices.
Lido Risorgimento
A historic Brindisi beach club ten minutes from the centre, with tended sand, ordered umbrellas and parking.
Best hotels in Brindisi
Masseria Incantalupi
The top rated stay in the Brindisi orbit, a working masseria with vaulted rooms, a pool and exceptional estate dinners.
Palazzo Virgilio
The city's smart four star near the station, with large quiet rooms and the service level luxury travellers expect in town.
Hotel Orientale
The classic central mid range hotel on Corso Garibaldi, with a notably good breakfast and staff full of local advice.
Executive Inn Hotel Boutique
A small boutique hotel between station and old town whose review scores punch above its price band.
Masseria Baroni Nuovi
An accessible masseria stay with pool, gardens and generous estate cooking, at keener prices than the luxury estates.
Ostello della Gioventù Brindisi
The city's youth hostel near the marina, a sociable budget base for solo travellers and ferry backpackers.
Dimora Nettare
A well reviewed townhouse bed and breakfast five minutes from the lungomare, the budget upgrade if the hostel is full.
Is Brindisi expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | €70 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | €140 a person |
| Splurge | €300 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Castello Alfonsino di Brindisi: a few days ahead
- Tenute Rubino: a few days ahead
- Brindisi Bay Boat Tour: a few days ahead
- Alberobello: a few days ahead
- San Domenico Golf: weeks ahead
- Acaya Golf Resort: weeks ahead
- Masseria Incantalupi: weeks ahead
- Masseria Baroni Nuovi: a few days ahead
- Castello Alfonsino is guided tour only and sunset slots go first, so book days ahead in season.
- Book La Locanda del Porto, Vieni A Casa Ca Ti Cucinu, Oltrevia, La Calendula, Tenute Rubino tours and both golf courses ahead.
- Ferries with a car or cabin in late July and August, and masserie in wedding season, need weeks to months.
Is Brindisi safe?
- Watch bags and phones around the station and ferry terminals, and leave no valuables visible in beach or airport car parks.
- No neighbourhood here is flagged by local guides as a no go area, so apply ordinary southern Italian city caution. Emergency number 112.
Brindisi travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Big waterfront all day venues trade on the view, so walk one block into the centre for dinner.
- Agree taxi fares to the beach before setting off, and confirm the full price of fish sold by weight before it is cooked.
- There is no swimmable town beach because the harbour is a working port, and coperto of 2 to 3 euros a head is standard.
Getting around Brindisi: public transport and more
- Walk the compact centre. Trains run to Lecce in 30 to 40 minutes and Ostuni in about 25 to 30 minutes plus a shuttle bus.
- City buses serve the airport, Casale, the Monument and the Torre Testa lidos, and the harbour motobarca crosses to the Casale side.
- A car unlocks Torre Guaceto, the masserie and the Valle d'Itria, but parking inside the centro storico is effectively impossible.
Who Brindisi suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Good |
| Bachelor parties | OK |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | OK |
Make Brindisi your trip
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