Otranto in October Trip Report

Otranto in October 2025 Trip Report

We first visited Otranto many many years ago. At least twenty. I remember the cathedral and the mosaics and the story of the 800 matyrs and the historical centre and a load of shops that sold hand-made bags, jewellery and clothes, and incense. It was May and tourism in May in Puglia didn’t yet exist on any scale although there were a handful of people wandering around Otranto. And then it started raining and we were camping and at one point we loaded up our wet tent and damp belongings into the car in the rain and drove home in ten hours straight to find it was raining at home.

Our visit to Otranto in October did involve some rain, although this October the weather was a lot worse than it usually is. We spent 6 nights there, a number chosen according to the availability of an apartment with a sea view which I liked. We could easily have stayed longer. It’s true that there are more foreign tourists in Otranto than in many of the places we visited on our October trip, but apart from the surprise of the main little square of the historical centre packed with foreigner diners when really there was nobody around on a weekday evening, that really didn’t amount to very much.

The historical centre is clean and pretty, as well as the ‘passeggiata’ around the walls in what used to be the castle moat. The harbour area is nice. There are a couple of supermarkets to the north of the town but not many other shops except boutique or souvenir shops in the centre. For typical Italian shops, Maglie looked to be a good alternative. What I didn’t remember was how beautiful the coast is to the north and south of Otranto. Baia dei Turchi, on a windy day in October with no beach umbrellas and just a few windswept walkers, was splendid, but so are the cliffs which drop abruptly into the sea to the north of Otranto, and the sea and coast heading south is also beautiful.

Conditioned by the weather, we did rather too much on our first full day, visiting Porto Badisco, the area near Grotta Zinzalusa, Castro Marina very briefly and Castro more in detail in the morning and Faraglioni di Sant’Andrea and Torre del Orso in the afternoon. More details here.

Some half days were spent exploring or enjoying Otranto especially the Cathedral, and walking along the coast, starting directly from Otranto without using a car. We also spent a half day in Maglie and at the market. It’s yet another place in Puglia that I have not been able to cross off my ‘too-see’ list, because I have a sneaky feeling I’d like to go back.