The Cammino del Salento in Autumn

Autumn is the other half of the Cammino del Salento's season, and for a lot of walkers it is the better one. The route is the same — Lecce to the sanctuary at Santa Maria di Leuca, about 115 km along the Via del Mare — but September and October give you something spring cannot: a sea that is still warm at the end of a long stage, and a countryside that is working rather than flowering. The olive harvest starts while you are walking through it.

September and October, not November

The official autumn window is September to November, but the two months worth planning a trip around are September and October. Early September still carries real heat in the middle of the day and the light is long; by October the mornings are cool, the crowds have gone home, and the walking is close to perfect. November is a gamble. It can be glorious, and it can hand you three days of rain and a tramontana wind that makes the cliff sections genuinely unpleasant. If November is the only time you have, build a spare day into the plan.

The sea is the reward

This is the argument for autumn over spring. The Adriatic here holds its summer heat well into October, so the swim at the end of a stage is not an act of endurance — it is the reason you walked. Cala dell'Acquaviva on the Castro stage, the natural pool at Marina Serra, the small bays below the cliff path: in April these are scenery, in late September they are a bath. Pack something to swim in and keep it accessible rather than at the bottom of the rucksack.

Walking through the harvest

From late October the groves fill up: nets spread under the trees, the sound of the machines, tractors carrying crates to the frantoio. The mills run day and night at that point, and the new oil — cloudy, green, aggressively peppery — is on tables everywhere within days of being pressed. This is not a staged experience for visitors, it is simply what everyone is doing, and walking through it is one of the things the Cammino gives you that a car never will.

Practical differences from spring

Two to plan for. First, the daylight shortens fast — by late October you have roughly eleven hours, so a 22 km stage wants an early start rather than a leisurely breakfast. Second, more of the coastal businesses start closing as the season winds down, so do not assume the bar you saw on the map in August will be open in November. Book beds ahead rather than turning up. The Via dei Borghi, the inland route, is closed for 2026 while the trail is improved, so this year the Via del Mare is the walk.

Where the route reaches us

The stage from Castro Marina runs past Cala dell'Acquaviva and the cliffs at Punta Correnti, then turns inland past Torre del Sasso and the seven pajare before dropping down to Tricase Porto. Three kilometres further along the coast road is Marina Serra, where the stage ends. Depressa — our village, one of the five frazioni of Tricase — sits just behind that coastline. In autumn it is also the right side of the walk to be on: inland, out of the wind, and surrounded by the groves that are being picked.