Hotels near Brindisi - Salento Airport (BDS), Brindisi

Not to take anything away from Brindisi, it is a marvellous town in it's own right, and with the train station there, it was perfect for hopping on a train and visiting other towns in the vicinity. Found an excellent street, Via Conserva, full of cafe's, restaurants and bars, where you could sit, enjoy a snack, a meal or just a drink, listen to the music playing, and watch the world and his dog go by.

Mesagne is ideally situated to visit the rest of Puglia, being roughly centrally located. It has many excellent restaurants located in the charming old town and just outside. No need for a car to get around the town, but one is recommended to explore Puglia.

A small seaside community with all the basic amenities plus some.local restaurants. The best part are the beaches which lined the entire coast of the area. Clean beaches with clear waters suitable for all water activities.

We stayed 4 nights in Brindisi without any hire car. This was long enough, as the town is not that big. However, it is well placed to visit other spots via the train. We had a day trip to Lecce, which is a much bigger place with much more to see. We also did a day trip to Bari for some shopping. The local trains are very cheap and quite comfortable. No ned to pay extra for the InterCity trains as they are not much quicker for these two destinations. If arriving by air, there is a bus that runs to/from the airport and Brindisi train station. However, you need to purchase a ticket (EUR1.20) from the shop in the airport before boarding or the coffee bar at the railway station. The service runs every 30 minutes and takes around 10 minutes. We arrived late and just hopped into a taxi to take us to our accommodation. This cost EUR25. I can recommend the La Nassa Pizzeria restaurant in Brindisi. Apart from pizzas they have a good selection of seafood dishes. The mussels must be tried. The house red wine was only EUR11 for a bottle and very good.

Small old town center with various restaurants. I recommend visiting Alticcio Wine Bar, Giudamino, and Barbanera. Calmer during the day and very lively in the evenings. Nice for strolling through the streets. A good starting point for one-day trips in Puglia.

Villa Ranieri is a delightful place to stay as it’s just across the road and down the steps and you are at the very safe beach. Francesco the owner was an excellent host who was more than helpful and did everything to ensure our holiday was perfect – I would be very happy to return any time. The house is very clean and well-presented with everything you need for a relaxing stay – the patio area outside is charming and the outside warm shower is ideal for showering off at a day at the beach. We were there in mid-September so it was out of season which meant a lot of things were shut which suited us fine as it was so quiet and peaceful, we practically had the beach for ourselves. We had two bikes available to use which was ideal for exploring the local area and it meant that we could cycle along the lungomare to Torre San Gennaro to shop at the little supermarket – as we did not hire a car this was ideal. Francesco also picked us up from the airport and took us back plus he kindly picked us up one day to take us to San Pietro di Vernotico where we took the train to visit Lecce (the local bus stopped running at the end of August). He also contacted us to make sure we were able get back from San Pietro di Vernotico and offered to phone a taxi for us as he himself was busy – his concern for his guests’ was amazing. Having cycled along the coast to Casalabate I thought Campo did Mare, and its closeness to Torre San Gennaro, was the nicest place to stay. I felt our day here gave us more of a feel of Italian life than Lecce, though beautiful, was so busy with tourist. What more can I say - Villa Ranieri is perfect.

Brindisi is often overlooked by travellers but it is a beautiful city with lots of nice places to eat and drink, picturesque churches, an excellent museum and roman relics. Our best meals were at Trattoria La Brasciola run by Mr Rocco. We stayed for 5 nights but next time will stay longer.

This is an ancient Italian small town that has experienced a revival. Most of the residents are Italians (unlike other towns in the area which are mostly tourist accommodation). There are many excellent restaurants and bars within walking distance and a very impressive Roman museum. I recommend a walk or cycle in the surrounding countryside (as many residents do). It's also a great place to explore Puglia as it is about an hour to Lecce, Cisternino and Gallipoli.