Lecce Food Tours & Cooking Classes
Lecce is the baroque capital of the Salento, Puglia’s heel, and its food is its own: pasticciotto custard pastries, rustici, caffè leccese with almond milk, and the Negroamaro and Primitivo wines of the plain around it. Compare the top-rated food tours and classes below, then read our notes.
Top-rated food tours in Lecce
The best food tours to book in Lecce
The most booked food experiences in Lecce, compared. Tours walk the baroque old town tasting rustico leccese, pasticciotto, frisa, local cheeses and Salento wine; the cooking class in an old courtyard is the favourite hands-on choice.
| Experience | Length | Rating (reviews) | Best for | Book |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pasta Making Class in a 15th-Century Courtyard with Wine | 2.5 hours | 4.7 (524) | Hands-on | Check availability |
| Guided Street Food Walking Tour with Food and Wine | 2 hours | 4.4 (394) | The most booked tour | Check availability |
| Street Food Tasting and Sightseeing Tour | 2 to 2.5 hours | 4.7 (247) | Food and sights | Check availability |
| Small-Group Street Food Tour with a Local | 3 hours | 4.7 (21) | Small groups | Check availability |
| Guided Tour and Street Food Tasting by Rickshaw | 3 hours | 4.8 (25) | Something different | Check availability |
Our pick: the Pasta Making Class in a 15th-Century Courtyard with Wine, rated 4.7 from 524 reviews on GetYourGuide.
Ratings and review counts as shown on GetYourGuide in October 2026. Check the listing for live prices and availability.
How to choose
For a hands-on morning, the pasta making class in a 15th-century courtyard is the most reviewed food experience in Lecce. On foot, the guided street food walking tour with food and wine is the most booked tour, and the street food tasting and sightseeing tour is the best balance of food and sights.
Formats: street food walks with wine through the baroque centre; food-and-sightseeing tours; underground Lecce tours with tastings; orecchiette and dessert classes in old-town courtyards; vineyard walks and tastings on the edge of town.
What you will taste: pasticciotto, rustico leccese, puccia bread, ciceri e tria with fried pasta, orecchiette, pittule fritters, caffè leccese, and Negroamaro rosato.
Price and time: roughly 50 to 80 dollars for a two-to-three-hour tour or class.
Already in Puglia? Our guide to what to eat in Puglia and where names the places locals go, what to order and where to drink.
Lecce’s food
Start with the pasticciotto, a short-pastry shell filled with custard, invented in Galatina in 1745 and eaten warm for breakfast; the rustico, a puff-pastry disc with béchamel, mozzarella and tomato, is the mid-morning snack. Caffè leccese is espresso over ice with almond syrup. Lunch is ciceri e tria, chickpeas with fresh pasta of which a third is fried, or orecchiette; puccia is the bread stuffed like a sandwich. Pittule are fried dough balls for the evening with a glass of rosato.
Tours and classes
Street food tours walk the baroque centre, Piazza del Duomo, Santa Croce, the Roman amphitheatre, with five or six tastings and wine, in two and a half hours. Cooking classes run in old courtyards from the 1400s and teach orecchiette and a dessert, often the pasticciotto itself. On the edge of town a vineyard walk with tasting is the introduction to Salento wine; for the full day, see Puglia wine tours.
Getting there
Lecce is about an hour and a half from Bari by train and 150 kilometres by road; Polignano and the Valle d’Itria are an hour and twenty minutes by car. It is the base for Otranto, Gallipoli and the Salento beaches.
How we choose
We list only experiences with a strong rating over a meaningful number of reviews and free cancellation where available, and we favour small-group and family-run hosts. FindEatLocal earns a commission when you book through GetYourGuide or Viator links on this page; it doesn’t change the price you pay. More about how we choose.
FAQ about Lecce Food Tours & Cooking Classes
Frequently asked questions
What is Lecce famous for, food-wise?
The pasticciotto above all, then rustico, caffè leccese and the Salento’s Negroamaro wines.
Is a Lecce food tour worth it?
Yes; the centre is compact, the food is unlike the rest of Italy and the tours combine it with the baroque architecture well.
Can I take a cooking class in Lecce?
Yes, in old-town courtyards; orecchiette and a dessert in about three hours, with wine.
Which food tour is best in Lecce?
On GetYourGuide the most booked is the Pasta Making Class in a 15th-Century Courtyard with Wine, rated 4.7 from 524 reviews. Also highly rated: the Guided Street Food Walking Tour with Food and Wine and the Street Food Tasting and Sightseeing Tour. The table above compares them by length, rating and who they suit.
What does a food tour cost in Lecce?
In October 2026 prices on GetYourGuide started from about €46 per person, and most of the top-rated options cost between €46 and €109. Longer experiences with a meal, private options and day trips cost more. Check the listing for the live price.