Calabria

Jay, below is our recentish Calabria TR. Fair warning: it is a loooooong and quirky combo of humour, music, tips plus plenty of imagery. Hope it proves to be helpful, if even as a sleep-aid.
Tante belle cose.
I am done. The end.
https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/il-calabrese-a-photo-essay-inc-a-bit-of-rome-1732571/

We started in Reggio Calabria by rental car, and stayed in Castrovillari. I’d go there again. Afterwards, we stayed one night in Salerno, seeing the ruins at Paestum enroute, and picking up Mozzarella di Bufala on the way.

We then drove to Sorrento, and stayed several nights, making daytrips to Naples, Pompeii, and Herculaneum from there. We’ve subsequently stayed for several nights in Naples, if a big, lively city is where you’d choose to land for a few days, and those archeological sights are easily reachable from there.

We eventually made it to Rome by train, turning in the car in Sorrento.

We were in Reggio Calabria last fall. We actually stayed in Reggio for 5 nights and enjoyed exploring the city very much. We took the direct train between Reggio and Rome that took about 6 hours. We traveled between Sicily and Reggio Calabria via the fast Liberty Lines hydrofoil from Messinia,

We are doing a similar trip in October. Our plan is to spend a few days in Tropea. IT looks like a great place to stay. We may do a day trip to Pizzzo. Since the end of a 3 week trip, we may just relax.

We enjoy Tropea very much. With a taxi or car I recommend visiting, Villa Paola. In addition to a gorgeous villa (with high end rooms) they have a terrace bar with apertivi.

Becky, how did you get to the beach from Villa Paola? Is it an easy walk? If not, how are the taxi prices or does the hotel offer transport to the beach?

Can you walk from VP to restaurants in Tropea? (I know the hotel's restaurant gets good reviews, too)

I'm grateful for any info as I've had that hotel, and Tropea, for ages but have not been yet..

My memory is that Villa Paolo is a ways from the ocean on a hillside. You could write them and ask, [email protected]. I wouldn’t walk to the villa from town. Parts of the road are quite steep, confusing and with lots of cars.

I checked the Liberty hydrofoil and it has awful reviews.
trying to find a way from Reggio to the ferry that goes to Sicily

I checked the Liberty hydrofoil and it has awful reviews.
trying to find a way from Reggio to the ferry that goes to Sicily.

We won't have a car, so We will need to get from a little village south of Reggio, then head towards Reggio and at some point back to Sicily

I've taken Liberty Lines hydrofoil several times to from Milazzo to Salina. No problems whatsoever.
I guess the Calabria route could be different, though..

We also had no problem with the hydrofoil. If you are staying in Reggio, it is the quicket way to get to Messina and the walk to the train station if you want to catch a train to Palermo or Catania.

I am following this post. We are flying into Lamerzia Terme from Madrid. We plan to travel by train while in Calabria. n. Tropea will likely be our base. For those that haven't read Carlo Levi's Christ Stopped in Eboli, it is an excellent read and an enlightening book on the culture, history, and people, and customs of southern Italy. We enjoy beaches but also looking for the towns and villages that retain their cultural customs, food, identity. Happy to have recommendations in Calabria.