I am looking at Alitalia flights to Palermo from Reggio, and am horrified to see that they go to Rome for a few hours, then fly from Rome to Palermo! Is there any other reliable way to get to Palermo from Calabria, besides driving?
Do I need to take a train back to Naples, and fly from there?
Why would you be horrified? Are all American midsize towns, less than 200 miles apart, connected by direct non stop flights? No, they are not, because those flights would not be profitable. That is even truer in Italy where there are several alternative to flying, which are much faster than flying, even non stop.
For example, besides driving, one could take the fast ferry from Reggio to Messina Marittima and from here take a train or bus to Palermo. You can be in Palermo in about 4 hours either way. Of course the fastest would be a car rental. Ferry plus drive would be about 3 hours.
I am looking at Alitalia flights to Palermo from Reggio, and am
horrified to see that they go to Rome for a few hours, then fly from
Rome to Palermo!
Why is that horrifying? The closest airport that Alitalia flies to Palermo from is Rome.
Is there any other reliable way to get to Palermo from Calabria,
besides driving?
Take the ferry across the strait to Messina and the train from there, costs from €14.
Do I need to take a train back to Naples, and fly from there?
That could be an option, but would probably take longer and be more expensive than taking the train to Palermo.
Use the Trenitalia train planner for the rail + ferry connections.
Rail, bus. Too sort a distance for a flight.
Just take the train. Some of them are directly shunted on the ferry across the straits, it is a unique experience. Trenitalia for bookings and connections, travel time to Reggio di C. is about five hours.
