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Travel to Tropea, Italy. HELP!!!

Posted by on

We are travelling to Tropea at the beginning of July with my husband and 2 year old daughter. We are planning the trip at the moment and I have a few questions for any Tropea experts out there, I would really value your input :)

  1. We are arriving at Lamezia Terme airport - is it worth hiring a car OR getting a car transfer from Lamezia to Tropea?

  2. Do we need a car in Tropea (we will be there for 3 days)?

  3. Would you stay in the town centre or at the beach? If we were to have a car would it be hard to stay in the city centre as I've noticed most hotels don't have parking? Any good hotel recommendations for city centre?

  4. This one is the one I'm stressing about the most - we will then be travelling from Tropea to Taormina and I need to find the easiest way to get there, bearing in mind we will have a 2 year old and lots of luggage.My husband said he doesn't mind driving but not sure if this is the best option? Are there any companies out there that do private transfers that don't cost an absolute fortune?

Sorry, there's a few questions but any input would be greatly appreciated :)

Grazie!

Posted by
28450 posts

I imagine a private transfer would be quite costly. It's over 90 miles one-way, and there's the ferry crossing, which adds extra time.

Verify that your proposed car-rental company doesn't prohibit taking the car onto the ferry.

There is train service, but several transfers are required and it will be slower than driving.

Check with your Taormina lodgings to see what the parking arrangements will be. If you don't plan to use the car in Sicily, check to be sure there's not boing to be a painful drop charge.

Posted by
16209 posts
  1. You can also take a taxi from the airport (Airport Code: SUF) to Lamezia Centrale train station then take a train. The taxi ride is 10€, the train from Lamezia Centrale to Tropea is 4.20€ per person (your 2yr old is free) and there is one every hour at least (train journey under one hour). I don’t know how much a private car transfer would be, but you are looking at about 60km (almost 40miles) so it can’t be less than 80-90€.
  2. If you just stay in Tropea you won’t need a car. And if your hotel is in the historical center, you may have a hard time parking too. If you intend to roam around the region, then a car is good to have. Just select accommodations that are car friendly in that case. So it depends on what you intend to do.
  3. You can walk from the city center to the Tropea beach in 5-10 minutes. The city center is next to the beach. You can walk from the train station to the beach in20 min ((10 min to the city center).
  4. You can take a train from Tropea to Taormina. But there are a couple of train changes and a ferry.and it takes ove 4 hours. The price is good though, under 9€ each. If you drive, it is at least 3.5 hours with the ferry. Make sure your rental car company allows putting a car on a ferry. Contractual terms sometimes prohibit that option.

Private transfers for those distances are costly. To me the choice would be between trains or rental car.

One more thing. Train travel and lots of luggage don’t go well together. Learn to pack light if you use trains.

Posted by
1018 posts

The car rental agencies are located just outside of the terminal to the right. The terminal, by the way, looks like a giant red pipe. A car will give you some flexibility if you want to explore the region. Since you plan on staying three days only, a car may not be worth the cost.My family comes from an hour north of Tropea and we've been here many times. A cab from the terminal to the train station is a cogent strategy and very easy to manage.

Stay in the historic center of Tropea. A large portion of the Calabria coastline is being developed with condos and other building projects. Several years ago we met a bunch of English tourists who were buying these condos to use as a summer home. They told me the two primary reason for this were the strong English Pound against the Euro and it was only a four hour flight from England.

The train to Taormina would be a good method of transit. Once in Sicily you could take a cab to your hotel in Taormina. We spent a week in Taormina in 2014 and enjoyed the time there. The roads in Taormina were such that our Garmin GPS looked like a dish of Linguine.

One question: Why some much luggage? Can you streamline to reduce the number? You might thank yourself later.

Buon viaggio,

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