Travelling solo to Calabria had been on my mind for a while. We’ve travelled around Italy quite a lot as a family over the last few years, including Milan, Verona, Lake Garda, Venice, Tuscany and Rome, but we’d never been any further south than Rome.
I’m normally the one who plans all our family trips, booking the flights, working out the trains and figuring out how we’re going to get around once we arrive. I’d just never done any of it completely on my own before.
When I found return flights from Manchester to Reggio Calabria for £28, I decided to give it a go.
Scilla and Tropea were two places I’d wanted to visit for a while, and with only four days to play with, I decided to split the trip between them.
I travelled with just a backpack, stayed for three nights and used buses and trains to get around. My flights, accommodation and all my transport came to £305.16.
I spent around another £150 on food and drink while I was there, so I'll include that too as I go through the itinerary.
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One of the reasons this trip worked so well for me was the price. My return flights were only £28.40, and getting around Calabria by bus and train was really cheap too. The biggest cost was accommodation, especially as I was travelling solo and had nobody to split it with.
For my flights, three nights accommodation and all the transport I used in Calabria, I paid £305.16 in total.
• Return flights from Manchester: £28.40
• 2 nights in Scilla: £198.19
• 1 night in Tropea: £61.56
• Scilla lift: £1.71
• Airport buses: £2.57
• Train from Reggio Calabria to Scilla: £1.70
• Train from Scilla to Tropea: £4.65
• Train from Tropea to Reggio Calabria: £6.38
I spent around another £150 on food and drink over the four days, which included three evening meals, two lunches, a supermarket shop and plenty of wine.
Travelling solo definitely pushed the price up as I was paying for the accommodation myself. If two people had done exactly the same trip and shared the accommodation, the flights, stays and transport would have worked out at around £175 per person.
My flight from Manchester was early in the morning, which meant I landed in Reggio Calabria with plenty of the day still left.
From the airport, I took the local number 28 bus into Reggio Calabria. The bus was waiting just outside the terminal, cost €1.50 and took around 15 minutes to get to Reggio Calabria Centrale.
I had some time before I needed to head to Scilla, so I had a look around Reggio Calabria first. This worked really well as I could actually see a little of the city rather than landing at the airport and heading straight through it.
Later, I went back to Reggio Calabria Centrale and caught the train to Scilla.
• Train: Reggio Calabria Centrale to Scilla
• Journey time: Around 20 minutes
• Ticket: €1.70
If you're using paper train tickets in Italy, remember to validate them before getting on the train. You'll usually find the machines around the station or close to the platforms.
The train journey to Scilla was really easy and I arrived in the early afternoon, so I still had most of the afternoon and evening to explore.
Scilla train station is down near the beach, and from there I walked along towards the Lido.
My apartment was much higher up in the town, so rather than walking all the way up with my backpack, I used the public lift near the Lido. It only cost €1 and takes you up to the higher part of Scilla, with some amazing views over the beach and castle when you get to the top.
You can pay for the lift by cash or card and it saved my legs, especially in the heat. Walking down is lovely, but I definitely wouldn't have fancied walking all the way back up every time I wanted to return to the apartment.
From the top of the lift, it was around another seven minutes on foot to where I was staying.
I stayed at Blue Jolie, an apartment that actually sleeps up to six people, which was obviously far bigger than I needed on my own.
I'd seen cheaper places when I was looking, but this one had a huge balcony overlooking the castle and Chianalea and I couldn't resist the view. I paid £198.19 for two nights.
For a family or group, I think it would be a really good option as there's plenty of space, but there are much cheaper places in Scilla if you're travelling solo and aren't as easily persuaded by a balcony as I am.
That first evening, I wandered around Chianalea, the fishing village area often called “Little Venice”. It’s properly charming, cobbled and calm, with restaurants right by the water.
I ended up eating down near the Lido instead because it was golden hour and the view of the castle won. My meal with wine came to around £30.
After a really good night's sleep, I was up early and needed to find a supermarket. The apartment was self catering and I was planning to spend quite a bit of the day working from the balcony, so I wanted to pick up some breakfast and lunch.
There was a small supermarket around six minutes' walk from the apartment which had pretty much everything I needed, including fresh bread and a butcher's counter. I spent €18 on enough food and drink for the day, including a bottle of wine.
I spent most of the daytime back at the apartment working from the balcony. Admittedly, choosing an apartment with a view over Scilla wasn't great for getting much work done because I spent half the time looking out at the castle and the sea.
Later in the day I headed back out to explore more of Scilla, spending time around the beach and Chianalea before finding somewhere for dinner.
Calabria is very big on seafood and I'm really not a seafood person, so finding something I fancied took a little longer than usual. I eventually found a restaurant in Chianalea serving pizza and had dinner there with some wine. Both evenings in Scilla, my meals with wine came to around £30.
One thing worth checking if you're staying in the higher part of Scilla is the lift timetable. The opening times can change depending on the day, so I took a photo of the times while I was there. It's worth doing the same if you're relying on it to get back to your accommodation in the evening, unless you fancy finishing your night with a very long walk uphill.
On day three it was time to leave Scilla and move on to Tropea. As I was travelling with just a backpack, changing accommodation halfway through the trip was really easy.
I headed back down to Scilla station and took the train along the coast to Tropea.
• Train: Scilla to Tropea
• Journey time: Around 1 hour 13 minutes
• Ticket: €5.40
When I arrived in Tropea, it was around a 10 minute walk from the station into the centre, where my accommodation was located.
For my night in Tropea I stayed at Terrazzo Del Borgo, right in the centre and just metres from the steps leading down towards the beach.
Once again I'd gone for one of the more expensive apartments I'd found because I couldn't resist having a balcony with a view. Even then, it was only £61.56 for the night, and the location was brilliant for such a short stay.
The apartment was on the third floor and the balcony looked out towards the sea. I could also walk straight out of the apartment and be right in the middle of Tropea, which meant I didn't need to use any transport once I'd arrived.
After dropping my bag off, I spent the afternoon exploring the centre and headed down to the beach. Tropea is one of those places where you keep stopping to look at the view, especially when you first see the beach and that bright blue water from above.
I spent a few hours down by the sea before heading back into the centre for dinner that evening.
I'd been a little unsure before this trip about how I'd feel eating out alone, but by this point I was completely used to it. I could take my time, have some wine and just sit people watching without worrying about what anyone else wanted to do.
After two nights in much quieter Scilla, Tropea definitely felt busier and there was far more going on in the evening. I really liked both places, but they had a completely different feel to each other.
On my final morning, breakfast was included with my stay through a voucher for Nonna Rosa, a café right next to the apartment.
The voucher included a choice of three items from the menu, with the option to order anything extra and just pay the difference. I chose a yoghurt without really knowing what I was ordering and when it arrived it was more like an ice cream. Slightly unusual for breakfast, but I wasn't complaining.
After breakfast, I collected my things and walked back to Tropea station for the train to Reggio Calabria.
• Train: Tropea to Reggio Calabria Centrale
• Journey time: Around 1 hour 45 minutes
• Ticket: €7.40
Once back in Reggio Calabria, I took the number 28 bus from the station to the airport again. It cost €1.50 and took around 15 minutes.
This was probably the only part of the trip I'd plan slightly differently next time. The trains from Tropea back towards Reggio Calabria weren't as frequent as I'd have liked when I had a flight to catch, and I didn't particularly enjoy relying on one train to get me back to the airport on time.
If I did the same trip again, I'd probably spend the first two nights in Tropea and the final night in Scilla. Scilla is much closer to Reggio Calabria, so it would make the journey back to the airport on the final day much easier.
I loved Scilla, especially Chianalea and the views around the castle, but Tropea was bigger and there was more to see and do. I only had one afternoon and evening there and would have liked another day to explore properly and spend more time at the beach.
Finishing in Scilla would also make more sense if you're flying home from Reggio Calabria, as the train journey is only around 20 minutes. I found getting back from Tropea a little more stressful because there were fewer trains that worked with my flight time.
If I could add another couple of days to the trip, I'd happily do that and spend longer in both. Being a mum of four, disappearing off to Italy on my own for nearly a week might be pushing my luck though.
For four days, I still think combining Scilla and Tropea worked really well. They're close enough to travel between by train without wasting half a day moving around, and I got to see two very different parts of the Calabrian coast in one short trip.
I did this trip in four days and three nights, which was enough time to see both Scilla and Tropea without feeling like I spent the whole trip travelling. If you have five or six days, even better, as I would have happily spent another day in Tropea.
Yes, and they're really easy to combine. I travelled between Scilla and Tropea by train in around 1 hour 13 minutes and paid just €5.40 for my ticket. If you're only taking hand luggage like I did, moving between the two is really straightforward.
I spent two nights in Scilla and one night in Tropea. If I did the trip again, I'd switch this around and spend two nights in Tropea followed by one night in Scilla, especially if I was flying home from Reggio Calabria.
Yes. I took a small backpack for the whole four-day trip, which also made changing accommodation between Scilla and Tropea much easier. I didn't pay for any extra luggage on my flights.
This Calabria trip was my first proper solo trip, but it definitely wasn't my last. Since then, I've done a few more trips on my own around Europe, all using public transport and without spending a fortune.
If you're thinking about trying a solo trip yourself, you might also like:
• 3 Day Solo Norway Itinerary
• 4 Day Solo Switzerland Itinerary
• Solo Sicily Itinerary
• Solo Christmas Markets in France & Switzerland
I've found that shorter trips like these work really well for solo travel, especially if you don't want to commit to a full week away on your own.
Whenever I spot great-value DIY flights and accommodation from UK airports, I share them with members of the Build a Break Travel Club. If you'd like to travel without paying package holiday prices, it's a great place to start.
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