Incoming in Reggio Calabria: guide for tour operators

In the province of Reggio Calabria, a tour operator or travel agency can sell three types of ground services: half-day or full-day experiences, 3 to 7-day packages based on the Strait and private transport from airports, ports and stations. Athena ETC, a club based in Via del Torrione 1/E in Reggio Calabria, organizes them on request, in Italian and English.

If you are looking for a DMC in Reggio Calabria or a land contact person for incoming in Southern Calabria, here you will find the catalogue, seasonality, accesses and procedure. Data verified as of 5 October 2026.

What can you sell in the province of Reggio Calabria

The Athena ETC catalog covers the city of Reggio, the Grecanica Area, the Costa Viola, the Locride and, in a day, Tropea and Pizzo. Six out of eight experiences depart from Piazza Indipendenza, on the seafront, with round-trip transport included.

Daily experiences

Reggio City + Museum Tour: 3 and a half hours from Piazza Duomo, guided walk in the center and visit to the Riace Bronzes. From 85 € per person.
Scilla Experience: 5 hours, visit of Scilla, Chianalea and the Ruffo Castle. From 40 € per person, 32 € under 12 years.
Pentedattilo, the ghost village: 4 hours, from €60 per person, €48 up to 12 years.
Bova, capital of Calabria Grecanica: 5 and a half hours with typical lunch in a restaurant, from 85 € per person.
Pentedattilo & Bova: 8 hours in the two villages of the Grecanica Area, from 100 € per person.
Gerace Experience: 7 and a half hours in Locride, from 120 € per person.
Tropea and Pizzo Excursion: full day with Pizzo truffle tasting, from 120 € per person.
Aperitif with Alpacas: 2 hours at the Pet Academy of Villa San Giovanni, from 30 € per person.

The outings in the villages, in Scilla and Tropea are accompanied excursions without a tour guide, as indicated on the product pages. The tour of Reggio instead includes a guided walk. The prices above are the public ones for members; for different experiences there is a 25% discount for 6 people or a progressive discount per group.

Multi-day packages

Calabria Christmas Traditions: 6 nights and 7 days based in Reggio, departures in December, from 2 to 15 people. It includes the Bronzes of Riace, Scilla and Chianalea, Pentedattilo, Bova and Gerace, with guided tours and typical lunches.
Spring Escape Calabria: 4 nights and 5 days between March and May 2027, 9 departures, from 2 to 16 people, between Reggio, Grecanici villages and Aspromonte.
Mediterranean Sea Discovery: 4 nights and 5 days between June and September 2027, from 2 to 8 people. One day on the Costa Viola with boat tour, one in Tropea and one on the Ionian coast, with overnight stay in a B&B in Reggio.
Scilla and Chianalea, two nights on the Strait: 2 nights and 3 days at Villa San Giovanni with breakfast, from 2 to 8 people. Departures on Fridays: 16, 23 and 30 October, 6, 13 and 20 November 2026.

All packages are in Italian and English, like the experiences. Prices, inclusions and exclusions are on the product sheets.

Private transport

Transfer from the Strait Airport: 20 € in total from 1 to 4 people, 5 € per person from 5 to 8.
Transport to and from ports and railway stations: on estimate.
Tailor-made itineraries with driver: from 2 to 8 people, on estimate.

Details on the private transport page.

When tourists travel to Calabria: the seasonality of demand

Calabria is the Italian region with the highest tourist seasonality: in 2024, 85% of overnight stays were concentrated between June and September and 58.8% in the months of July and August alone. Source: Bank of Italy, The Economy of Calabria (June 2026), based on ISTAT data.

Sea: more than 90% of 2024 presences are in municipalities with a maritime vocation.
Foreigners on the rise: they were 19.7% of presences in 2024 and 23.7% in 2025, according to provisional data from the Region's Tourism Observatory. In 2025, foreign presences grew by 28.5%, Italian by 4.9%.
Markets: German tourists exceed 30% of foreign presences. Compared to 2014, the weight of British, Americans, Poles and Czechs has risen.
Calendar: in 2024, only 39.5% of foreign presences fell in July and August, compared to 63.5% of Italian ones.

The province of Reggio Calabria has the lowest tourist density in the region: 1 presence per inhabitant in 2024, compared to a Calabrian average of 4.4. It is also the province with the largest drop compared to pre-pandemic levels (34.6% less). For the low season, the catalog already has three packages: Spring Escape in March-May, Scilla and Chianalea in October-November, Calabria Christmas Traditions in December.

How your customers arrive: planes, trains and port

Strait Airport, in Reggio Calabria

Tito Minniti Strait Airport is 7 km from the center of Reggio and in 2025 recorded 977,984 passengers, 56.7% more than in 2024. Data from the SACAL Group. In winter 2026-27, Ryanair flies abroad only to Barcelona: London, Paris, Brussels Charleroi and Frankfurt Hahn do not operate. For foreign groups between November and March, the alternatives are a flight with a stopover, for example in Milan, or arrival in Lamezia Terme, to be checked on the season schedule.

Lamezia Terme for international flights

Lamezia Terme is the first airport in Calabria, with 3,049,594 passengers in 2025 (12% more than in 2024), and the one with the most international passengers. In August 2026, for the first time, international passengers exceeded domestic passengers: 217,773, 50.3% of the total.

By car or bus: about 125 km of A2 motorway to Reggio, an hour and a half journey.
By train: The Lamezia Airlink service connects the airport and Lamezia Terme Centrale station with a bus every 30 minutes. From Lamezia Terme Centrale, direct trains to Reggio Calabria Centrale take from 1 hour and 15 minutes to 1 hour and 40 minutes.
Transfer: the transfer from Lamezia does not have a published rate and is requested by estimate.

By train from Rome, Naples and Milan

Reggio Calabria Centrale is connected to Roma Termini by direct Frecciarossa trains in about 5 and a half hours. On a Tuesday in October 2026, Trenitalia research shows 7 direct Frecciarossa trains to Rome, the fastest in 5 hours and 27 minutes. For Napoli Centrale the fastest direct takes 4 hours and 28 minutes, for Milano Centrale 8 hours and 53 minutes. From the Central Station to Piazza Indipendenza there is about 2 km on foot.

Port of Reggio, Messina and cruises

From the port of Reggio, Liberty Lines hydrofoils reach Messina in about 30-35 minutes, with departures at least every hour. The port is about 1.5 km from Piazza Indipendenza.

For the port of Reggio, the Port System Authority of the Strait is focusing on medium-sized cruise ships: in April 2025 it started dredging the seabed and in January 2026 it prepared the project for a cruise terminal on the Levante quay, worth 5.5 million euros. On the other side, in 2025 the port of Messina counted 1,032,526 people in transit between cruise passengers and crews, with stops of 8-10 hours for 94% of the companies. For 2026, Risposte Turismo estimates 15.4 million cruise passengers in Italian ports and indicates Calabria among the regions that will reach their own record.

How to book with Athena ETC: the procedure for the trade

The request starts from an email to info@athenaetc.com or a phone call to +39 379 14 92 736. Indicate dates, participants, language and services: Athena checks availability and confirms.

Product sheets: each page shows the meeting point, duration, inclusions, difficulties and languages; the packages also have the itinerary day by day and exclusions.
Groups: from 2 to 8 people for Scilla and Chianalea, Mediterranean Sea Discovery and tailor-made transport; from 2 to 15 for Calabria Christmas Traditions; from 2 to 16 for Spring Escape Calabria.
Commercial conditions: net rates, commissions, allotments and response times for tour operators and travel agencies are agreed upon request. Ask them in the first email.
Registration: Athena ETC services are reserved for members. Membership is done online from the Join us page; how to apply it to your customers is defined with Athena at the time of the agreement.

To start with a ready-made product, open the Packages page or the Reggio City + Museum Tour page. The headquarters are in Via del Torrione 1/E, Reggio Calabria.

Frequently asked questions about incoming in Reggio Calabria

What can a tour operator sell in the province of Reggio Calabria?

Experiences from 2 hours to a full day, packages from 2 to 6 nights based in Reggio or Villa San Giovanni and private transport from airport, ports and stations.

Does Athena ETC work with tour operators and travel agencies?

Yes. Trade requests arrive at info@athenaetc.com or +39 379 14 92 736 and the conditions are agreed on a case-by-case basis.

What are the trading conditions for the trade?

Net rates, commissions, allotments and response times are not published and are defined upon request. The prices of the site are those public for members.

What languages are the experiences in?

In Italian and English, as indicated on all product pages of the catalogue.

How many people can Athena manage per group?

From 2 to 8 people for tailor-made transport and for two packages, up to 15 for Calabria Christmas Traditions and up to 16 for Spring Escape Calabria.

Do the experiences include the tour guide?

Excursions to Scilla, Pentedattilo, Bova and Tropea are accompanied, without a tour guide. The Reggio City + Museum Tour includes a guided walk.

Which airport to use for international flights?

Lamezia Terme, the Calabrian airport with the most international passengers: in August 2026 they were 50.3% of its traffic. From Reggio, in the winter of 2026-27, Ryanair flies abroad only to Barcelona.

When is there more tourist demand in Calabria?

Between June and September, which in 2024 concentrated 85% of presences according to the Bank of Italy. Foreigners travel over more months than Italians.

How much does a transfer cost from Reggio Emilia airport?

20 € in total from 1 to 4 people, 5 € per person from 5 to 8. Ports, stations and itineraries with driver are on estimate.

Incoming in the province of Reggio Calabria: a guide for tour operators and travel agencies