Hi
Later this year we will be visiting Calabria. We have 3 days/2 nights to get to Positano. We plan to arrive by air, hire a car and wander up the coast. In early September should we pre-book the rental car and accommodation? All advice appreciated please.

Where are you flying into? Lamezia or Reggio Calabria? What coast are you interested in driving up, east or west? I think because Calabria in general isn't very touristy, you should target what area you would like to stay in for 2 nights and book a place.

Thank you AP6380. We are arriving in Reggio and are visiting the villages my husband's parents were born in. We then want to drive up the Amalfi side to Positano.

What villages are you going to? Do either of you speak Italian? Not that you absolutely need to, but if anything a basic knowledge will be extremely useful in Calabria.

Hi - yes husband speaks Italian. Cant remember names of villges but know they are very small and on west coast. We only want to spend a small time in each village but would like to stay near the beaches.We'll probably have one night in Paestrum which looks lovely and not sure about the other night. Would we need to be pre-booking do you think?

I'm a planner, so I like to pre-book before I go anywhere so I can spend most of my time siteseeing. I will be passing through Paestum this summer on my way to Maratea, I had considered this hotel which looks good: http://www.villasirio.it/ I will then head to my family's town on the east coast of Calabria.

AP: Where on the east coast of Calabria? My maternal grandfather was born in Cirò (province of Crotone), a town famous for wine-making since the time of the Greeks. Was your family from near there?

My family is in Gioiosa Ionica. I'm not sure if that's near Ciro?

It's not really near. Viewing Italy as a leg and foot, "your" town is in the ball of the foot, and "mine" is in the upper part of the heel (where the Achilles tendon joins the heel). But both are on the eastern side. I've never been to Cirò. It's the only one of the three towns of my ancestry that I've never visited.