We're taking a two week holiday to Italy in early September. Our first week will be based in Sorrento because I've always wanted to visit this area - do the Amalfi coast, Pompeii etc.

We think that two weeks in Sorrento would be too boring and so we're thinking of then travelling south to the boot of Italy basing ourselves for 5 nights in Tropea doing a mixture of relaxing and visiting places like Reggio di Calabria and the Aspromonte mountains.

Has anyone been here? Is it a worthwhile part of Italy to holiday in?

The alternative (apart from staying in Sorrento for 2 weeks) is to travel across to the heel of Italy, basing ourselves for 4 nights in Alberobello, visiting Lecce, Martina Franca, Locorotondo etc.

Again, if anyone has any experience of this part of the world, I'd appreciate your thoughts.

And, if you've been to both the heel and the boot, what's the best part to choose.

Sorry about the length of the post, but hopefully it'll trigger off some nice memories for some of you!

I would much prefer Puglia, basing in Lecce and/or Martina Franca. You can see my trip report at slowtrav.com from spring 2000.

I visit family in Calabria almost every year & do day trips to Tropea. If you click on my screen name you can find quite a few trip reports of mine that include Calabria. I think it would (or could be) more relaxing in Calabria because from what I know of Puglia, there seems to be more to see. Tropea is extremely scenic and the food is amazing in Calabria.

Thanks Bob - your report was great reading. Thanks, too, for pointing me to Slow Travel - what a great web site!

Thank you AP6380. I like the sound of the relaxation, so it may well be Calabria!