Reggio di Calabria Travel Forum

WE are in Palermo in May. We thought we would go up to Reggio Di Calabria from there; hire a car and drive North.
2 questions. 1.Best way to get from Palermo to Reggio Di Calabria (safely..with luggage)(IE: Is there a Ferry or train??)
2. Any reccomendations on good place to hire car in Reggio Di Calabria - preferably not in the middle of town as we will be a little nervous driving in Italy at first (we are from Australia)? We want to take the hire car right up and leave at a town somewhere near Florence in a few days / 1 week after a nice back roads drive!
Many thanks for any reccomendations you may have.

There are solutions to this but none of them are straightforward.
You can catch a train from Palermo Centrale but getting to Reggio di Calabria involves some changes.
Most services mean changing two or three times. The most regular service changes at Messina Cenrale, then Messina Mare and Villa San Giovanni.
Although not as regular there are two services where you would only have to change
at Villa San Giovanni on the mainland.
They are:
0730 from Palermo Centrale to Reggio Calabria(one change) cost is 21.40 Euros
and takes 5 hours to your destination.
1020 from Palermo Centrale (all as above)

On reaching Reggio di Calabria, all the car hire companies are at the airport,
8.5 kms south of the station. There is a train service that runs there, but with
5 hours of train journies already behind you and with luggage, it may be easier to just take a taxi. The two car hire companies that come to mind are Hertz and Europcar. Both companies have pick up and drop facilities.

The autostrada is easily reached from the airport without having to drive in town.