✈️
Kaunas → Naples · FR 1334 · Ryanair (Buzz)
10:55 depart → 12:40 arrive · 2h 45min
~€135
🚆
Naples → Paola (train) · then pick up bikes
11:45 depart → 14:50 arrive · Direct · Collect rental bikes in Paola
~€30
Paola → Amantea
EasyCoastal
Short warm-up after a day of travel. Flat Tyrrhenian coast, rolling at times. Don't race it — heat will be a surprise. Save legs for Day 3.
📍 Town facts
🏰Amantea's old town sits on a ridge 200m above the sea — the medieval castle was a Norman stronghold in the 11th century.
🐟The town is famous for mosciame — dried swordfish that's been a local delicacy since Arab traders brought the technique in the 9th century.
🌊In summer the sea here is the warmest on the Tyrrhenian coast, regularly hitting 28°C — the shallow bay traps heat.
Amantea → Pizzo
MediumCoastal
First real day. SS18 hugs the coast — rolling hills, sea always in view. Pizzo = mandatory tartufo stop. The chocolate-hazelnut one from a local gelateria, not the tourist version.
📍 Town facts
🍦Pizzo invented tartufo di Pizzo in the 1950s — allegedly by accident when a gelataio had too much leftover mix and improvised. Now it has EU protected status.
⚓Joachim Murat, Napoleon's brother-in-law and King of Naples, was executed by firing squad in Pizzo's castle in 1815. His cell is still there.
🏖️The beach below the town has a sea cave — Grotta del Palombaro — with a natural underwater chapel carved into the rock by a local fisherman in the 1990s.
Pizzo → Capo Vaticano via Tropea
ModerateTropea ★ stopCoastal
Shortest riding day — budget time for Tropea. Clifftop town, best visual of the trip. Capo Vaticano agriresort has a pool. Use it. Legs need recovery before Day 5.
📍 Town facts
🌋On a clear day from Capo Vaticano you can see all seven Aeolian Islands at once — including the volcanic Stromboli, which erupts regularly and glows red at night.
🧅Tropea, just 8km north, is the birthplace of the famous cipolla rossa di Tropea — the sweet red onion so prized it's exported across Europe and eaten raw in salads.
🌊The water off Capo Vaticano has a permanently submerged cliff that plunges 40m straight down — one of the top dive sites in southern Italy.
Capo Vaticano → Bagnara Calabra 🔥 via Gioia Tauro coast
HARDQueen stage
This is the hardest day. 1,100m of climbing — more than all other stages combined. Eat a full breakfast, start slow, don't chase anyone on the first climb. This will split the group. That's fine.
📍 Town facts
⚔️Bagnara Calabra is the swordfish capital of Italy. Local fishermen still hunt swordfish from passerelle — 50-metre lookout masts bolted to the front of boats — a technique unchanged for 2,000 years.
🎭The town was almost completely destroyed by the 1783 Calabrian earthquake, one of the deadliest in European history. The rebuilt town follows the same narrow grid of lanes.
🍋The bergamot orange — used in Earl Grey tea and virtually every major perfume house — grows almost exclusively in a 100km strip of coast you'll be riding through on Stage 6.
Bagnara Calabra → Melito di Porto Salvo
MediumToe of Italy
Recovery day in name only — longest by distance. Scilla castle worth a photo stop. Sicily visible across the Strait of Messina. Pace carefully, legs will still feel yesterday.
📍 Town facts
🗺️Melito di Porto Salvo is the southernmost town in mainland Italy. The coordinates are 37.9°N — further south than Tunis.
🫒The surrounding area has one of the highest densities of ancient olive trees in Europe. Some trees near the coast are estimated at over 2,000 years old.
🌊You're at the exact point where the Tyrrhenian Sea ends and the Ionian Sea begins — Stage 7 will feel completely different because it is.
Melito di Porto Salvo → Brancaleone Marina 🏁
EasyIonian coast
Victory lap. Flat Ionian coast — completely different vibe from the Tyrrhenian side. Enjoy it slowly. Go in the water at Brancaleone. Bikes get picked up by the rental company, then train back to Naples.
🚆
Brancaleone → Naples (train)
Ionian line → Reggio Calabria → Naples · ~4–5h · Bikes collected by rental company at Brancaleone
~€30–50
📍 Town facts
🌊Brancaleone Marina sits on the Ionian coast, where the sea is deeper, clearer and calmer than the Tyrrhenian side you've spent the week on.
🏛️Just inland from the beach are the ruins of ancient Brenteision — a Greek colony that predates the Roman empire by 300 years. You'll ride past farmland that was once their agora.
🐢The Ionian coast of Calabria is one of the last nesting sites in Europe for loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta). If you're at the beach at dusk in May, you might see one.
✈️
Naples → Kaunas · FR 1333 · Ryanair
13:05 depart → 16:50 arrive · 2h 45min · ⚠️ Only 4 seats remaining at time of planning
~€88
Stage 2 · Paola → Amantea (30km) · ↑115m ↓170m
↓-45m
Drop to the coastkm 0.0–6.1
6.1km1.4% avg
Paola ridge → Tyrrhenian shore
↑+55m
San Pietro in Amanteakm 17.0–22.5
5.5km1.8% avg
Sustained climb on approach to town
↓-52m
Into Amanteakm 22.5–28.2
5.7km1.6% avg
Fast sweeping drop to the waterfront
Stage 3 · Amantea → Pizzo (58km) · ↑304m ↓162m
↑+120m
Cessaniti climbkm 24.6–43.0
18.4km1.1% avg
Long inland detour, gradual ascent
↑+95m
Pizzo approachkm 46.0–53.0
7.0km2.4% avg
Final push before the descent into town
↓-90m
Into Pizzokm 53.0–58.4
5.4km2.8% avg
Earn that tartufo — sweeping drop to the gulf
Stage 4 · Pizzo → Capo Vaticano via Tropea (42km) · ↑474m ↓508m
↓-113m
Opening descent from Pizzokm 0–3
3km6.3% avg
Immediate drop from Pizzo ridge to sea level. Fast and technical — warm up the brakes before the coast road.
→rolling
Coastal rollers via Tropeakm 3–34
31km8–100m elevation band
Constant small punches along the Tyrrhenian coast. Never flat, never brutal — just relentless. Stop in Tropea. Worth it.
↓-61m
Descent to coastkm 27–29
2km65m drop
Quick drop to sea level before the next punch.
↑+83m
Coastal climbkm 29–33
4.6km3.0% avg
Punchy climb to 91m. Legs starting to feel the accumulated day here.
↓-63m
Back to valleykm 33–37
3km60m drop
Drop down to the valley floor at 28m. Legs get a brief rest before the sting in the tail.
↑+78m
Capo Vaticano climbkm 37–41
3.6km3.7% avg
The real finish climb. Starts at km 37, tops out at 106m. Short but after 37km of rollers it will hurt. Pool at the top.
Stage 5 · Capo Vaticano → Bagnara 🔥 Queen Stage (73km) · ↑1,226m ↓1,324m
↑+173m
Capo Vaticano ridgekm 0.0–6.3
6.3km4.6% avg
Immediate climb off the cape — steep start
↓-261m
Drop to SS18 coastkm 6.3–14.4
8.1km5.7% avg
Fast switchbacks to sea level
↑+144m
Palmi coastal climbkm 14.4–19.6
5.2km4.9% avg
Undulating push through Palmi — deceptive
↓-195m
SS18 coastal rollerskm 19.6–31.3
11.7km2.9% avg
Rolling descent — looks like rest, isn't
↑+492m
Aspromonte approachkm 32.7–62.5
29.8km2.8% avg
THE climb. 29km, +492m. This is where Stage 5 becomes the queen stage.
↓-428m
Grand descent into Bagnarakm 62.5–72.7
10.2km9.7% avg
7.8km, 428m drop. Your reward. Let it go.
Stage 6 · Bagnara → Melito (69km) · ↑493m ↓493m
↑+40m
Bagnara exit climbkm 0.0–10.2
10.2km0.7% avg
Short punch out of town through Chianalea
↓-35m
Drop to Scillakm 10.2–20.0
9.8km0.6% avg
Into the fishing village — castle on the rock
↑+120m
Reggio coastal rollskm 20.0–50.0
30.0km0.7% avg
Gentle rolling all the way through Reggio Calabria
↓-85m
Punta del Pezzokm 22.0–30.0
8.0km1.9% avg
Long drop toward the Strait of Messina — Etna visible
↓-40m
Final run to Melitokm 55.0–69.1
14.1km0.5% avg
Ionian side opens up — flat and fast to the hotel
Stage 7 · Melito → Brancaleone Marina (32km) · ↑139m ↓143m — victory lap
→flat
Ionian coast — flat deliverykm 0.0–25.0
25.0km
No significant climbing. Just ride and look at the sea.
↑+42m
Capo Bruzzano headlandkm 25.0–28.0
3.0km2.5% avg
Last climb of the entire tour. Tiny. Sprint it.
↓-38m
Into Brancaleone Marinakm 28.0–31.9
3.9km1.8% avg
Gravity delivers you to the beach. Tour complete.