Lido Tropical

If you’re interested in further time travels, take a 45-minute car trip to Papasidero, a hilltop town with church frescoes and wooden statues from the third and sixth centuries, or tour the well preserved Palaeolithic paintings in Romito cave an hour and 10 minutes away. For after more active stuff, Papasidero is the starting point for rafting trips down the Lao river, while the high peaks, beech and pine forests and vast canyons of Pollino National Park can be thoroughly explored on foot within an hour’s drive. Further off, but worth it for a real wilderness adventure, the densely forested slopes of the Iona Serra della Guardia State Nature Reserve two hours away are home to wolves and wildcats, buzzards and sparrowhawks. Catch boats from land-based Cirella to the little outcrop of the same name: it’s a quick trip and rewarded at the other end by clear seas for diving, quiet beaches for lazing and a herb-scented, wildlife-heavy interior for wanderings. And when you just want sliding, screeching and splashing about? Half an hour’s drive away, Aquafans waterpark has enough flumes, cascades and waves for everyone.