Camping Park Riva dei Greci

If you do manage to get off site or unpeel yourself from the sands of the private beach, one of your first day trips should be to the spectacular troglodyte settlement of Matera, about 45 minutes' drive away. The ancient hamlet here is thought to have been one of the first human settlements in Italy, and Metera overall is known as la Città Sotterranea or the Subterranean City, because of its habitations dug into the rock. Its old centre of Sassi, along with the Park of the Rupestrian Churches, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Also within day trip distance is Pollino National Park, the biggest in Italy. A popular option here is the walk starting at Fosso Jannace along the edge of a stream crossed several times by old wooden bridges, and through forests of spruce, beech and maple. Continue walking for a couple of hours and you'll reach glades and mountain springs, and then head down the slopes towards the Great Gate of the Pollino, across the Garden of the Gods and up to the Serra di Crispo ridge to look out over the Ionian coast and Basilicata. The Calanchi of Montalbano Jonico Regional Reserve and the archaeological sites of Metapontino are also within easy reach.