Dog trekking in Calabria: the best excursions with the dog

Are you looking for the right place for dog trekking in Calabria? The wide green spaces of no less than 3 national parks and dozens of state and regional reserves are ideal places to experience mountain hiking with your dog and the whole family.

Going on holiday and hiking with your dog is always great fun, but requires adequate information on the most suitable places for the well-being and safety of your four-legged friends and the humans accompanying them.

Here is a selection of places where dog trekking is permitted and facilitated through specific services and spaces.

Fancy a 6-legged trek in Calabria? Let's now discover the naturalistic places where you can roam freely (or in a regulated manner) with your pets, enjoying the most beautiful excursions with your dog.

Just as the summer season calls for knowledge of "pet friendly" beaches to experience the sea in the company of our animal friends, so do mountain lovers seek out trails to walk freely with their dogs in tow.

Dog trekking is the sporting activity that combines a passion for the woods with that for dogs, carving out time to spend in their company.

Hiking with your dog in complete freedom is priceless! In any case, before setting off, it is a good idea to take along a muzzle, leash and hygiene bags to use depending on the circumstances.

If you are looking for places to go trekking on six legs in Calabria, which are immersed in nature but less demanding than the mountains, know that several parks and gardens can be walked with your dog by observing simple rules of behaviour.

For example, the Villa Vittoria Park in the municipality of Mongiana (VV): an educational nursery centre with a botanical garden with 200 different species and a garden of medicinal plants. 

If, on the other hand, you are dog trekking in the city and would like to visit places of culture with your dog, make sure that museums and monuments accept their "pet" friends as visitors. Here are the ones you can access:

• Amarelli Liquorice Museum, Rossano (CS)
• Le Castella Fortress, Isola Capo Rizzuto (KR)
• Cattolica of Stilo (RC)
• National Archaeological Museum, Reggio Calabria
• Museum and Archaeological Park of Ancient Kaulon (RC)
• National Archaeological Museum and Park of Locri (RC) 

Dog trekking in the woods of Calabria is a fun and immersive experience, especially if you know the right locations where your four-legged friend can give free rein to his energy.

Here are some suggestions for hiking in the mountains with your dog...

One of the most beautiful mountain hikes with your dog is in the heart of the Sila National Park, between the provinces of Cosenza, Catanzaro and Crotone.

In the park, where you can breathe the best air in Europe, you and your dog will be at ease in all seasons of the year: in summer, to enjoy the coolness; in autumn and spring, in search of fruits and undergrowth products; and in the middle of winter for a snowshoe hike or a sled ride.

In Sila, dogs are also allowed in the Garcea and Cupone Visitor Centres. An experience not to be missed? The six-legged trek around Lake Arvo.

Another highly recommended hike with your dog is the one in the Serre Regional Park, around the town of Serra San Bruno (VV).

Perfect for trekking with your dog, the Frassati Path starts from the Shrine of Santa Maria nel Bosco and runs through the majesty of the Serre forest to the town of Fabrizia.

From here one can also easily reach the Aspromonte National Park (RC) by following the suggestive Brigante Path in the company of your dog.