Acqua di Friso

We stayed for one week at Acqua di Friso at the beginning of July. We were looking for a comfortable, low key, relaxing quiet place where we could enjoy a beautiful beach, laze by the pool, spend time in the countryside and eat fabulous food and we could not have picked a more perfect place. We chose one of the basic rooms rather than a lodge as we already decided we would not be spending much time in our room and there was just the two of us. The room was very reasonably priced, clean and comfortable, with a fridge containing cold bottled water and a good air conditioning. However, i think if we returned I would be very tempted to try the eco lodge located in the orange grove, as this looked really stunning and in a beautiful location. The pool is located in a beautiful location from which you can see all the countryside and also the sea, which is a 5 minute drive away. You have access to a beautiful white sand beach with a lovely forest around it. This is for private use of the guests. You need a car or a bicycle to reach the beach. There is a very high standard of food in Calabria as the quality of the ingredients is extremely good. However, I can say that the food at Acqua di Friso was amazing, very tasty, made with local ingredients and you eat outside on the patio by the pool with the lovely view. We are vegetarian and this was not a problem at all, despite us giving short notice for dinner. The food was simply excellent. When we arrived I was thinking to try horse riding but was a bit scared. I found out that the husband of the couple who own Acqua di Friso (Luigi) is an amazing horseman who has been riding at competition level all his life and is a teacher of horse riding at the highest level. At this point, I thought ‘who better than to learn to ride from?’ I had a 45 minute lesson each day and really loved it. To learn in such a beautiful location with such a highly qualified and experienced teacher was a real privilege. During our trip we also went hiking in the Sila mountains which were also beautiful (45 minutes’ drive away from Acqua di Friso). There are a number of hiking trails with some beautiful waterfalls and scenery.