Cosenza sits between two significant natural areas that are easy to reach by car. The Sila plateau, a high tableland of forest, lakes, and mountain pasture, starts about 30 kilometres east — the road climbs steeply from the valley into genuinely alpine scenery. In summer the Sila is cool and green; in winter it has reliable snow and a small ski area. The Pollino National Park, on the Calabria-Basilicata border, is roughly 80 kilometres north and contains some of the most remote mountain landscape in southern Italy, including ancient Bosnian pine forests and dramatic gorge systems.
Closer in, the old Albanian settlements of the province — particularly Spezzano Albanese and San Demetrio Corone — preserve the Arbëreshë language and culture, a living relic of 15th-century Albanian immigration to Italy. The communities still speak a form of Albanian not used anywhere else.