JrRusso

My husband and I are trying to plan a trip to the Almafi Coast and Sicily for June. We would love any travel tips and suggestions anyone has. We are looking for advice on where to stay, where to eat, activities (we would love to do a cooking class), which airport is best to fly into, and how to get around. Please, Help us plan our trip!

Mimar

Hope you have minimally 2 weeks. Both these destinations have a lot to see.

So how much time do you have? What places do you want to see? Will you be able to drive in Sicily? (Driving is not recommended on the Amalfi coast in June.)

HappyTrvlr

Minimum two weeks for Sicily. Get going. We had trouble getting reservations at preferred hotels and BnBs for May.

Michael

<i>Minimum two weeks for Sicily.</i>

Perhaps preferable, but not everyone will have that luxury. You might want to read my trip report--skipping over the medical part; click on my name to find it.

thursdaysd

I did exactly that a few years back.. Click on my name for the TRs. I took the train from Naples to Siracusa and flew from Palermo to Naples. I recommend the flight... Or consider the ferry.

ekc

How long is your vacation and when are you going? For the AC, you would fly into Naples and travel from there to your destination on the AC.

Man_in_seat_61

You can get train tickets Naples or Salerno to Siracuse Catania or Palermo from just 19 euros ($25) at www.trenitalia.com - bring wine and a picnic if you use the day trains, all trains get ferried across to Sicily on a train ferry, a remarkable experience.

Or there's an overnight ferry Naples-Palermo, www.snav.it or www.tirrenia.it with en suite cabins.

The journey should be part of the experience!

HappyTrvlr

Or fly Meridiana Nalpes to Catania.

kja

With only 2 weeks, I think you will need to be very selective in what you see. I spent 3 weeks in this part of the world and regret how much I was unable to see in such a limited amount of time!

I strongly recommend that you sit down with some very good guidebooks and decide what you most want to see. FWIW, I found the Rough Guide the most useful of the half dozen I used when planning my time in the area.

It is a wonderful part of the world -- enjoy!

JrRusso

Wow! Thank you for all the responses. We plan to arrive June 29th and leave July 8th. We have no plans yet, but know that we would rather do a few things right than a lot of things half way. We will be flying in from the US, would you suggest we fly into one airport and leave from another? My husband's grandmother is from Mussomeli, so he definitely wants to spend time in Sicily. We would like to do no more than two places. We want to get the full experience.

ekc

Yes, definitely fly "open jaw" as it will save you time backtracking.

yorkshire

Mussomeli looks fairly central, so I would choose whatever airport gives you the best flights/fares. I always love to read about people visiting ancestral homelands. If that is a must, then I would stick to Sicily for this trip.

thursdaysd

I make that only nine days (since the day you leave doesn't count), one of them jet lagged. I highly recommend spending all of them on Sicily, a place that can easily consume three full weeks.

bobthenavigator

I agree--- cannot do both in that short time.

dwdvagamundo

Yes--Sicily only. Does your husband still have known family in Mussomeli? While it looks fairly central, it also looks like it might be difficult to get to. I would say Palermo and either Mussomeli itself if your husband has family there and, if not, ???

JrRusso

His family is no longer there. He just wanted to take a look at the area.

How much spending money would you recommend for nine days?

yorkshire

Spending money (1) where -- and (2) for what? That is exceedingly difficult to answer. Start by deciding where you are going of course, then peruse hotels (I like booking.com and read reviews on Trip Advisor as well). Once you have an idea of your transport (i.e., will you rent a car) and accommodation budgets--the big two for most, then you can estimate a food and entertainment budget.
Guide books give estimates for this kind of thing, but i kinda figure if I can get to another country by air, then I can pretty much afford the rest. You can balance meals (cheap lunch/fancy dinner, vice versa) and do some self catering.

dwdvagamundo

Sicily is less expensive than mainland Italy. Jst priced the hotel in Palermo we stayed for five random nites in June (Hotel Garibaldi) and it was less than $100/nite including breakfast. Then priced lodging in Enna (somewhat close to Mussomeli) and they ranged from slightly over $100/nite to much less than $100.

You might try something like this: Palermo, then pick a car and drive to Cefalu (or take a train to Cefalu for a day trip from Palermo). In either event drive east to Termini Imerese and follow the SS285 south to around Mussomeli OR follow the A19 south to Enna. WARNING NOTE: I don't know how the SS285 would be. We drove the A19 from Enna to Catania and also drove along the north coast, and the road was fine. But I know nothing about the smaller routes over the mountains. Explore Mussomeli once you get into the mountains.

From Enna, you could visit the Roman Villa at Piazza Armerina(Roman mosaics) which is terribly crowded, and/or Morgantina, which is not--Greek city.)

Or you could continue from Mussomeli south to Agrigento.--Agrigento has some of the best preserved Greek temples in the world. You can pay a lot of a hotel near the Valley of the Temples. We stayed at the Blu Hotel Kaos which currently charges just over $100/nite including breakfast or you could probably do both. You might make it as far as Siracusa, which is a blast but much more expensive than the rest of Sicily

Anyway, start looking at travel guides to Sicily to pick out what YOU would want to do.

Driving in Sicily is easy, the roads are good, and the travel time is modest--we drove from Agrigento, stopped at the Roman Villa, spent some time wandering around in Morgantina, and made it to Siracusa the same day--driving time around 2:30.

whitefield82

My husband and I did 3 weeks in Italy, the last part being AC and Sicily, and we LOVED Sicily...totally underrated. We took the overnight ferry from Naples to Palermo which was awesome b/c we got a cabin and were able to sleep well (very affordable too). We spent a day in Palermo and saw the Arab-influenced souk markets and then took the train to Cefalu for 3 days (best town ever!) and then took the train again around the coast (a beautiful train ride) to Taormina for 3 nights. Taormina is beautiful and has calm Carribean-type waters (as opposed to the more rough waves Cefalu area). If you visit Taormina make sure you stay up high in the main town, not below by the water b/c they're not close at all...we took a cable car down to the beach from up high, so make sure you know where you want to spend most of your time, the town up top is super cute. From that point we took a but to the Catania airport (Ryan air) and flew up to Bologna where we met with friends. We chose not to have a car and we did really well with that, but obviously a lot of people do rent.
Here's where we stayed in Cefalu and Taormina...both smaller places but really pretty and great locations. The Cefalu place is outside of the historic old town but it's only a 10 min walk into town and it's also a 2 min walk to the beautiful coast.
Cefalu: https://www.booking.com/hotel/it/bar...39793a4;dcid=2

Taormina: https://www.booking.com/hotel/it/cie...39793a4;dcid=2
Both places had very helpful owners who gave us great recommendations for restaurants and activities.

sandralist

If I were going to Mussomenil, I would fly to Palermo, spend a few days, rent a car, and take an inland route up through Corleone and Prizzi, and spend a night or two in or near Mussomeli.

http://www.bbpadalino.it

http://www.viola-bedandbreakfast-sicily.eu

Next day I would head to Agrigento, tour the sights and then head to Sciacca to spend the night.

http://www.italyheaven.co.uk/sicily/sciacca.html

Next I would make my way back toward the Palermo airport, seeing temples and towns along the way if they are of interest, and either stay in a small town or stay in Trapani before driving myself to the airport to drop off the car and fly out.