JES28

Can anyone recommend one over the other? La Fresteria is in Menfi and Villa Sicilia is in Castelvetrano so they are close enough in proximity that I don't think the area is going to matter..Is anyone familiar with them both to give a recommendation?
Thanks!

Dayle

HI JES,

I don't remember now when you are traveling, but have you checked availability first? Could be the decision will be made for you.

I can only say La Forresteria Planeta Estate was wonderful when I went there in 2013. It's about a 15 - 20 minute drive outside the city of Menfi in the countryside. The small hotel is surrounded by its vineyards and kitchen gardens. I had my favorite, lavender, blooming right outside my room. Private little patio was a heavenly place.

I think you are going to have a hard time finding someone who has stayed at both since they are so near to each other. Maybe someone who has made multiple trips.

I know you have also posted on TA so have you had a response there?

Huggy

I second the recommendation of La Forresteria. My wife and I stayed there a few years ago while visiting Planeta for a wine tasting event. Very accommodating. The restaurant was booked for a wedding so we were served dinner in the lobby. The meal was excellent. Very restful property. We enjoyed our stay very much.

JES28

Thanks so much for your responses and all of your help. They are both available and our only hesitation with Foresteria is that although the property looks beautiful, the rooms look a little dated on the website to us. I know it's difficult to tell from photos though...Any thoughts on the rooms?

Dayle

I was very happy with my room. Its not fancy but more what I might describe as comfortably elegant. Nice bathroom, modern shower. High end toiletries, lovely sheets. Quiet. Excellent service. I dont travel on a luxury budget and La Forresteria was the most expensive place I stayed on my Trip. Remember its a countryside winery type of place. I loved it. If you are too picky, you are bound to be dissapointed most of your life.......

JES28

Well thanks for that Dayle...have travelled enough to know what I like and don't and most of the time I'm not disappointed bc I do the research upfront. Spending the time & money I'd prefer to be in a place that I like.

julies

The other question you need to ask yourself is if you'd prefer the isolation of farm estate in the countryside or something more accessible to a town and the ability to stroll through a town. That is something only you can answer.

We are the type of people who prefer the ability to walk around a small town in the evenings, so during our trip to Sicily we purposely avoided rural estates and masserias. And, during our travels when we drove by some of them, it just reinforced that for us we had made a good decision.

JES28

That is a great point Julies. Where were your favorite areas/towns you stayed when you were there?

julies

We loved Ortygia. We were totally surprised that we liked Piazza Amerina since I had grudgingly located us there for two nights figuring it was the best way to maximize our opportunities for seeing the villa with mosaics. Modica was interesting and gave opportunities for lots of daytrips. For us, one night in Erice was sufficient. We really enjoyed big city Palermo.

JES28

Thanks Julies! Is there a place you might skip if you did it again with limited time?

julies

I guess if I had to select three of the places I mentioned, I'd go with Ortygia (great ambiance and lots of interesting just wandering around. Piazza Amerina--there is the combination of the villa with its mosaics (we've done a ton of traveling, and I've never seen anything like this at all), and it is also a nice small town to wander in. Palermo--great city which also has interesting daytrips. I know we are all different. Hope this helps. I did a long trip report. Click my name to find it.

JES28

Thanks so much Julies! I will read your trip report!

JES28

I'm back and wanted to report that I chose La Foresteria Planeta and I could not have been happier. I will do a trip report, but for anyone who looks this up with a search in the future, I wanted to answer my own question.
I had been concerned about the rooms looking a little dated on the site compared to the beauty of the rest of the property (it's so hard to tell from photos and you never know until you're there..I have had some experiences in the past that were disappointing). The opposite was the case here. The entire place was heaven on earth and I could have spent a week there. The property is breathtaking and perfectly maintained, the staff is incredibly accommodating, the food and wine is incredible -some of the best we had on our trip. The rooms were large, high end, classic/traditional Italian elegance. Everything was very clean and we loved that they had a double shower. I also liked the little things like the fact that they gave new soap each day and each room was given new shampoos with a seal (we stayed in some very high end places that gave 1 soap for your stay that you had to share with sink and shower unless requesting more and refilled the last guests shampoos...not the best scenario for someone who's a little bit of a germ phobe!)
We also loved that they had a private beach house with a changing room, chairs, umbrellas, food & wine. The beach was also heavenly with powdery sand, clear blue water and a vineyard as it's surroundings. Just beautiful!!!!

sundriedtopepo

Thanks for reporting back, JES28, this sounds like a very desirable option for the area.

Dayle

Jes,

I'm very glad to hear that you liked it for all the reasons I did!
Yes, a week at La Forresteria Planeta Estate would not be too long.

plufmud

Jes,

Looking forward to your trip report! We have 2 nights planned at La Foresteria in Sept. Hopefully you will share your restaurant experiences in Taormina!

JES28

Plufmud,
I'm drowning in kids, work and home reno now that I'm back so I wanted to make sure to get you my reco's before I can sit down to do the trip report!
We only had 2 meals there but I will give you our reco and those of the ppl we met while there:

Nettuno: http://www.ristorantenettunodasiciliano.it/
We ate here our first night. Food was fabulous!

Belmond Grand Hotel Timeo: You MUST go here for a drink. Incredible views of Mt. Etna in a gorgeous setting. Drinks are expensive, but worth the visit. We ate dinner here as well. Expensive, but good (though not amazing) and the view is unbeatable.

Hotel Villa Carlotta: We tried to make reservations too late and it was full. It has a beautiful view and I heard the food is great but cannot comment myself.

Maffei: Recommended by our hotel and several guests who ate there to eat in their pretty outdoor garden, but it was too hot while we were there so we skipped it.

Have an amazing time and lmk if you need recommendations for any other areas!

plufmud

Jes,

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply as I understand about the kids,work, etc. With school starting soon it is difficult to find any free time!
Sounds like you had a wonderful time in Sicily and thanks for the restaurant reviews! We are staying in Palermo, Erice, La Foresteria, Noto, Ortygia, and Taormina and would appreciate any recommendations for any of these areas.

Looking forward to your trip report!

JES28

Hi plufmud,
I'm so sorry I haven't had a chance to respond until now. When do you leave for your trip? I need to do my trip report but life has been getting in the way!
My favorite place to eat when we were at La Foresteria was the hotel restaurant itself. They will pair your courses with their amazing wines and the food and atmosphere is amazing. We had a couple of meals here it was so good, and the staff was beyond great.
If we had another night we would have gone to Da Vittorio which is right on the water near La Foresteria's beach location which got great reviews and looked really nice.
We had a really great lunch at Bottega del Porto in Sciacca with fresh seafood right off the boat.
One evening we went to Valley of Temples and had dinner at Villa Athena which is a beautiful spot with the temples lit up above you. I didn't love the food there and found it expensive for the so so meal but I guess you're paying for the scenery and we ended up having a (semi) private concert by Lenny Kravitz who was playing for the secret Google camp at the temple above us which was AMAZING, so we just happened to totally luck out with the timing despite the meal!
In Palermo, you have to try the street foods that they are famous for. We went out and enjoyed it as an our apertivo before a late dinner. Antica Focacceria San Francesco is a famous place in a beautiful courtyard and I would highly recommend.
We also ate at Ferro di Cavallo which was a really bustling place with great food at really reasonable prices with great ambiance. It seemed to be a major local favorit and we really enjoyed it.
We did not make it to the other spots on your trip as we sadly didn't have the time this trip...next time! Have an amazing trip and hope this helps!!

JES28

And Dayle, thank you for what I think was the first recommendation of La Foresteria which put it on my radar and ultimately on my itinerary!