lreynold1

Thanks, TDudette and yestravel,

I realize that a lot of people don't like one night stops. My husband and I do them frequently, either in a short trip or as part of a longer trip interspersed with longer stays. We only have carry-ons, are pretty low maintenance, and for me there is really no difference between having a nice breakfast and leaving on a day trip or having a nice breakfast and leaving on a trip that will end in a different place. So that was part of my thinking.

I realize that we could go to Noto on a day trip from Siracusa, and that was my original plan. But having the car while we visit Noto will also allow for a fuller day than just taking the train/bus out and back to Noto from Siracusa would have. We do love driving around the countryside, and it looks like there are a lot of nice drives around Noto.

I'm still thinking things through, though, so I appreciate all the comments.

annhig

<<But having the car while we visit Noto will also allow for a fuller day than just taking the train/bus out and back to Noto from Siracusa would have. We do love driving around the countryside, and it looks like there are a lot of nice drives around Noto.>>

I think that you are in the same situation that we were before we dropped Agrigento, trying to squeeze a quart into a pint pot.

Dare I suggest that if you dropped Taormina you would have time to spend a couple of nights in Noto - that would enable you to do some of the drives around Noto, perhaps see Modica, or even Ragusa, and give you another night for later in the trip too.

lreynold1

Ann, you must be a mind reader. If my AA agent was the miracle worker I think she was, she has booked us straight through on one ticket. I had thought we would fly from Palermo to Rome on a separate ticket, spend two nights in Rome(one night in Rome is kind of pointless,IMO), then head home. BUT... She seems to have booked us straight, which means that we now have two extra nights in Sicily.

Before I start changing all my reservations, I am going to wait to confirm that the ticket actually clears. Although she was able to book us on a non-One World airline, which no one else was able to do in my two long conversations with agents on the phone, the airline has 72 hours to reject it apparently. So I will hold off for 3 days, with my fingers crossed.

If it all works, I will probably add one more night to Noto and another at the end somewhere in the northwest or maybe in Palermo.

kja

Sound like a lot of progress, and I’m thrilled that your AA agent managed to route you into Sicily.

If I recall the terrain of Noto, the Grand Hotel Sofia is downhill – rather steeply – from the main part of town. I don’t know if that’s a consideration for you or not…. Don’t wait too late in the day to visit Noto – some of its sites will close sometime during the late afternoon.

If it helps you plan your time in Agrigento, I spent 5 or 6 hours on site and skipped much of the larger area to the side of the road away from the main temples. I also spent about 1.5 hours in the museum, and some time roaming the medieval core of the “newer” city. Be sure to bring water and sun protection.

For your extra time, I’ll say it again – give serious thought to adding a day to Palermo. And, since you don’t mind one-night stops (I don’t mind them either; I actually prefer them to backtracking), consider a night in Enna.

dina4

So excited you're going to Sicily!
We've been three times and it's one of our favorite places in Italy.

I'm sooo happy you didn't ditch Taormina! I personally find it one of the loveliest towns in Italy. A fantastic place to relax, take walks, and eat great food!

We visited the Roman Villa at Piazza Armerina this summer and were blown away. Definitely worth a stop, and I'd like to highly recommend Al Fogher for an amazing lunch. Tthe car park at the villa, since you were concerned about your luggage btw, is a paid lot. We felt comfortable leaving our luggage but it was hidden by a cargo cover and not in plain view.

Like Dayle, I highly recommend Planeta Forresteria for a stay near Selinunte. We loved both places. And if you'rechoosing between the three temple areas, I would say that Selinunte is by far the most impressive of the three (and more impressive than most Greek ruins in Greece!)

My last two cents involve Palermo. The churches are gorgeous, but I personally would not spend more than 2 nights there. Everyone has different opinions and tastes on this forum, obviously, so I thought I'd share mine. We also wouldn't spend a lot of time in Erice, as we found it a bit overrated. (Although we had an amazing lunch there at Gli Archi di San Carlo!!).

Sicily is truly an amazing place. It has it all-- great food, people, and history/culture. Buon viaggio!

yestravel

The nice thing about Sicily is there are so many choices, you can't go wrong with any. About 30 minutes from Noto is a lovely coastal town, Marzameni. Quite near there and on the way from Noto there is also a nice park with flamingos. So if you want to drive around Noto, 2 ideas for you that the owner of our agriturismo told us about.

We really enjoyed Palermo and did a very fun and interesting food tour there. If you're interested I can try and dig out the name of it. The small Tile museum is fabulous, you have to call to make a reservation, but it was fascinating.

kja

Oh gosh, I should have been clearer about Palermo, and appreciate dina4's comments for reminding me of what I have failed to say: Palermo is one of those cities that people seem to love or hate, and some of the things I love about it -- its energy and vibrancy and not-made-for-tourism features are, as I understand it, among the things that many people do not like about it. Double-edged sword! But I have persisted in recommending that <b>you</b>, lreynold1, give it extra time specifically because of your interest in Romanesque architecture, as there are some incomparable gems of that style in and around Palermo. If you haven't already done so, I strongly encourage you to spend some time at a local library with some of the guidebooks that provide good coverage of the city's (and the island's) architectural highlights.

That said, I agree, no bad choices, just difficult ones!

lreynold1

Thanks all -- kja, I know your recommendation is pointed specifically at me and my love of Romanesque, and I am pretty sure I've worked out a way to have four nights in Palermo. All of my planning is on hold for the moment while I wait to see what happens to my plane ticket.

I have the DK Eyewitness Sicily and the Blue Guide (more for my husband than for me, since it's so heavy on the history). I have also done some internet searching specifically for Sicily Norman Romanesque. Any other favorite guidebooks we should invest in?

lreynold1

A specific question -- if I add a night so that we are two nights in the vicinity of the Baroque towns, is there a well-located agriturismo any of you would recommend? Yestravel, do you remember the name of yours? Or would you recommend staying in one of the towns and doing a day trip to another one from there? My husband has been reading up and has decided he would like more time in that area, and since two days have magically opened up for us, I thought adding a day to Noto (or somewhere near) would be a good idea.

julies

We are almost your clones as far as age and many of your interests and the fact that we did a three week trip to Sicily last October. I quickly skimmed all of this thread and saw that you took a look at my trip report from last year. The area by Zingaro was lovely, and we wished we had had a bit of time to explore rather than having to get to our reservation in Palermo. We also wished that we had had some time to drive inland from Cefalu and explore the more mountainous areas there. Truly, the problem with Sicily is trying to figure out what to eliminate.

yestravel

We stayed at Agriturismo LIMONETO. Not sure it would be well situated for what you plan to do. We used it to visit Ortygia, Noto, Mt Etna and other places. There's a website for agriturismos that you can find ones near where you'd like to be. That's how I found most of the places we stayed. Just used the map and moved the cursor to areas I wanted to explore.

EYWandBTV

It looks like your plans are coming together well. I will just add a couple of "votes" for some of your places:

>>Taormina: A big resounding yes, but we went there in early November = no crowds at all. We were told that in high season (and you may miss the worst part of this) the crowds on the main street are so thick that you can barely move. I believe one of the posters above mentioned this too.

However, if you want to tolerate this, the Greco-Roman theater and the views it provides is really magnificent. Since you will be there for two nights, you will have time to walk around a bit; suggest you go up to Castelmola, way up on the peak overlooking Taormina (and Taormina itself is a good bit above the sea; you look down on Giardini Naxos, one of the earliest Greek settlements in Sicily).

>>Baroque towns: we visited Ragusa and Modica and we like Sicilian Baroque. I've always wondered where all the wealth came from in the 18th century to do all this building. This area of Sicily was devastated by a big earthquake in the late 1600s and Ragusa and other towns were rebuilt in Baroque style after that.

But if you want just a taste of Sicilian Baroque, you will find it in the superb main piazza of Siracusa, in the old center of the city on the island of Ortigia. It's considered one of the finest public spaces in Sicily. The Duomo faces this piazza and the Duomo was built using the columns of the temple of Athena. The columns are very visible outside and inside; they just filled in the spaces in between. Fascinating building. The piazza is very beautiful at night, all lit up.

>>Agrigento: Yes for sure, not only for the Valley of the Temples but also for the medieval town (= "modern" town) up on the ridge to the north of the temples.

The Greek city is an interesting example of how the Greeks continued to modify their town plans as they were colonizing Sicily. Archeologists still are not quite sure where the agora was. The temples themselves are actually built on a low ridge, almost in a line. The museum is very good. Be sure to go to the basement rooms where there is a fine exhibit of ancient Greek coins, some with Athena's owl, some with a crab (Agrigento was named after the Akragas river, Greek for crab). By the way, the sun was fierce when we were walking around the temples in early November. Bring a small collapsible umbrella and a bottle of water. There is a good small cafe inside the archeological zone (there's also a parking lot if I remember correctly).

Also visit the Kolymbetra, a reconstructed garden complex showing the Islamic irrigation techniques (they ruled here of course and you are going to see a lot of Islamic influence in Palermo--San Giovanni Eremiti for example was formerly a mosque, with its pink domes, very mideastern looking).

Sicily is so rich in beauty there are not many wrong choices to be made as you map out your itinerary--have a great trip!

lreynold1

Things are coming together very nicely thanks to all the help from you guys. Itinerary is pretty much done, but can always be tweaked! So much for my plans to keep this to two weeks -- too many good recommendations on this site.

Taormina -- 2 nights
Ortygia -- 3 nights
Pick up car -- Noto -- 2 nights
Piazza Armerina -- 1 night
Agrigento -- 2 nights
Selinunte (Villa Sogno) -- 2 nights
Scopello -- 2 nights
Palermo -- 4 nights

I have gone back and forth about whether to switch to Scopello for 3 and Palermo for 3, but the insistence of fellow Romanesque lovers is pushing me to Palermo for 4!

I decided to add a night to Noto and realized that we were just not going to be happy in that modern hotel on the edge of town, so I am now searching for something in town with a bit more charm, even if it means some frustrating driving.
Does anyone have a Noto recommendation that would minimize our need to drive through the small streets of town? I have seen good things about Villa Ambra and it looks like it is in a good location, kind of on the edge of the old town.

And restaurants -- I have gotten lots of recommendations for some of the towns, but could use more for Taormina, Noto, Agrigento, and Scopello. We are also willing to drive to places for dinner. I don't drink, and I'm the driver, so my husband always feels greatly in my debt when we head out of town for dinner!

annhig

looks like a great itinerary, lreynold1. congrats.

kja

Great plan -- may I come along?

In Agrigento, I enjoyed a dinner at Per Bacco, which still seems to get reasonably good reviews: Vicolo Lo Presti, 2, just off the main street of Agrigento’s old town (Via Atenea).

yestravel

Nice plan! I'm with Kja take me along.✈️

Dayle

Me too!

lreynold1

Thanks, everyone, for all the help. In the end I went with the choices that both gave us a stop at or near the obvious tourist destinations, but also gave opportunity for unhurried back roads driving.

If any of you have suggestions for pretty off-the-main-road driving options, that'd be appreciated.

(So far, I've seen SS115 between Noto and Modica, SS124 west out of Caltigerone, north from AGrigento on SS189, so I've got a start!)

yestravel

In general we stayed off highways and it seemed we were always enjoying beautiful scenery. Hard to avoid it inSicily.

bon_voyage

if you haven't done so already, you might check in with the Sicily Tripadvisor forum. The local Destination Experts, Vagabonda in particular, are very knowledgeable.