tishkb

Hi,
My husband and I are traveling for 2wks in Sicily next month and have never been. We are looking foward to the rich history and the amazing ruins but we would also like to do some hiking,and being sailors would love to be out on the water preferrably on a sailboat. We are leary to book a sailing trip in advance not knowing what the weather may bring but I will leave the last 3-4 days open for that possiblity either the Aeolian Islands, Egadie Islands, Ustica, or Pantellaria. Any suggestions from those with knowledge of the sailing around the island is much appreciated. We will be flying in and out of Catania and have 16 1/2 days to explore the island. My husband prefers to stay in any given hotel a min of 3-5 nights and would rather drive a bit further even if we end up back tracking a bit. So for now I was going to spend our 1st 2 nights in Acrieale at the Palazzo Giovanni. I am hpoing this will allow a visit to Taormina, and maybe Etna, or the local coastal towns. On day 3 I have us heading for Modica to Casa Talia as a southeast base for 5 nights. I am hoping this will be ample time to take a day trip to Siracusa, 1 day to Noto and the surrounding coastline, one day for Ragusa/scilia, may a trip to Cava Ispica and time to walk and explore Modica. Next I have us staying 4 nights in Palma di Montechiaro at Mandranova. I would like to relax here take a boat ride with the owners and a cooking class, and also have time to visit Agrigento, Piazza Armerina, and the local towns nearby. From here I am a bit confused as to where to base ourselves for 2-3 nights. I was thinking about Baglio Spano 20 min east of Marsala. Would like to visit Erice and Scopello and the Zingaro Preserve, any comments on this location and or the Baglio? other places of interest to us were the Bosca Ficuzza near Castelbouno. cooking class with Anna in Regalito and Masseria Maggiore south of Cefalu. Against the advice of almost everyone who posted we are going to bypass Palermo this time around. We would rather avoid the big city and check out the smaller moutain towns and or get out on a sailboat, and we need to fly out of Catania on day 17. Any comments regarding itin or lodgings (either positive or negative) are welcome and most appreciated.
mille grazie

aprillilacs

What a great trip you are planning! I agree with your husband -- basing yourself in one place for a minimum of 3 nights is ideal, and I think you are basing yourself in the right areas.

We traveled around Sicily in March, so I can comment on a couple of your locations. (If you want to read my trip report, click on my name above.) First, Acireale. I checked out the location of the B&B on the web and saw that it's not actually in Acireale, but a short distance north. That's a great location for visiting Taormina, Etna, and the surrounding area. We stayed in Aci Castello, south of Acreale, and really enjoyed the area (do take some time to visit both Acitrezza and Aci Castello--nothing special to do, but fun to stroll around the towns and enjoy their seafront views). It will probably take you 45-60 minutes to get to your B&B from Catania airport, depending on traffic.

The other base I can comment on is your last stop -- we had lunch in Scopello and really regretted not being able to stay there for a couple of nights, at the hotel Torre Benistra. Great food and location, quiet village setting, and friendly owners. Scopello would be a good base for exploring the Zingaro Reserve and the nearby towns and cities, as well as fabulous Segesta.

Also, I hope you won't mind a little advice on posting: It's much easier to read a long posting like yours if you break it into paragraphs, with a line space between each paragraph. I think readers finds that helpful.

Enjoy your trip!

tishkb

Hi Aprillilacs
Thanks for your tips, do you think we are better off staying in Scopello for 3 nights or should we stick with our stop outside of Marsala for 2 nights and then head to Scopello as you suggest for 2 nights? Also do you think we should consider staying closer to town in Acrieale? Do you have a recommendation for our last night it seems from your trip report that you too caught an afternoon flight from Catania to Milan and we will have the car rental to deal with as well. I think our flight leaves at 1:30 pm. I was looking into a B&B in Zafferanna near Etna, Il Giordino Sara do you think this is close enough to the Airport? Thanks again for your input.
tishkb

TravMimi

Do spend a few days in the Aeolians. There are many places to rent boats of all types with or without a captain. Island hopping there is wonderful!!!

aprillilacs

We didn't get to Marsala so can't comment on that city as a base. (Good wine, though!) Two nights would be perfect for Scopello in my opinion.

Your choice near Acrieale seems fine, unless you have a real desire to be in a bigger town. You can drive to Acicreale by a convenient road and (eventually) find parking if you want to get explore that town.

The Catania airport would be very reachable if you stayed at the B&B you found near Etna. You'll need at least an hour to get there.

I admire your ability to ferret out such interesting spots! Please tell me how you went about your research.

Eugenio_from_Italy

Go to discover the real inner Sicilia:

www.bebnicosia.it

TravMimi

If you like hill towns, one of the very interesting ones is Poggioreale. It was destroyed and abandoned by the 1968 earthquake and time just stood still. I love the ghost towns of so. Italy anyway. It's about 20 miles north of Sciacca. For hiking Etna park is great. Lots of caves. Even an ice cave. The area of Cava Grande (Sicily's grand canyon) near Avola is also great for hiking. Googleearth.com is great to check these areas out.

tishkb

Thanks to all for taking the time to read and respond to my post.

Trav Mimi
We'll definitely be thanking you as we hike thru the park and visit Cava Grande.

Aprillilacs
Thanks for the positive feedback. I have done most of my research reading posts like yours and bob the navigator on this site,also spent a lot of time on Trip Advisor website. By the way your pictures were awesome.

I have reviewed Karen Brown, and Sawdays books and websites, and I bought Sicily Blue Guide, DK Sicily, and Frommers. But most of my hotel choices I found on i-escape, and sicily B&B's. I have spent many hours online researching this trip and itinerary so I am glad to hear your feedback on my choices.

As far as Acreiale I think I will stick with my plan of off the beaten path. I did check on Michelin website and the hotel in Stazzo apears to be only an additional 5-10min north of town. As you can tell we prefer the secluded outdoors and in Modica will be based in the city for 5 nights. I will definitely take your suggestion and visit Acrieale,maybe try for dinner the first night in town, AciTrezza, and Aci Castello to stroll thru town on our way down south towards Siracusa.

I was wondering on days when you were sightseeing and transitioning hotels did you have any problems with your car unattended and luggage in trunk, I have had several warnings about this, what is your take?

Thanks again we are leaving in two weeks and I will definitely post our trip experiences on our return.
tishkb

aprillilacs

Anytime you leave valuable items in a car, you're taking a chance. But it's a chance we often take, and we've never had a problem (except in New York the night we moved into town...that's another story, our fault!). We never leave anything in open view (except that night in NY), and we never decide to stash things at the last minute when we go off to see a site (i.e., "Oh, we're here, let's leave this in the trunk...&quot. So, bottom line is, we leave luggage in the trunk. We've never had a problem. We very well could have had have a problem. It's a risk we're willing to take if we're moving from one location to another.

In any case, have a fabulous time--you will love Sicily.

BonnieN

we are completing a trip to sicily now and will be back in the states on 29 april. we stayed at casa talia and i can tell you did your research since this place is rather off the radar. i think it would be actually a good place to base yourself for SE sicily. we actually preferred Noto and scicli to Modica for visiting. spent several hours in each of these and would do so again. we hired a driver to take us to duomo in ragusa for dinner, marco at casa talia can arrange it. if you don't mind spending 95E each for dinner plus wine plus taxi it was absolutely great. the chef is extremely talented and has 2 michelin stars and is gunning for his third next year. i also thought about staying at mandrova, which is 45 min east of agrigento. it looks great, but we opted to stay in town at a b&b called terrezza monetelusa which we enjoyed and had junior suite with terrace. one big tip from our trip is not to miss sciacca which is west of agrigento. on the way visit scala dei churchi (sp?) which we did thanks to travel mimi
and then we had lunch at da vittorios which is terrfic, again meeting the chef and his family. We then went to selinunte at the end of the day when buses had left and after checked my long lists of places to stay in menfi-marsala area. we chose san vincenze Baglio and it was FANTASTIC. had a large suite, it is wine estate and we had a private tour of the winery the next day. it is located high on a hill over menfi with an incredible view. the next day i backtracked to sciacca and in the middle of town I saw a ricci stand and stopped the car, hopped out and sampled the fresh ricci -- what a treat!! then we went to the harbor for photos and stumbled into a GREAT and very modest ceramic artist who has great pieces unlike I have seen elsewhere and next door is retaurant where we had a GREAT meal, menu of the house with wine, water and 25 E for TWO! Then we went to see ship at marsala, stopped to see MOZIA - VERY good museum and erice and then headed for a night at cefalu at b&b high over city. then we took drive through mountains and ended at pretralia (sp) soprano which is a really well preserved medievel town at altitude of 3700 feet or so. my battery is running low, but feel free to ask me any questions.
bonnie

staceys10

Can't add too much, but I loved Taormina. Granted, it's not exactly "off-the-beaten-path", but it's just beautiful and we didn't have nearly enough time there (2 days on the heels of a chilly trip in Paris and London). Siracusa is charming as well. I didn't care for Palermo, so I think you're fine to skip it (although many would not agree). The drive from Taormina to Palermo was stunning, however. As we were driving into the many tunnels that take you literally into the mountains, we remarked that we felt as if we were driving into a painting.

The food is delicious and the people very warm, but they drive really, really fast in Sicily!

BonnieN

try not to misss palermo. it has many layers of great interest. to me visiting a place is best if you can mix the large and small places. enjoy!

Bonnie