2 Months in Sicily
 

Hello, we are considering a 2 month stay in Sicily next winter. Sicily has been on our bucket list for awhile. We have been to Italy: Rome x3, Tuscany, Amalfi Coast, Venice, Puglia. Each time was an extended stay. I have been researching and do understand it is low season and the weather can be bad, but our goal is to vacate the Seattle wet gloom in a place that will above all be interesting and allow some hiking and cycling as well as visiting historic sites. We often travel off season and enjoy it. Our garden and living in the beautiful NW keep us home during the other 3 seasons!
We are looking for 1-2 bases that would allow day trips or overnight trips in areas where folks stil go about their business in winter, perhaps 1 city and 1 small town. We would rent an apartment or home. My guess is that agriturismos would be seasonally closed but would love to be proven wrong. It would have to be heated in winter.

I have posted this on the RS forum as well as I am finding Sicily isn't well covered on the travel forums.

Thank you for any suggestions.

lovely idea, cindyjo, and though you are bound to get some poor weather, you're likely to get plenty of good days too.

As Sicily is far too big to see from one base, you're wise to think about 2 bases.
Last year we spent 10 days in the east of Sicily, flying in and out of Catania, and the place that we liked most was Ortigia, which is the little island attached to Siracuse, about an hour or so's drive south of Catania. the only snag that I would see of using it as a base for touring is the traffic you might encounter driving in and out of the town; we found it very stressful though others have not reported the same experience.

Noto [which we didn't see but others are very fond of] might be an alternative which would enable you to visit a lot of the south east on day trips, or possibly Ragusa [which IMO is the very devil to get into and out of due to the fact it's built on a hill] or Modica [I'd stay in the more modern town at the bottom not the old one at the top for the same reason].

Not to be missed while you are in that area is the Villa Casale at Piazza Armerina, but it might be a bit far for a day trip - as would Agrigento. You could however work them into an itinerary by which you moved from the east to the west [or vice versa].

Where to stay in the west of the island I'd have to leave to others but if you are happy to try a city, Palermo looks as if it would certainly have plenty to absorb you for a couple of weeks.

Thank you, annhig, for your encouragement and information. I will explore the areas you have suggested. Expect more questions!

Cindyjo,

Sicily is a large island with SO much to see and enjoy! My trip was 3.5 weeks and still not enough.

With two months, I honestly would recommend 4 bases. That should still be long enough to feel at home in a place, but require much less commuting back and forth to fully explore! Think about Palermo, a western location, a southern location, and an eastern location. There will be no shortage of day trips from all of these.

Exact bases and duration will depend on what you want to see from each so start reading some trip reports for ideas of what is really doable.

I'm jealous! ;-)

Like Dayle, I think a plan with 4 bases would be better suited to Sicily, which (unfortunately) does not lend itself to bases. You might consider Palermo and Ortygia for your major bases -- both cities offer a lot in and of themselves, and both offer easy access (including access by public transportation) to multiple places of interests. I would think a week or more in each would make sense.

Although I wasn't able to include it in my trip (sigh :-( ), you might look into Trapani for a base to the west.

Your range of options for a 4th base are numerous and depend on your choices of what places to visit, tolerance for long day trips, etc. Agrigento and Enna come to mind for the "center" of the island. I'm not sure I'd give a central base a full week, and if you do, Enna might not suit well as driving into and out of it can be a bit on the stressful side. ;-)

Hope that helps!

Agree with those above: three or four bases. For me it would be Palermo, Siracusa/Ortigia, perhaps Modica and someplace else??? Or you could do three weeks in Palermo and skip round the island for the rest. Palermo can feel a bit gritty/chaotic, but less so than Naples, IMO. (I loved Naples and Palermo.)

I'm not sure I'd give a central base a full week, and if you do, Enna might not suit well as driving into and out of it can be a bit on the stressful side. >>

kja - we spent a couple of nights in Piazza Armerina, and IMO it would make a pretty good base for touring that area, especially if you stay on the edge of the town rather than in the middle thereby avoiding those problems. There's quite a lot to see there - not just the roman Villa but the Greek remains at Morgantina and the archaeological museum at Aidone [both on the same ticket as the villa Casale and well worth seeing] Enna, Caltigirone, even Etna, though that would be a long day. And the town itself [medieval not Baroque] is interesting and worth devoting at least an afternoon to.

Your trip spinds wonderful and something we would consider too. Please let us know your final itinerary once it is settled on.

Parts of Sicily do get snow & ice in winter, although that is more likely to be upper elevations & after the middle of January. Enna and Etna might not be doable.

Small Sicilian towns are likely to be extremely sleepy when it comes to how often any restaurant will be open. You might want to stick to places no smaller than Modica or Ragusa or Cefalu, and of course Palermo & Catania will be hopping & lively.

So many options! Thank you all.
I am beginning to get a rough plan in place so will be asking more questions as it firms up but it does seem as if 3 destinations might fit the bill with one of them being Palermo. I am usually an obsessive planner but having just turned 70, I am now willing to break the mode and not plan our every move. I will organize and reserve our initial week but would like to take more chances with lodging and itinerary after that. Of course I will have researched my usual so will have a list of what and where to choose from. Do you think it best to reserve well ahead in low season? Or can I finally take a leap of faith in the travel gods?
And we are debating between Jan/Feb or Feb/March - probably mid month to mid month. Any thought on advantages or disadvantages to either time period?
Thanks again.

You could also plan some time on the Aeolian islands as well as nearby Malta.

Of course you may not get as many sunny days as you might hope out of those two months.

I can't speak to the availability of lodging in the off-season, as some places will be closed, but you might identify some options through booking.com and monitor them as the time approaches to see if they seem to be filling up. Just a thought!

Don't miss the cathedral in Monreale, just outside of Palermo. :-)

cindyjo, I was going to suggest just what you decided; spend some time just playing it by ear. With that much time, and it being low season for lodgings, it would seem the perfect plan to just explore on your own time. Arm yourself with lots of research.

Besides the obvious beach locations, and Taormina, where many hotels and restaurants shut for winter, you shouldn't have a problem with finding lodging.

IMO Sicily in general is still a place where real people live and work. As such, you are not going to find many towns that just shut down for the winter. If you're staying in a larger center, then you will be able to get local advice on what will be open when.

I think the cooler months would be a great time to visit sites like Agrigento, when few tourists will be around, and you won't have to contend with the heat. And Taormina without hordes of tourists could be very nice!

Here's a link with some encouragement for winter visits.

http://www.bestofsicily.com/mag/art330.htm

Cindy,

If you do decide to visit the Aeolian Islands, I would suggest making it just that, a visit. I went in early May and the weather was perfect, no crowds, green and beautiful. A winter visit would depend very much on weather. This would be a good part to wing it. If you hit a few days with nice weather predicted, go. If not, I think you might enjoy other places more.

The islands are very quiet off season. Panarea was deserted and shut down. Lipari was just right in May although there were a lot of shops and restaurants closed when I was there. Stromboli also was shut down, but with a very busy treking business going full tilt.