Accommodations in Sicily
 

There are three couples that are considering traveling to Sicily. We plan travel by train to Cosenza from Rome and then rent a car. We would really like to rent a villa/condo/house somewhere in Sicily for of course a reasonable price but we will be spliting it 3 ways. Don't know if we should rent one place and do day trips or split it up. Not being familiar with Sicily at all, I have no idea what areas we would want to stay at or what sites we need to see for sure. We plan to be there for a least a week. We plan to go in Sept or beginning of October of 2009. Anyone know of a great place for 3 couples to stay at where we can see great sites. Beaches are not top priority since we live in Florida. I know for sure we will want to see Mt. Edna. That is about all I really have planned at this point. I am as they say - open for suggestions! Also, which airport is the best to fly out of to get back to the states? I now this is a lot of questions but any advice would greatly be appreciated.

First, no direct flights from Sicily back to the States. You will need to fly most likely to Rome or Milan first for your return. Most likely you would fly from Catania or Palermo. I had to get up at 4:30 am for my flight to catch the connecting flight.

Second, if you are to stay in Sicily, I would stay on east coast, and day trip from there. I would skip Palermo, and maybe even skip Agrigento.

Third (I hope I don't offend anyone), why Sicily? We spent a week there and I can think of a number of other places I'd rank ahead. if you want to stay in the south, there's Amalfi/Sorrento. North of Rome there's Umbria and east of Rome, the Marches, and so on.

We spent 3 weeks in Sicily last September and loved it. We hiked from Enna in the center of the island down to Celefu on the coast. We then rented a car and drove to Syracusa and Agrigento. When we return we would spend more time in Cefelu--wonderful beach and fun town--good restaurants and sights. Since you are not interested in beaches I would rent a house in or near Agrigento. We really liked the valley of the temples. We stayed in a hotel with a view of the temples and it was magical. The restaurants were very nice--including excellent seafood as Agrigento is on the coast. We have traveled a lot in Italy and definitely want to return to Sicily.

Shop, If you have the time, I'd suggest spending more than a week. The reason - aside from the fact that you could spend months there and not fully absorb all there is to experience on that wonderful island - is that most villa rentals are by the week. So you'd be limited to one area and it would not be possible to see all the highlights. But if you had a week in one place and at least 3-4 days or longer somewhere else, that would work.
If you rented a villa or apartment in the Palermo area (NOT right in the city b/c you don't want to be driving there!!) you could visit Cefalu, Agrigento, Segesta, Erice, Capo San Vito and even Trapani and the ruins at Selinunte by car. From Palermo you should also visit Monreale, which can be easily reached by local bus. There's a little hilltown noted for its ceramics near Cefalu but I can't think of the name of it. There is also much to see in the city of Palermo itself.

On the east coast my favorite places to stay are Taormina and Siracusa/Ortygia. From either place you can explore the east coast, and inland. You can take a tour from Taormina to Etna, or you can probably drive there and pick up a tour at the base of the volcano.
Catania and Messina are the two major cities on the east coast, and although they are of some interest, with limited time I'd avoid them and concentrate on the other highlights.

If you google "villa and apartment rentals in Sicily" you'll come up with some beautiful properties. I sometimes do it when I'm daydreaming. :-)

Anymore questions, ask away. You will LOVE Sicily!

I'm only going to add to your confusion: If I had a week to spend in Sicily, I would spend it near the "baroque" towns of Noto, Ragusa and Modica -- some of the loveliest scenery and best food in Sicily, and atmospheric towns.

But in general, I think you need to read up more about Sicily and think about what is going to make 3 couples happy. I'm not sure you will love Sicily, but I don't want to discourage you from going there in favor of the more touristy destinations. But it takes some research to put together a really fun week-long trip for 6 people.

I stayed in this agriturismo, Le Cisterne, which is a wonderful spot for visiting Etna, but it may be far to rural for your group.

http://www.lecisterne.com/h_en.htm

Why a train from Rome? Seriously,its too long and a waste of vacation time-about 12 hours from Rome to Catania. There are a few discount options other than Alitalia so why not check into that?

I visited Sicily for about 12 days some 8 years ago and had never been before. We spent half the time in Cefalu and half in Taormina and saw only the Palermo-Taormina area of the coast with vists to Palermo, Agrigento and Etna. We really enjoyed the visit but my main "disappointment" if such it was, was that the scenery inland was rather stark and bare-not a major problem in the overall scheme of things.
There was a lot of the island we didn't see and thought at the time that to do it all in one trip you would need to base yourself in 3 or even 4 centres. Never mind it gave us an excuse to go back.
Last year we intended to revisit but were charmed instead by the idea of Lipari so we ended up driving from Catania to Milazzo return but saw little of Sicily.
This year we may return and are looking at Ragusa and Taormina or Castelmola.
I have recently seen a villa which looked wonderful and I remember thinking I'd never find it if I ever wanted it. It was somewhere in the foothills of Etna(I think) I'll come back if I find it.

We spent a week near Ortygia (near Siracusa) in a villa (though too small for your needs)in March of last year. We day-tripped to Etna, Noto and Taormina et al. It worked well for us. Sicily is wonderful, but I do also feel that if you try to do too much you will short-change yourself.

We were in Sicily last September -- Palermo (which we will skip net time), Agrigento, and Taormina. For a beautiful location and a charming town overlooking the water, you can't beat Taormina.

For visiting Mt. Etna, you might want to consider staying in Catania. You can also visit Siragusa and up the cyclops coast from there. You could probably be there by early afternoon, flying from Rome, if you took an overnight flight from the US.

Not sure where you are traveling from, but we flew from Chicago and the times worked out well. We left around 6:00PM, getting into Rome around 7:30AM. We flew into Palermo, getting there about 1:00PM. On the way back, very early flight from Catania, left Rome around noon, and got into Chicago around 2:00 or 3:00PM, as I recall.

http://www.travelerstogo.com/