Catania - worth the stay and where?
 

My husband and I will be vacationing in Sicily in mid-May. We will be departing from Catania and are wondering if we should spend much time there. We have heard mixed opinions about the city itself. Would we be better off just arriving the day before we leave, staying at a hotel near the airport (Villa Paradiso dell'Etna), or should we spend a couple of days touring about? For some reason, we are more stumped about this location than any other. Please advise on lodging as well.

Thanking you in advance -

It's been a number of years, but I really liked Catania, and the area around it-it's quite picturesque, and the food in this area, well, Sicily is justifiably renowned for its cooking. I don't know how much you want to spend for a hotel room, but the only hotel I've stayed in in Sicily was the Sheraton Catania, and it's lovely-though built in the early 80's- very spacious rooms, bougainvillea spilling off the hillsides-smells of cooking coming from the apts. and houses situated up and around the resort. I think it hardly ever sees Americans-it's very authentically Sicilian, despite the fact that it's a deluxe international chain hotel. It's just across the road from the sea, about 3 kg. from the historical center of Catania. Really fine restaurant. Turning left out of the hotel and walking approx. 10 min. will bring you to a tiny little fishing village with this beautiful little restaurant right down on the rocks by the sea. From the Sheraton Catania,the lovely town of Taormina is about a 50 kg. drive, Mt. Etna about a 60 kg. drive and Agricento about a 30 kg. drive.

Is your flight out very early ? If not, why would you need to stay near the airport for even one night ? Where is your current last stop before flying home ? Personally I'd rather have longer in Taormina or Siracusa & just go straight to the airport for my flight home.

catania does have a few good sites, the Duomo with Cathederal 9Elephant Square), te fish market, daily market, Ursino Castle, a Greek Amphitheatre, Bellini Museum, Bellini Opera, Aci Castello (castle) and the coast is qquite pretty, Acireale etc. If you are going to be in Catania before leaving the next day, why not?! You could arrive at your hotel and some have a shuttle bus to the airport, or vice versa (check in at your hotel then head out to see the sites). I must admit that I DO like Catania its just not my top pick for Sicily. Maybe by tehn you will tire of 'Italian' cuisine and fancy Chinese, Brazilian or Turkish with belly dancers! Its all possible in Catania!

If you are an admirer of Bellini's operas, you'll be engrossed by the quaint, old-fashioned Bellini Musuem near the Cathedral. His tomb is in the Cathedral itself. Is is one of the glories of Sicily.

Thanks so much, folks. First off, we tried to book the Sheraton and they are full. The Bellini Museum alone sounds lovely, so we will hit the books again for lodging.

Pam-did you ever find a hotel near the airport to stay at in Catania? I am looking for one next week and have hit a wall as I was hoping for one that had airport shuttle service,etc. Please let me know if you have anything to share? Thanks!

The airport in Catania is so close to the city center -- 10 to 15 minutes by bus -- that I cannot imagine that there would be hotels near the airport with shuttle service.

Any hotel in Catania should serve your purpose; you can then choose whether to take the bus or a taxi to the airport.

Thanks Eloise for the info. Is there one in Catania that you liked or stayed at that was reasonable? Also, did you ever do the train around Mt. Etna from Catania? Jeep tour? Thanks!

Hello, Dutyfree:

Sorry, but no to both questions.

Hello again, Dutyfree:

It has just occurred to me that, given that I answered no to your questions, you might wonder whether I know what I am talking about.

I flew into and out of Catania airport last year and will do so again this year. I did not stay in Catania, which, although I have seen a little of it, did not appeal to me a great deal, but in Siracusa, which I love, particularly Ortygia.

I took the bus from Siracusa to Catania airport. There are, evidently, many more buses that go between Catania and the airport than between Siracusa and Catania airport, so I checked the bus schedule for Catania/airport on the Web site, which gives the 10 to 15 minute duration:

www.interbus.it

Enter Catania as partenza and Aeroporto Catania as destination (I've forgotten which word they use).

Stay at Taormina with no doubt. from the airport of Catania there is a bus direct to taormina. Can´t miss Taormina lovely place

Hi Dutyfree - You're probably on you way to Sicily by now, but if not, we chose the Best Western Hotel Mediterraneo in Catania for one night. We decided to just wrap-up our trip there and not actually spend any time in the city. We got our reservation through Expedia. com for $156/night which is the least expensive hotal that we have booked. GADS, the Euro dollar has really socked it to us. My husband has a meeting in Taormina for 4 days, so we are exending and making this our vacation: Palermo, Taormina, Ortygia and Catania. We decided to not dwell on the rates, which are WAY higher than we would normally spend, as it will ruin our trip. We love Italy and that is the price we must pay right now. Have a GREAT trip!!!!!

Pam-Just back from our trip to Sicily....the people,food,scenery were wonderful!I wanted to let you know that we did end up staying at the Hotel Mediterraneo in Catania for two nights this past week.Catania was noisy,dirty and way too crowded for me(Barogue buildings covered in soot and alot of trash thrown on the street?) The hotel was very nice though-good breakfast choices in the morning,staff were helpful and the rooms were nice with a big bathroom and patio area.(They even sent a bottle of wine to our room when we checked in?)They provided terry bath robes and slippers each day which were wonderful too! However, I should warn you that there is ABSOLUTELY nothing around the hotel to eat at for the evening (the hotel does not have a restaurant-just the breakfast room.) Everyplace that they suggested was (at least) a 20-30 minute walk and not convenient especially if you have a full bottle of wine at dinner.The hotel is located in a residential area with some parts that were "a little" sketchy as we were walking. There is a great Rinascente grocery store 4 blocks away but the Via Etrea area(main shopping area) took about 15-20 minutes to walk.Hint-find the stacked stairs instead of climbing the winding hill by the park back and forth!A walk down the street to the Duoma will take a good 30 minutes(and my daughter and I walk fast).Also, FYI- The price of the cab for a pickup at 515AM to the Catania Airport was 26 EUROS-took about 20 minutes to get there from this hotel.I should tell you that we LOVED Ortigia. It was a slower pace town with alot of interesting places to eat ,shop and just enjoy the Sicilian people. It was very clean, sunny and had way less people/tourists.etc.It has a wonderful limestone wall around it that separates you from the sea and it is just like being in a postcard.( In fact, this is the town that my daughter is going to spend her spring semester at next year and we were very pleased with everything there.)There is a 45 minute harbor tour in Ortigia that costs about 10 Euros that takes you out by the castle end point and its wonderful to see the city from the sea.Before I forget,in Catania-We also reserved the Geoetnaexplorer tour on the internet and they picked us up at our hotel in Catania and took us up to Mt. Etna by land rover with a geologist.Perhaps you can reserve something similar to it in Taormina?It was an interesting trip but only if you were interested in Mt. Etna and its eruptions- the trip stopped at various points including the Volcano Institute, you wore a hard hat and went down into a lava cave from 1793 eruption,etc.and you were able to go up to some dormant craters.Let me know if there is anything else I can help you with? Have a great trip!

Welcome home dutyfree! Thanks for all the info. about the hotel. We will be there only one night to enjoy the bathrobes, etc. and will be leaving too early to enjoy the breakfast; a 7:15 a.m. flight departure so we will be leaving well before breakfast is served. That is too bad about dinner also as we planned to just stay close our last night, repack and get ready to leave the next day. It sounds as though you had the same flight time. We will work out something for our last dinner in Italy. We LOVE Italian food! Walking in dubious neighborhoods does not sound inviting to me.

As for Ortygia, we started out making our reservation for two nights and have extended to four. We had heard that Catania was much as you described and Ortygia sounds wonderful. Do you have any particular restaurant recommendations for Ortygia? How fortunate for your daughter to be spending her spring semester there. What is she studying?

Thanks you for all the tips! We can hardly wait for our trip.

Ciao!

On Ortygia, there is an excellent, somewhat up-scale restaurant called Don Camillo on via Maestranza.

www.ristorantedoncamillosiracusa.it
(not working at the moment; it might only be temporarily off)

In a totally different vein, there is Da Mariano (hard to describe where it is, near Fontana Aretusa), which is ridiculously inexpensive. It's a member of the Slow Food movement, and while the food is not fancy under any stretch of the imagination, it is very genuine and local. Some of the pasta dishes I had there were not offered anywhere else.

http://www.osteriadamariano.it/

Pam-We had wonderful food all over Ortigia(risotto with various seafood was my favorite!!!).I was surprised though that wherever we went the cheapest bottled wine started at 12 Euros? However,it was quite tasty! The area on the west side(gorgeous sunsets) of Ortigia have terrific restaurants with views of the sea.Eloise mentioned them above at the Fountain Aretusa area (by the Aquarium area and where the papyrus fountain is-just walk down from the Duomo area).There are about 4-5 and each have indoor and outdoor seating.Everything from great calamari to beef scallopine was to be had. The seafood is unbelievable wherever you go!Of course you must finish any meal off with a "stroll and a gelato".I think that you will find Ortigia relaxing and enjoyable. You can plan side trips to Noto and Ragusa using the bus or train from there too.We stayed at the Hotel Gutkowski on the other side of Ortigia(the island is only 1 and 1/2 miles wide by 1 and 1/2 miles long) so we did walk alot.My daughter currently studies Marine Geology at her college here in the USA so she is going over to Ortigia to study Marine Underwater Archaeology, Vulcanology(sp?)which visits Mt. Etna alot,along with taking a Sicilian cooking course,Beginning Italian and a course possibly in the Mafia.All of her courses are in English so combined with the beauty of the area and the wonderful geology of the area-its a perfect fit! My husband and I will "force ourselves" to go visit her..........

Just returned from three weeks in Sicily. We stayed three nites in Catania at the Albergo Savona hotel making day trips each day. The Savona is in the center of everything, quiet, well run, 80 euros with breakfast. We had read only negative things about the city and were most pleasantly surprised. We ate (twice) at a superb restaurant called Cruciferri, about a block from the hotel (a shopkeeper recommended it.) Also ate at Sicilia di Bocca, which is in several guidebooks and did not like it at all. Airport is very close to city, airport is tiny and easy to manage.