Corsica - Sardinia and Sicily - need help with itinerary
 

I am helping some friends with their travel arrangement to Corsica, Sardinia and Sicily. So far I am only working on the Corsica part of the trip. They want to stay approx one week on each island. My first question would have to be - does this make sense or should one island be allocated more time?

I have done a bit of research on Corsica and get the feeling - rightly or wrongly that the west coast is prettier than the east. If they only have one week would they be better focusing on Bonifacio - Sartene, Ajaccio, Piana, Calvi, cutting through the park driving the Col de Bavella and back to Bonifacio? I am not sure they could fit St. Florent, Bastia and Cap Corse into one weeks trip. CAn you please tell me if I am on the right track. Even though the distances are not great I understand the driving and many roads are hard going and can take hours if the traffic isn't good. They are going in early April, which would mean certainly less traffic.

They are in their 60s, she has back trouble and can't do any hiking but can do slow walks, they want to mooch around, stop for views, lunches etc, see pretty villages, take a boat trip and get a general feel of the place. They are not interested in sitting on the beach and at that time of the year swimming would be out as well.

Next question.... are they better off staying in a couple of places and doing days trips from a base or should they just keep heading in a direction and moving along and then return to Bonifacio before taking the ferry to Sardinia. I understand they cannot take the car across and must rent again when they get to Sardinia. They are flying in from Nice, the other idea would be to fly into Bastia, rent the car, then drive down the west coast to Bonifacio with a day trip through the Aiguilles de Bavella and the Col de Bavella which sounds like a not to be missed thing.

CAn anyone help with my ideas - Barefoot??? I have read and reread your report, but there are no "times" to work on and you had a longer time than 7 days. would you divide your time between the three islands equally? Also they don't want to take the ferry from Sardinia to Sicily - can you fly? I can't seem to get this answer easily on the net.

Thanks everyone, Schnauzer

We had about 10 days on Sardinia but only visited the northern part of the island, including a wonderful day trip to Bonifacio on Corsica. We also did a trip of about 2 weeks in Sicily, this time only seeing the east part of the island and Lipari, an island in the north.

We were staying in Santa Teresa Gallura for a few days so didn't want to take our car to Bonifacio but I just checked back on photos of the ferry and it's definitely a car ferry. Once we reached Bonifacio there was a row of cars and campervans waiting to do the return crossing. Of course they would be taking their hire car from France to Italy, which may cause difficulties.

Sardinia and Sicily are both fairly large islands and I think with only 7 days they would have to limit themselves to one area. I couldn't find any flights from Sardinia to Sicily either, the closest I found was Olbia to Naples, with Meridiana.

We were in Sardinia in May and it was fairly quiet but we got the feeling it wouldn't be overrun with tourists even in peak season, not like the Italian mainland. You can tell your friends that the ferry crossing from Bonifacio to Santa Teresa was easy and very picturesque. Have your cameras handy!! Bonifacio is quite amazing and was a highlight of our trip but there are some quite steep sections, between the port and harbour areas and the main town which is perched up high. They may be able to get a taxi, I can't remember seeing any at the port but we weren't really looking. We just found a set of stairs that led up and kept walking.

Kay

I would give Sicily more time, but do not know if it should be at the expense of the other islands. You might want to take a look at my trip report; click on my name to find it.

Thanks Kay and Michael

I have checked with rental car companies, you can't take rental cars on the ferry!! I am beginning to realise they will have to pick the highlights from each island. Can you recommend any from either Sardinia or Sicily please?

Michael, I couldn't find your report, can you please give me a title, tks.

Thanks
Schnauzer

For us, Taormina and Lipari were the highlights of our Sicily trip. We didn't think much of Siracusa, we stayed in Ortigia. One day we walked all the way up to Castelmola which is high above Taormina. The views along the way and from the top were spectacular.

We did a bus day tour which was VERY long to Agrigento and Piazza Armerina. The mosaics at Piazza Armerina were quite amazing to see and beautiful but we only had a short time there, most of the day was spent in the bus driving with a long time at Agrigento which I didn't enjoy much.

On Sardinia we liked Santa Teresa Gallura (the Hotel Marinaro was good, nothing posh but central to the town and also the port for the ferry to Corsica) even though the town is quite small, it has a nice beach and a quiet seaside type atmosphere. We also stayed in Alghero which was good, though I didn't like our apartment much. The walk along the Lungomare was lovely and there are lots of places to eat. We had a day trip to Bosa which was very picturesque.

Hope that helps a bit.

Kay

Personally would not shuttle around so much skip
Sicilia just do a bit of Corica more rugged but
beaches tourism not as good as www.sardegna.com
for me.When there a couple of years ago flew into
Alghero on www.ryanair.com very cheap rented a car
and circumnavigated the Island.Costa Smeralda is
BEAUTIFUL best of all islands for me.In the past have
flown www.easyjet.com into Olbia a much uglier town.Have
also done the fast ferry from Fiumicino Roma more
expensive not as nice as flying.

Happy Planning!

Hi schnauzer, I visited Sicily for the first time this past spring. Didn't get around to doing a report--never even downloaded all my pics! We loved every place we visited but the itinerary I devised was too rushed. Ortigia, the old island of Siracusa, was a giant highlight. We stayed at Palazzo del Sale, which was a great little hotel. I also really enjoyed Modica (stayed at Casa Talia, terrific), though I gather Ragusa Ibla would work there as well for Sicilian Baroque. Palermo was wonderful too, if they are interested in a city-city.

I haven't been to Sardinia or Corsica yet, but I loved my time in Sicily. I spent about 2 weeks there at a pace that made for many VERY long (wonderful) days. I did not try to see all the highlights of Sicily in the time I had. My only regret is that I did not have more time there. Hope that helps!

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...t-sardinia.cfm

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ch-4-to-11.cfm

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...inia-again.cfm

And for Sicily : http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic...ly-Sicily.html

Wow, thank you all so much. Now of course comes the putting it altogether bit!!! Great links to your reports pvoyageuse- really good info and Leely2 so good to hear from you as well. How are you?? Just an aside ----- for Leely's interest only---- I have finally settled the divorce after 2.5 years!! amazing.... what an effort, someone had to be extremely difficult.. no names - ha ha.

Does anyone know how to get from Sicily back to Italy? Can you fly to Naples?

Keep those ideas coming... thanks again to everyone,
schnauzer

Can you fly to Naples?

Sure, from Catania or Palermo. Also train and ferry.

"Also they don't want to take the ferry from Sardinia to Sicily - can you fly?"

Meridiana flies Palermo/Cagliari
Alpieagles flies Catania/Olbia

Given their interests and abilities and the time of year, I think they'd find more of interest in Sicily than either of the other 2 islands. It would be easy to spend 3 weeks in Sicily and that would be more relaxing for people who don't want to rush around. I would start with maybe 5 nights in Palermo, spend a week driving around and visiting places like Segesta, Agrigento, Siracusa & Piazza Armerina for 1/2 nights each, take a boat from Messina to one of Aeolian islands, stay there for 4/5 nights and visit other islands as day trips, and finish with a relaxing 4/5 nights in Taormina.

I've been to all 3 islands and would say that driving in Corsica takes A LOT more time than you think it should. The roads that access the pretty bits are very narrow and twisty and full of domestic animals (pigs, cows, dogs). We were there for 8 days and just did the north half of the island and felt rushed. Perhaps a few days in the south as a side trip from Sardinia would be good.

Sardinia was very interesting and different from other places in Italy. More like Corsica I'd say, but definitely unique. Again, we spent about 8 days there and barely scratched the surface, although the driving was much easier than on Corsica.

I agree that maybe 2 weeks in Sicily and one in Sardinia with 2+ nights of that being in Corsica would be good. I loved Sicily and loved the food and I think it's much more accessible in all sorts of senses of the word than the other two islands. The archaeology is amazing as well. Siracusa is neat, I loved Taormina (we were there at Christmas and didn't have to deal with cruise ships). We drove the whole time and didn't really have problems with the Sicilian drivers.

Schnauzer, does your friend's back trouble affect her ability to do stairs or steep streets? If yes, that will definitely be a consideration in selecting stops in Sicily, e.g., Taormina's main street, the Corso Umberto, is pretty much flat but the side streets run up and down the hill and it's a short but steep climb to the Greek theater.
I was nursing a problem leg while we were there and had to take some care.
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ecial-trip.cfm

schanuzer, congrats on finally getting your life back! I'm very happy for you.

I would definitely recommend the Meridiana flight to Cagliari... the South of Sardinia is so unspoilt and gorgeous. I particularly adore the Pula and Chia areas. Have a great trip!