December hiking in Sicily
 

Hello, we are based in Munich and will be in Sicily from December 22nd to January 2nd, flying in and out of Palermo. We have never been to Sicily in the winter before, and I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions about hiking during this time of the year, hopefully in an area relatively close to Palermo.

We want to spend quite a bit of time in Palermo just relaxing, but would really like to do three or four days of hiking, preferably staying in pensions in small villages at night. I assume that the Madonies would be too cold at this time of year? thanks for any recommendations!

Sorry, I can't comment on hiking - I've spent several holidays in Sicily but Hiking is not my thing.

But I had to comment on "time in Palermo just relaxing" - this really is a contradiction in terms. I love Palermo & find it very exciting; but it's the opposite of relaxing, especially since it won't be beach/pool weather. It's busy, noisy, frenetic, with lots to see and do - but not relaxing. Are you sure you want to spend time there? Wouldn't somewhere like Taormina suit you better for relaxing? (I would recommend the Aeolian islands but not in winter, in case the boats are disrupted by bad weather.)

Hi, thanks for the reply...we spent just few hours in Palermo on a previous trip and found it to be exactly as you described, but we were intrigued...I guess I should have written "exploring Palermo and relaxing in our flat." Taormina was too touristy for us and on our last trip, we did quite a bit of travelling from place to place by public transportion and kind of want to stay in one place for this trip, aside from the hiking excursion.

I don't know if this website might give you any ideas for itineraries you could adapt for your own use - http://www.inntravel.co.uk/holidays/...ily---Sardinia. Inntravel is a long-established British holiday company arranging both guided & self-guided walking holidays (walking is what the British call hiking); I see they don't offer their Italy holidays in the winter, but I've no idea if that is due to the weather or lack of demand or (I'd guess) both. If you have travelled in Sicily before you will be aware that there's always snow on Etna! And in many years of travelling to Italy, I've never read any references to walking anywhere except in spring & summer.