MBfromisrael

I am planning a 10day trip to Sicily on April, with a stay in Palermo from April 10 to 12.
As this is the Easter weekend i am concerned about things beeing closed. Can someone tell me what is going to be closed? What part of the weekend? What about public transportation (we are not going to have a car in Palermo)? Restaurants?

In short - is it a good time to explore the town, or should we change the dates?

thanks a lot
MB

abbydog

Hey -- just wanted to let you know I'm doing a similar trip at the same time. I would love to hear what kind of itinerary you have come up with. I'm gathering that in 10 days one must choose between eastern and western Sicily, but I want to see pretty much everything from Palermo to Siracusa!

I made an Easter weekend inquiry a few weeks ago with just a few responses. All I know so far is that there are interesting parades in several cities but they all occur on Good Friday. Sicilians have a large Easter Sunday meal and I believe many restaurants are open for that. And everyone takes a holiday on both Sunday and Monday.

I look forward to more responses to your query!

telechick

I don't know about places being open over Easter, athough experiencing Easter in Sicily should be a wonderful cultural experience. I just wanted to comment on the pp's assertion that you can't do the whole island in 10 days.

We travelled there over Christmas 1999 and did drive around the entire island in 10 days and I don't think it felt rushed. Obviously we couldn't explore everything, but we did get a good taste (literally and figuratively) of the island.

We flew into Palermo and drove immediately to Messina where we spent 2 nights. We then spent a night in Taormina (beautiful setting) and then 2 nights in Siracusa. We then spent a night in Sciacca (having visited Agrigento during the day). We ended our trip with 2 nights in Palermo - where you definitely don't want to have a car.

Along the way we stopped at lots of sites and villages and went up Mt. Etna (on Christmas Day - it was great) and had a good time exploring. We didn't cover much of the interior of the island, but we saw lots of the coast.

Sicily is a wonderful island and has amazing food. I hope you enjoy your trip.

MBfromisrael

Thank you both for the quick response. This is my first post on Fodor's forum and its good to know that I am not alone here...

abbdog - you asked about my itinerary, so here is the initial plan. I planned it using the Michelin green guide of Italy, Frommer's internet site and information I gathered from here and there. With the michelin guide I tried to cover the 3star sites and some of the 2stars.
Day 1 - we are considering 2 options:
Fly to Catania airport, rent a car and drive to Taurmina
or Fly to Palermo and drive to Taurmina, visiting Cefalu on the way.
2 nights in Taurmina
Day 2 - go to Mount Etna.
Day 3 - go to Siracusa. Stay overnight.
Day 4 - go to Piazza Armerina area via Noto and some other places in the area (don't know yet)
Day 5 - visit Villa Raomana in the morning, then drive do Agrigento and visit the Valley of Temples in the afternoon. Another option: see some more sites central Sicily and leave the visit to temples for next morning. Stay ovenight in Agrgento so that we can see the temples lit at night.
Day 6 and 7 - Western Sicily. Places like Selinunte, Erice, Segesta
Days 8 and 9 - Palermo (return the car). Visit Monreale by bus from Palermo.

This is a plan for 9 days, and we have 10 days. We'll use the extra day day either in Siracusa or in Western Sicily.

We have considered going to the Aeolian islands but decided to skip it as will take too much time.

The above itinerary brings us to Palermo on Good Friday. I am still trying to figure up if it will be possible to explore Palermo during this weekend. If not - we'll reverse the itinerary and start with Palermo.

I'll be glad to exchange information with you, and get feedback from anyone who has experienced Sicily

MB

Pvoyageuse

I spent 10 days in Sicily last October including a Sunday in Palermo. I don't know about Easter but we had no problems finding restaurants. Shops were closed. We went to the Ballaro Market in the morning, then visited the Archeological museum. The Vucirria Market on Monday morning was a disappointment as there were very few people.

Day 1 : Trapani and Erice
Day 2 : Segeste and Marsala - return to Trapani via the saltpans.
Day 3 Selinunte, Agrigento, night in Agrigento
Day 4 : Drive from Agrigento to Spracusa
Day 6 : Siracuse and Noto
Day 7 : drive from Siracusa to Cefalu where we left the car and took a train to Palermo
Day 8, 9, 10 : Palermo and Monreale.