Planning a first time trip to Sicily. Looking for a more relaxed trip without a ton of driving or many hotel changes. We like a mix of beach time and towns for exploration...this would be for 10 days in July.
How does this sound?
Day 1 - Land in Catania around 6:30pm, rent a car and head down to Syracusa
Day 2,3,4 - Explore Ortigia and day trip to Calamosche/Fontane Beaches
Day 5,6,7 - Lido di Noto, exploring Noto, day trip to Ragusa & Modica and beaches near by (San Lorenzo)
Day 8 - Drive up to Taormina
Day 9,10,11 - Explore Taormina, Isola Bella and day trip up to Mt Etna

Is this too little for such a long time? Should I add a destination a bit out of the way, like Cefalu? Should I add Catania? Reviews are mixed on Catania. Is it better to sleep in Noto proper and day trip to beaches or in Lido di Noto and have easy access to the beach?

Thanks so much!

Sergey

sshprints, you could almost stay in Catania and take day trips to all the places you mentioned. Or visit Taormina from Catania, then move to Siracusa and day trip to the other places from there. ​​​​We were adopted by a taxi driver in Siracusa who would have driven us to Noto!

We spent a week on Ortigia Is and could have stayed even longer.
I would reduce the mount of time you have scheduled for Taormina. It will be very hot in Sicily so make sure you have a/c wherever you stay. We went to Sicily in October to avoid the heat.
Enjoy your trip to a special part of the world!

You say 10 days but have 11 days listed. It would be easier to list by number of nights - two nights gives you one full day, three nights is two full days etc. We preferred Taormina to Siracusa and Ortigia but seem to be in the minority. Noto was lovely but not a lot there, we went on the public bus for half a day. We really liked Lipari, one of the Aeolian islands, easily reached by ferry. If you could work that into the itinerary (take something out?) that could be a nice way to spend the last couple of days and really relax.

We did our whole Sicily trip, about two weeks, by public transport. If you don't want to drive up to Taormina - narrow roads and little parking I think - you could park at the bottom (Giardini Naxos) and get the gondola/cable car up.

I stayed in Avola and did day trips to all the places you mention (had a car). Enjoyed Vendicari very much. Spiaggia Calamoshe is lovely, but you have to walk what I think is more or less 1 km... under the sun, it's not easy. I was in Sicily in June (beg).

HI, Sergey - a complete coincidence, your itinerary is extremely similar to the one we had when we did our trip to Sicily 5 years ago. Like the others i think that is better to count nights, not days, which gives you 4 nights in Ortigia, 3 at the Lido di Noto, and 4? in Taormina. 11 in all - is that what you have planned so far?

With the benefit of hindsight, we wished that we had spent more time in the far south-east - for example I should have loved a night or two in Scicli where a lot of Montalbano is filmed, but having stayed in Ragusa I like your idea of staying at the Lido di Noto instead of Noto itself or one of the baroque hill towns - driving up to Ragusa and getting parked up there every night was very stressful. We spent an afternoon in the Lido di Ragusa and liked the beach a lot, particularly as it's west facing and you get the most lovely sunset. So if you wanted some beach time close to the baroque towns I think it would make a lovely base,

Also you have not factored in time to see the Villa Romane di Casale at Piazza Armerina which I would thoroughly recommend, not just because of the Villa with its stunning mosaics, but because Piazza Armerina is itself very interesting not least because it's medieval, so completely different to the other towns you'll have seen. Also worth seeing en route is Caltagirone which as well as the famous ceramic tile faced steps leading up to the cathedral has lot else to offer including many shops stocking goods for "presepi" [italian nativity scenes] which are fascinating. And finally you might prefer to stay somewhere on Etna instead of staying in Taormina itself - admittedly pre covid we found it extremely touristy without any of the charm that must have attracted people years ago.

Hope this helps!

Happy Trvlr, what part of October did you go to Sicily? Is everything open in October?