We will be celebrating my 70th birthday in Sicily next May. I know it's early, but we want to lock in our plans. Joining us will be four adult children with spouses and five grandchildren, ranging in age from one and a half to twelve. Everyone is extremely physically fit and active, but due to the large number of our group, we want to spend the entire week in one villa. Would you recommend eastern Sicily so that we have Mt Etna and Taormina close by or elsewhere?

Look forward to hearing how this works out. I would like to do something similar with our grown kids and grandkids next year possibly. If you dont mind can I ask how do you plan to manage shared expenses? Activities, etc. What made you chose Sicily? Etc. And Happy Birthday in advance!

I think it really depends on your interests!. Personally, I'd go with

• something outside of Palermo (access to Palermo, Cefalu, Segesta, Selinunte, maybe Trepani and Erica) OR I
• something outside of Siracusa (access to Siracusa / Ortigia, the Villa Romana del Casale, maybe Agrigento, the Baroque towns).

Have fun with your research!

I think she meant �Trapani� and �Erice�, but she has mentioned many of the must see places in Sicily.

We have based in all of these areas as well as Taormina, and they were all wonderful. I don�t see Palermo as a great family area. We loved it, but we like �gritty� cities like Naples.

Trapani as a possible base would be better; it's quiet, friendly, not a lot of English spoken. We were told (we didn�t go) that day trips are popular to the Egadi islands, maybe Favignana since it�s the closest and largest. From there, you can enjoy Erice. The Greek temples at both Segesta and Selinunte are also within a reasonable drive.

Taormina in May shouldn�t be too crowded. It is a beautiful city, a cable car to the beach, some hiking including the hill town above it, Castelmola. Perfect for a day trip to do hiking and visit Mt. Etna. We didn�t do it, but you might check out the antique narrow gauge railroad Circumetnea. We had a private driver a number of years ago who also took us to the Alcantara Gorge, formed by Etna lava flows. It�s quite spectacular, and there are hiking trails and a beach.

Ortygia is a great spot adjacent to Siracusa (that has an old Greek theatre but not much else). Ortygia has a fabulous market, a waterfront promenade, an imposing castle and close proximity to Ragusa, Modica and Noto. Maybe a beachfront location in that area as a base. It�s a bit of a ride, but Agrigento IMO has the best group of Greek temples in Sicily.

So, you have a lot of choices. We haven�t done it with children. Our son in November based himself 50/50 Taormina and Orygia, and their young son made friends and enjoyed both. You might also consult the Sicily forum on tripadvisor where Vagabonda is perhaps the most knowledgable Sicily person on any message board.

Indeed! Auto-correct gone mad.

Ortigia is actually part of Siracusa.
Any reasonably comprehensive guidebook will show that there is much more to the part of Siracusa outside of Ortigia than an old Greek theater. And -- it's a pretty impressive theater, IMO!

The Greek Theatre in Siracusa is just part of a large complex that takes 2 hours just to walk around let alone enjoy or understand.

The whole complex plus the Island of Ortigia (there is a bridge) makes up the Unesco world heritage site.

We noticed that prices vary greatly depending on dates in Ortigia and I suspect booking Sicily early might be a good idea, not that cars in the centre of some towns are as much a problem as a benefit, so Ortigia has a time based traffic zone that might (repeat might) give you a problem if used as a base. Normally hotels and house rentals will put your car number plates up on the local system for the duration of your stay.