Help with 1st trip to Sicily April,May 2013.
 

Ciao all,
My wife and I are starting to plan our first trip to Sicily late April into May 2013. We plan to visit Sicily for about 20 days. We are celebrating our 35TH wedding anniversary. We really could use your help with the best cities to visit with a rental car that would allow us to explore the historical sites. We love to hike, explore, take photos, shop for ceramics, and eat good local food. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Ciao, Louie & Vera.

Ciao Rescue: are you more into full service hotels, B&Bs, Agriturismo, wineries? 3 star - 5 star accomatations?

Wow! Twenty days in Sicily in April and May. What a wonderful trip to look forward to. We had 10 days, starting in Palermo. After 3 days in Palermo we picked up a car and headed south, eventually visiting Agrigento, Piazza Amerina, Siracusa and Taormina. You will have time for more.

Read some of the trip reports on this board - they are wonderful for getting ideas for your trip as is a guidebook. As you decide where to go, we can be of more help on hotels and restaurants, etc. Have a wonderful trip!

You might want to take a look at my trip report; click on my name to find it. Friends just showed us pictures of their trip to Sicily, and the one thing we did not plan was traveling through the center--they did, following an itinerary suggested in the Guide Michelin for Sicily.

bmking as we are also planning a trip to Sicily at about the same time as you, albeit for a shorter time - 10-12 days I think.

Michael - thanks for the tip about the michelin guide - I don't think that i knew that there was one for Sicily.

I can recommend the Lonely planet guide. it helpfully divides up the island into sections and suggests 3 day itineraries for each part - you might find that useful, Rescue.

Our family spent two weeks in Sicily two years ago. I loved it. Here's the link to my trip report:
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ecial-trip.cfm. On my wish list for a return visit--the Aeolians, the Villa Casale at Piazza Armerina (after a long restoration period the entire villa is now apparently open again), Cefalù, and Monreale.

UmoDiViaggio,and fellow Fodors travelers,
My wife and I love drinking wine (mostly reds). We have traveled to Italy a couple of times, and try and find a nice B&B to base our travels from. Weather its rated 3-5 stars is not as important. We consider the recommendation we get from fellow travelers more. An important consideration for a nice B&B would be parking, and a good base location to visit as much of Sicily as possible. We are considering 4-6 cities to base our travels from. We are open to any recommendations all of you suggest. Thank you again, Louie & Vera.

Rescue, we found it relatively easy to get in and out of Ortigia/Siracusa and also Modica. Most of the driving-in- Sicily advice you'll read will recommend that you avoid driving in the big cities (Palermo, Catania) at all cost. I also would not have wanted a car in Taormina.

<i>I also would not have wanted a car in Taormina.</i>

There is underground parking below Taormina and a free shuttle to the town.

Bon_voyage and Michael,
Thank you for both your responses. Yes we will not have a rental car for our stay in Palermo or Catania. We will only drive out of Palermo, and drop off the rental car at the airport in Catania and taxi to our hotel. I have a question about which city Noto, Modica, or Ragusa would be better to base our travels in that area of Sicily from. Or would you recommend visiting more than one. We love to explore the old cities for ceramics shops and mom & pop restaurants where the locals eat.
Ciao, Louie & Vera.

Modica is a vibrant town that blends its historic attractions with authentic modern-day life. One of the reasons that I chose to stay at Casa Talía was that it offered parking a short walk from the B & B. It also had character and charm and a terrific view of Modica Alta. Ragusa Ibla, the site of most of the Baroque attractions, is lovely but separated from the newer part of Ragusa where most people live and work. We had only a brief stop in Noto. I'd have liked a few more hours to poke around. It had a dusty, sleepy feel in comparison to the other two, but we were also there on a Sunday. It's only about 30 minutes from Siracusa and can easily been seen on the way to or from there. I'd wanted to hike in the Cava d'Ispica but there wasn't time. And then there's Scicli and the beach area. Really, with two weeks, it felt as though we'd barely scratched the surface of Sicily.

Ciao:
IMO, i fly into Catania and leave from Catania. rent a car there and head right to Taormina, use that as base for 3-4 days , explore Mt, Etna, Naxos, east coast to Messina , Tindari ( The Black Madonna). Aeolian isl. maybe if you want to fit it in.

head over toward Cefalu, use that as base for 2-3 days, explore there, go to Parco Madonie, there are two old towns here with ruins Caltavuturo (my father was from here)& Sciafani-Bagni.

head over toward Palermo , personally i would not spend much time here, use time here to see Monreale and Segesta.

head toward Trapani ,get another base there, see Marsala and Donnafugata winery. stay here for a few days http://www.planetaestate.it/?lang=en , use that to exlpore southwestern part, Agrigento is only 1hr away.

next head overto Ragusa, for a base for few days, see Caltagirone and Siracusa from there.

and finish trip with Catania, overnight (or maybe 2), return car and fly home.

CitiesAgrigento — to the south and particularly noted for the Valle dei Templi (Valley of Temples)(UNESCO World Heritage)
Catania — busy university city and economic center, great for nightlife, the gate to Mount Etna (UNESCO World Heritage)
Gela — one of the most important old greek cities, archaelogical centre e sea resort on the south coast
Marsala — interesting museum, home of the famous wine
Messina — busy city and link to the mainland
Palermo — throbbing capital, plenty of sights but not my favorite.
Ragusa — impressive baroque architecture (UNESCO World Heritage)
Syracuse (Siracusa) — attractive old town and Greek ruins (UNESCO World Heritage)
Trapani — attractive city and gateway to Pantelleria and the Egadi islands
Other destinations
The Aeolian Islands
Aegadian Islands — relaxing islands off the west coast
Aeolian Islands — beautiful group of volcanic islands (UNESCO World Heritage)
Madonie — Madonie National Park, the national Park in the Heart of Sicily
Mount Etna — the impressive 3323m high active volcano
Mozia — ancient Punic city built on the island of Mozia overlooking Marsala
Pantelleria — Arab-influenced solitude
Pelagie Islands — most southern, in the Mediterranean Sea
Segesta — another Greek temple, theatre and ruins
Selinunte — another group of impressive Greek temples and ruins of Greek city


http://www.thinksicily.com/guide-to-...in-sicily.aspx

Bon_voyage,
Thank you for the info on Modica. That is exactly the info we were hoping for. So I think we will stay in Modica 3-4 nights, and visit Noto, Ragusa the Cava d'lspica, and the beaches. Also, my wife loved the red poppies on the hillsides in the Tuscany area. Are there areas in Sicily that we could see the poppies in May?
Thank you, again, Louie & Vera.

All of Sicily is in bloom in early May.

Ciao UmoDiViaggio,
Great information. All the help is making our understanding of how to approach a first time visit to Sicily easy. It definitely saves us from wasting a lot of time deciding where to go, and what is the best route to take without doing any back tracking. Thank you again, Louie & Vera.

We are also planning to fly into and out of Catania; with 10 nights or so, how would you distribute them? We like to stay 3-4 nights in each place, not moving around too much.

I am thinking, perhaps, of staying in 3 places: Ortgya, Modica, and somewhere near Agrigento. &/or possibly north of Catania near Etna, though that might be too much in such a short trip.

thoughts anyone?

If you stay in Ortygia (Siracusa), Modica is less than 50 miles from Siracusa; just a day's outing.

IMO, i would stay around Ragusa,use that as one of your bases, and visit Siracusa, Ortygia, and Gela to the west and Modica, ALL with in <1 hr.

http://www.anticabadia.com/home_eng.php

I did a reverse bon_voyage trip, except it was a bit shorter. I wished we had at least one more night in each location except Agrigento.

We flew into Palermo, stayed in Palermo a day and a half (due to delayed flights), picked up the car out at the airport and drove to Agrigento, stopping at Segesta along the way. We spent one night near Agrigento so we could see the Valle dei Templi--unforgettable. Then we were off to Modica for two or three nights, which we loved and wished we could stay longer. Drove to Villa Romana del Casale to see the mosaics one day. Had a long, Michelin-starry lunch in Modica another day. Then off to Ortygia, which was beautiful and relaxing. We thought the archaeological museum was terrific. In fact, seeing that first and then traveling across Sicily would be helpful if you're into ruins. Flew out of Catania for six nights in Rome.

We stayed at the Hotel Falkensteiner in Palermo, Casa Talia in Modica, and Palazzo del Sale in Ortygia, all of which I recommend. We got a great deal at the Falkensteiner, and Palazzo del Sale is very reasonable. We stayed at a tiny b-and-b outside Agrigento but spent so much time getting lost to/from that I only recommend it to those with a good sense of direction.

We traveled in late-March/early-April and lucked out with beautiful weather, no crowds and low-season pricing. I think April-May will be very, very pleasant.

Enjoy Sicily. It is on my must-return list.

Ann, no Palermo for you?

How very perfect! I will also finally be making my Sicily trip at the same time. Planning to fly in/out of Palermo and travel counterclockwise with 5-6 nts on Lipari and a finish in Palermo. Starting 4/26 for 3 weeks.

Is anyone having problems finding flights from the US? I was trying Delta (hub in state) and can't find anything thru to Palermo or Catania published yet! Arggghh!