We are planning an 8 day trip to Siciliy in May. (Then going on to Tuscany) My husband and I are in disagreement as to how many nights in each city. He wants to spend each night in a different hotel so that we can move in one direction and don't have to spend time backtracking and see alot. I think that two or at the most three places is more than enough. Any suggestions from more worldly travelers than we are. I do hope that you will agree with me--but I promised to abide by what the marjority say.

One night stays tend to be exhausting. There is packing, checking out, moving on, checking in and unpacking every day. That REALLY eats into your free time.

It is usually better, where you can - to set up one place as a base for a minimum of 2 or 3 days and use it as a base to see everything w/i reasonable drive day trips. You actually would probably see more this way. Plus - you get to know the village, have a chance to meet more people.

Now, in some areas this strategy doesn't work so ell - if the geography makes day trips difficult. But most places -- stop and stay a while.

oops - that should read " . . . doesn't work so well . . . "

hello pwitten, my first suggestion is to repost with a new title that is more apt to attract the attention of those that can help you. A title along the lines of "How many nights in Sicily and Tuscany" would be good. But I will see what I can answer and perhaps others will click on this thread.

I have never been to Sicily unfortantly. I gather you will be traveling around the island? And that is why your husband wants a different hotel each night.

In Tuscany do you have any idea where <i>you</i> want to stay and what you both want to do? Many people enjoy staying in one spot in Tuscany, somewhere where there is a beautiful view etc and then take day trips. Are you planning on renting a car? To see the countryside normally a car is needed. Or if you are going to stay in Florence of course you don't want a car. You can take daytrips from Florence.

Where are you flying into and out of? If you have an openjaw ticket that will save you a lot of time backtracking (fly into one city and fly out of another city) also called multicity flight.

When you say you are planning an 8 day trip to Italy how many actual nights will you have in Italy? Are you counting the 8 days as part of your travelling time? How are you getting from Sicily to Tuscany?

Guess I have more questions than answers, LOL. But this information will help Fodorites give you good advice.

Also, am sure you know, but in case you don't use the Search Box here on Fodor's to pick up some good trip reports for Sicily and Tuscany.

Have fun planning your trip to Italy!
Best wishes.

Sometimes I agree with the thinking Janis described but in this case I don't. We were in Sicily last summer and did a number of one night stays. However, we also did several 2 and 3 night stays so it wasn't moving EVERY night. I don't think I'd advise 8 one night stays in a row. But in Sicily, driving from point A to point B can be really really slow and boring. Some of the interior is very boring, and even though it's not that big an island (about the size of Vermont), it can be very slow going, so doing a lot of back and forth makes no sense. If you have a car, which is really the only way you could even consider this, the getting from one hotel to the other is no where near as time consuming as it is if you are going by public transportation. Make sure you have good directions to each hotel. You also need to be the type to travel relatively light. If you need to pack/unpack several suitcases each night that would take time I guess. We don't carry that much stuff with us so the packing doesn't take all that long.

This was our itinerary - 2 nights Palermo, 1 night Erice (stopped at Segesta en route), 1 night Seluninte, 1 night Aggrigento, 3 nights Siracusa, 3 nights Taormina. I'd not only repeat that, but if I had to do it over again I'd even do one more 1 night stay (in the interior, which we did as a day trip from Siracusa) and cut Siracusa down to 2 nights.

&quot;<i> Sometimes I agree with the thinking
Janis described but in this case I don&quot;&lt;/&gt;

I'm confused, Isabel - You say you don't agree w/ me - then you proceed to describe exactly what I recommened. Mostly 2 and 3 night stays plus some 1-nighters where the geography made more sense to move on . . . . .</i>

oh - I really messed that one up . .

Should look like this instead

&quot;<i>Sometimes I agree with the thinking
Janis described but in this case I
don't</i>&quot;

I'm confused, Isabel - You say you
don't agree w/ me - then you proceed
to describe exactly what I
recommended. Mostly 2 and 3 night
stays plus some 1-nighters where the
geography made more sense to move on.

Sorry janis, I guess what I took you to mean was that you'd advise against mostly one night stays, where as I was suggesting more of them. But it's really just a matter of degree. In most places I try to stay at least 3 days, preferably a week. But I also hate a lot of backtracking and Sicily especially was one place where I did do a bunch of one nighters and would actually have done more had I known before I went what I know now. I also definitly feel it makes a difference if it's a driving trip versus a pubic transportation (train) type of trip.

The last time I went to Sicily (my 3rd, DH's 2nd) this was our itinerary :

Taormina - 3n
Siracusa - 2n
near Ragusa - 1n
Agrigento - 2n
Palermo - 7n

It worked well for us. We were very glad to get to Palermo &amp; finally be able to unpack properly.