Itinerary in Sicily
 

My wife and I are planning to fly from Rome to Palermo or Catania for 5 nights in July 2005. We'd like to stay in one hotel rather than move around and just drive to the sights. Does anyone have a suggested driving itinerary and the distances involved? Can we see enough taking day trips from either city?

Considering that one side of Sicily is 2 to 2.5 hours from the other, technically anywhere could be a day trip.

From Palermo, my recommendations are Erice/Valderice, Cefalu' and Agrigento. (The one section I haven't visited yet is southwest Sicily and I'm told there's beautiful places there).

From Catania, Siracusa/Ortigia (with a stop at Avola on the way), Taormina, Etna (better in the evening if the lava is still there) and Agrigento.

Agrigento is a must-see reachable from either location but keep in mind that it's quite hot in July.

I have done a ton of homework on a pending 15 days trip to Sicily. With your time I would pick east or west--not both. East may be easier--fly into Catania and split your time between the Taormina and Siracusa areas. They are some nice B&B agriturismos located between them. Search and find Il Limoneto. Or, stay in Taormina and drive 2 plus hours to Siracusa. Look at Villa Schuler.

Sorry for highjacking your posting, mk, but Bob, would you share your 15 day Sicilian itinerary?

Thanks,
Linda

Sure Linda, but do not tell anyone else.
BOB & SUSAN DO SICILIA?MAY ?05


DATE ITINERARY CONTACT

27 APR Depart Jax for Roma?DL # 5432 at 1455?connect to Catania

28 Arrive Catania---to Taormina To Hotel Villa Schuler
www.villaschuler.com
29 See Taormina

30 Explore area

1 May Get car?to Siracusa Agriturismo Limoneto
www.emmeti.it/limoneto
2 See Siracusa/Ortygia

3 Tour area---Ragusa/Noto [email protected]

4 To Piazza Armerina via Palazzolo Arecide
www.gigliotto.com
5 See Enna and Villa Casale

6 To Scaccia via Agrigento www.verdetecnica.com

7 Explore area

8 See Selinunte & Marsala

9 To Palermo via Monreale www.hotelletizia.com

10 Explore Palermo

11 More Palermo

12 Last day in Sicilia

13 To airport?to Roma?connect with DL# 149 to JFK at 1210

Good morning, would fly into Palermo and spend two nights there, seeing Cefalu and Monreale, etc.,then continue on thru Agrigento and
to Catania, day trip out to Pza Armerina and Siracusa, Etna, etc. Fly out of Catania... By only having one point to stay you will have to do very much driving in order to get a good feel of Sicilia. Richard of LaGrange Park, Il..

Bob,

Villa Schuler ROCKS!!! You're going to love it there. Make sure you ask for a room with a view of Etna.

I'm so jealous you're going...

--Betty

Bob,

Your itinerary looks great - thanks for the good info.

Cheers,
Linda

I guess it all depends on your experiences. It also have stayed at Villa Schuler but made the mistake of staying in Giardini(beach below Taormina)before staying in Taormina. Our room had 180 degree view of sea and nothing but sea (no roads) with balcony with table and chairs and was very calming and beautiful and huge breakfast buffet. So going to villa schular with it's breakfast was a disappointing. We also had room with view of Etna and gardens at Hotel Schular were lovely but hotel in Giardini also had gardens and swimming pool and cost less. We also had to help guest out because they could not get key to work and front desk would not help them at villa schular. I think they needed more hotel staff at Schular. They were not rude to us just very busy. I wanted spend time in both towns as I lived on Mt Etna and had never stayed overnight at either town only day trips. I hope you are planning on staying in Taormina or Giardini and not Catania. Taormina and Giardini are much more relaxed and Taormina is touristy but it is just so beautiful you don't care in my own experience. Catania is a working

Sorry did not mean to post reply without editing. Catania is a working city not as much to see as Palermo IMHO. I would stay on east side and west side of island. I have gone from one side of island to other in a day but if you are there for only 5 days it would be much easier to have a hotel on each side.
You can get dring times on
http://www.mapporama.com
http://www.mappy.com/

Have a fun trip

We stayed at the Villa Sant'Andrea (part of the Framon Hotel chain) and loved, loved, loved it). It's built into the side of a cliff and above a cove. Very close to the gondola.

While Erice is a quaint medieval town (which we loved) we made a mistake and stayed overnight. It's at the top of the mountain and it takes at least 30 minutes to go up and down the winding roads. If we had it to do over again, we'd do a day visit and stay in Valderice.

Good luck!

Have to disagree with sbp17 that "one side of Sicily is 2 to 2.5 hours from the other." While it's true that travel on the superstrada from Catania to Palermo might be 2.5 hours (maybe closer to 3), travel from areas like Siracusa to Trapani are closer to 4 to 4.5 hours. It's kind of difficult to pick one hotel and do day trips across the entire island. You should really pick a coast (East or West) and concentrate on the sites on that side. We spent a week on the West Coast and then traveled to the East Coast for four days. The East Coast (particularly around the area of Taormina and Etna) is more tourist friendly, but we actually enjoyed the West Coast (we stayed in Selinunte) more. I agree with zozozo about Giardini Naxos. The beach is much nicer than Taormina (I'm told Letojanni is even nicer) and the atmosphere is more much Sicilian. Taormina is more of a tourist destination. Taormina unquestionably has better (and more expensive) restaurants, but you can go to them by bus without paying the prices for Taormina hotels.

I'd agree about Erice. I was originally sorry that we couldn't manage to book to spend a night there, but after spending a few hours up there one afternoon (yes, the views were pretty) I was glad we weren't "stuck there" for the night.

About Taormina. Wow. Of all the places we visited on Sicily our first trip there, that was the only one I HAD to return to for a few more nights on our second trip to Sicily. It is spectacular -- and not just for the views. Like other "tourist" destinations, just visiting it for a day means you only see it when it is at its worst -- filled with other tourists making the same mistake -- only doing day trips there.

Bob the Navigator,

I too would like to stay at Verdetecnica in May, but have not received a response to my emails, which I've sent to all the addresses listed on the website as well as sending reservation form. Did you have trouble contacting them? Did you email them or fax or call? Thanks for your help.

We did email them--they have an ad on slowtrav.com. However, we have changed our plans and will not be staying there after all. We decided to stay further up the coast near Selinunte.

I had no problem getting a response from them when I stayed about 1 1/2 years ago. How long has it been? Perhaps they are on vacation?

We are travelling to Sicily forthe first time for 17 days in March/April. We will spend 3 nights in Palermo, 4 nights on Filicudi, 3 nights in Lipari and then the last week in Licata on the west coast. We were able to get an apartment for a week through http://www.holidaylettings.co.uk/rentals/Italy/Sicily/
We have not rented from them before, but hope that the location will be a good one to do days trips from. We are planning to take the earliest ferry from Lipari and visit Mt. Etna then drive to Licata later in the day. Does anyone have a guess as to how long a drive that might be?