Naples/The Amalfi Coast...and Sicily?
Feb 21st, 2017, 07:16 AM
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Naples/The Amalfi Coast...and Sicily?
Please help! My husband and I love Italy and we've been twice in the last four years! We did Rome also Florence, Sienna, lots of Tuscany, Milan, Bologna, Venice, some more than once on ten day trips a few years apart.
We are thinking of going next September for our thirtieth anniversary. We would like to do Naples and the Amalfi Coast, and we are even thinking of flying into and out of Rome so we can add a bit of that in as well. (We love Rome, and we have actually only been there once).
My husband is convinced this will be our last trip to Italy (he's probably right) and wants to add Sicily to the mix. The most we could have (I think) is ten days this go round. Does it make any sense to try to cram in Sicily? Would it be worth it to theoretically devote a whole trip JUST to Sicily? I think we will be kept very busy with Naples and the Amalfi Coast, and I think if we add Rome, that will be more than enough. But we can rethink. Has any done this? Please advise. Thanks.
We are thinking of going next September for our thirtieth anniversary. We would like to do Naples and the Amalfi Coast, and we are even thinking of flying into and out of Rome so we can add a bit of that in as well. (We love Rome, and we have actually only been there once).
My husband is convinced this will be our last trip to Italy (he's probably right) and wants to add Sicily to the mix. The most we could have (I think) is ten days this go round. Does it make any sense to try to cram in Sicily? Would it be worth it to theoretically devote a whole trip JUST to Sicily? I think we will be kept very busy with Naples and the Amalfi Coast, and I think if we add Rome, that will be more than enough. But we can rethink. Has any done this? Please advise. Thanks.
Feb 21st, 2017, 07:39 AM
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Glannie:
Naples/Amalfi Coast and Sicily each easily warrant ten days without any doubt. Sicily being much larger and varied than the Amalfi Coast is a destination you may want to return to many times (despite your husband's conviction).
Combining Rome with Naples/Amalfi Coast AND Sicily into ten days is overdoing it. If you want to enjoy the places you visit, please limit yourselves to Rome plus one of the regions you mention.
As to the precise places you may want to visit: Are you planning to drive or are you on public transport? Do you prefer to stay at one place and do day trips? What are your interests: Architecture, history, food and drink, relaxing on the beaches, watching people? People will give you excellent recommendations on this forum.
Enjoy your trip
Phil.
Naples/Amalfi Coast and Sicily each easily warrant ten days without any doubt. Sicily being much larger and varied than the Amalfi Coast is a destination you may want to return to many times (despite your husband's conviction).
Combining Rome with Naples/Amalfi Coast AND Sicily into ten days is overdoing it. If you want to enjoy the places you visit, please limit yourselves to Rome plus one of the regions you mention.
As to the precise places you may want to visit: Are you planning to drive or are you on public transport? Do you prefer to stay at one place and do day trips? What are your interests: Architecture, history, food and drink, relaxing on the beaches, watching people? People will give you excellent recommendations on this forum.
Enjoy your trip
Phil.
Feb 21st, 2017, 07:55 AM
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You must go to Sicilia! It is not necessary to go for 10 days. You can go for six day or five days and it is wonderful. This advice from the other poster is -- I'm sorry -- crazy.
Italy is not Italy without Sicilia. If you love Italy, go to Sicilia for your visit for the last time.
It is fine to go to Napoli + costeria Amalfitana and go to Sicilia the same visit. Napoli has a lot to see, but all the towns of the Amalfi are the same, and you can understand what it is if you have a taxi take you to Ravello and Positano. Have a nice lunch, see the vista, and you understand what it is. For me, the Amalfi coast is like a rich person's vacation. It is very beautiful but it is a place for rich tourists from other places.
So you go to stay in Napoli, visit the Amalfi in a taxi. Now you take a plane to Sicilia. What do you want to see in Sicilia? I think if you go to Amalfi then it is not necessary to see Taormina. If you go to Napoli and Rome, maybe not Palermo. So maybe you fly to Catania, go to Siracusa, and visit Ragusa or Noto, and go back to Catania to fly to Rome>
Italy is not Italy without Sicilia. If you love Italy, go to Sicilia for your visit for the last time.
It is fine to go to Napoli + costeria Amalfitana and go to Sicilia the same visit. Napoli has a lot to see, but all the towns of the Amalfi are the same, and you can understand what it is if you have a taxi take you to Ravello and Positano. Have a nice lunch, see the vista, and you understand what it is. For me, the Amalfi coast is like a rich person's vacation. It is very beautiful but it is a place for rich tourists from other places.
So you go to stay in Napoli, visit the Amalfi in a taxi. Now you take a plane to Sicilia. What do you want to see in Sicilia? I think if you go to Amalfi then it is not necessary to see Taormina. If you go to Napoli and Rome, maybe not Palermo. So maybe you fly to Catania, go to Siracusa, and visit Ragusa or Noto, and go back to Catania to fly to Rome>
Feb 21st, 2017, 08:50 AM
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Sorry, Massimo, I disagree with you on this one. I love Sicily, but if the OP wants to see Rome, Amalfi and Naples, then there is their 10 days.
Glannie, you could spend 5-6 days in Sicily if you gave up Naples and Amalfi, but you still wouldn't see much of Sicily. The sights are spread out, so basically if you want to see much, you would just be in the car most of the time. I personally would not go all the way to Sicily just to see Siracusa and Noto.
So, you could spend your 10 days flying into Catania and out of Palermo, and seeing some of the sights, but it would still be rushed. We recently spent 12 days and just covered the eastern side of the island.
Glannie, you could spend 5-6 days in Sicily if you gave up Naples and Amalfi, but you still wouldn't see much of Sicily. The sights are spread out, so basically if you want to see much, you would just be in the car most of the time. I personally would not go all the way to Sicily just to see Siracusa and Noto.
So, you could spend your 10 days flying into Catania and out of Palermo, and seeing some of the sights, but it would still be rushed. We recently spent 12 days and just covered the eastern side of the island.
Feb 21st, 2017, 03:53 PM
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With 10 days, I'm sorry, but no, I would not try to visit all of these locations. With 10 days, you could have a lovely visit to
- Naples and the Amalfi Coast. (I, personally, would not want to try to cram Rome into 10 days for Naples and the Amalfi Coast, particularly if you've already seen it. JMO.)
- OR the eastern part of Sicily.
- OR the western part of Sicily.
NOTE that I have not said you can see Sicily in 10 days -- it really takes at least 2 weeks, if not 3.
I recommend that you get some good guidebooks (or spend some time with a few in your local library), identify the things you most want to see in each location, check their opening/closing times on the internet, and mark them on a calendar. Pencil in your transportation, add some time on either side (for getting to/from your lodging, checking in/out, packing/unpacking, getting oriented, etc.). Then see how things fit together. I think you will realize that you are being overly ambitious.
I fully understand your desire to see all these places, and I also understand the difficulty of choosing if there's a possibility that you can't return. Some people take that possibility as a signal to skim as much as you can. Others (and I'm among them) take the possibility that THIS trip will be my LAST to maximize the time I have to actually see and experience the places that I choose to see, while minimizing the time spent traveling between places (unless, of course, the point of the journey IS the time in transit).
No right or wrong decisions here -- just some very hard ones! And the good news is that you should have a fantastic trip no matter what you choose.
- Naples and the Amalfi Coast. (I, personally, would not want to try to cram Rome into 10 days for Naples and the Amalfi Coast, particularly if you've already seen it. JMO.)
- OR the eastern part of Sicily.
- OR the western part of Sicily.
NOTE that I have not said you can see Sicily in 10 days -- it really takes at least 2 weeks, if not 3.
I recommend that you get some good guidebooks (or spend some time with a few in your local library), identify the things you most want to see in each location, check their opening/closing times on the internet, and mark them on a calendar. Pencil in your transportation, add some time on either side (for getting to/from your lodging, checking in/out, packing/unpacking, getting oriented, etc.). Then see how things fit together. I think you will realize that you are being overly ambitious.
I fully understand your desire to see all these places, and I also understand the difficulty of choosing if there's a possibility that you can't return. Some people take that possibility as a signal to skim as much as you can. Others (and I'm among them) take the possibility that THIS trip will be my LAST to maximize the time I have to actually see and experience the places that I choose to see, while minimizing the time spent traveling between places (unless, of course, the point of the journey IS the time in transit).
No right or wrong decisions here -- just some very hard ones! And the good news is that you should have a fantastic trip no matter what you choose.
