Need help with Sicily trip
 

We are planning a trip to Sicily in Sept. and need help on how many days we should take to see the entire island. Also has anyone been to the island of Lipari. Is it feasible to see also the heel and toe of Italy and then Sicily or is it too far? Any help you can give re hotels and towns to visit would be greatly appreciated.

We had a trip to Sicily about 6 years ago and didn't see everything, that would take ages I expect but enjoyed what we did see. We flew into Catania, stayed for about 3 nights in Ortigia, the old part of Siracusa. Then we caught the train and bus to Taormina and stayed for about 3 nights. We did the steep walk up to Castelmola for wonderful views down over the land and sea. Caught public transport then - bus and ferry - to Lipari where we had 3 nights. We didn't explore all of Lipari, we just saw the main town and really liked it.

From Taormina we did an organised one day bus trip to Agrigento and Piazza Armerina, where the wonderful mosaics are. The bus left about 6am and got back after 8pm so it was a long day. I loved seeing the mosaics but thought Agrigento was over rated.

You could see the area of Italy you are interested in if you had enough time. At a very rough estimate, I'd allow at least a month to see all that, if you only have a week or two, just concentrate on Sicily.

Kay

Click on my name and you will find my trip report. From our perspective (two couples), we do not feel that we missed that much because our trip was abbreviated.

We spent 15 days--it takes that long or more.

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...rip-report.cfm

I spent about 2 week in Sicily and skipped quite a lot. And I travel hard! On that same trip, which was 3.5 weeks long, I spent some time in/near the Amalfi Coast and Puglia. It was a great trip, but I was really just skimming highlights.

Hope that helps!

Touringlady, if you put "Sicily" in the search function, you'll find several recent threads. We spent two weeks in Sicily last June, and there were places I would have liked to have seen that we just didn't have time for. Here's the link to my trip report: http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ecial-trip.cfm.

Kay, is it possible to see Lipari in one day or should we spend 2 days there. How big is the island? Do you think 12 or 13 days would be enough to see all of Sicily and Lipari?

You can "see" Lipari in one day. But why? You'll miss the best part of it--the laid back, Mediterranean island vibe. Don't bother to go unless you can spend 2 nights there. You can "see" highlights of Sicily in 10-14 days. The more time, the better.

I think a 12 or 13 day holiday in Sicily would be good but doubt you would see it all, there's a lot there. You couldn't see all of Lipari in one day but I think it's better to have one day there than not go at all. We had 3 nights there and still didn't see very much. I think 2 or 3 nights on Lipari would be my choice, then maybe pick 3 other places for 3 nights each. Don't forget to allow for travel time, each time you move hotels you pretty much lose a day.

Kay

Can you recommend any good hotels on Lipari and also in Sicily? also any good restaurants and which towns are an absolute necessity to see?

We really liked Lipari and Taormina but didn't think that much of Siracusa / Ortigia. I wouldn't recommend the hotel we stayed at in Taormina, it was pretty ghastly inside with a million different ornaments on every surface. It hurt my head. On Lipari we stayed at Diana Brown's Rooms which was like a cheap but very nice B&B. It was central, clean and well equipped. There were lots of restaurants on Lipari, we just wandered along until we saw one with a good menu.

Kay

As you might expect, you'll find varying opinions on these boards for where to visit in Sicily (as elsewhere). I'm with KayF in the love Taormina/didn't think much of Siracusa camp - but others will chime in just the opposite. It's up to you to read up on these areas and decide what suits your personality the best. If you can get your hands on it, the publisher Insight has an excellent guidebook to Sicily which should help you determine what you'd like to see.

And do please do a search from the Search box at the top of the page, as there have been a *lot* of recent posts about Sicily, plus valuable trip reports like those of Michael, bobthenavigator, and bon_voyage. (Click on any member name for a list of their posts and trip reports.)

I think part of why I enjoyed Taormina so much is that we spent a night there, and so weren't just part of the tour bus crowd. We stayed at the reasonable and attractive Hotel Schuler. It was our first night in Sicily (and Italy) on our trip this past spring, and set a wonderful precedent for the rest of our vacation. They have good rates in the "shoulder" and off seasons; check their website for specials.

Thank you all for your responses. After reading your suggestions and Fodors, I am thinking maybe 3 nights in the Palermo area, 2 nights in the Agrigento area, 2 Nights in the Noto area and 3 nights in Taormina, and 1 night on Lipari. I was hoping to see a lot since we will be driving and we are not beach people - we like to be on the go. How does this sound - will we be able to get a good taste of Sicily this way? Thanks for all your help.

I am in love with Sicily partly because my daughter spent a semester in college studying there and I loved visiting her! Its the one country that to me would be the place I would retire to. The people are so sweet,the scenery and history is amazing and the food/wine is the best!
This past October for my daughter's graduate school graduation present the two of us spent 16 days driving through Sicily covering both sides-fabulous!
Personally,I would rethink your number of nights and where you are staying.I would fly into one side and leave out of the other side-Palermo/Catania or Catania/Palermo.

I am laughing about those who are not wild about Siracusa(I think that I have counted 3?)-one must stay actually in Ortigia which is the little island or actually old city of Siracusa attached by a bridge. This place is so magical that most guidebooks will tell you not to miss it and rightfully so.Its totally surrounded by water and has one of the most beautiful walking seafronts in the world. The town has great restaurants;markets and the duoma with its piazza are considered one of the best in Europe-recently been made a UNESCO site!
Taormina-too many people and lots of cruise ship people make it difficult to appreciate the beauty of this town.I felt as though I was in the Wisconsin Dells in the US.If you are going for 3 days to Toarmina then I would include a day at Mt. Etna using a tour company called GeoExplorer which is a company that uses a real geologist in a jeep to take you around. It was very interesting!
Palermo-if you like dirty big cities and people who are not like the rest of the island then you would probably like to spend 3 nights here?
Agrigento is a one night wonder in my opinion.There are so many wonderful little cities to experience in Sicily so after you have spent the day walking all over the temple area you really could move on.

To quote my daughter-"Noto for 2 nights,why?"How much Baroque do you like?

I absolutely loved the town of Marsala and further up Trapani with the salt flats,wineries,etc.Great towns with alot to do and easy to drive in and out of.

You mentioned that you will be renting a car so would like to offer some advice. Some towns are extremely small to drive thru on their streets so would recommend the car we rented which I loved as it had a beeper that would let you know if you were to close to the street walls,etc. Merecedes 180 diesel-had great space for luggage and people like a minivan but was small for parking and good for gas mileage.
I know that you will fall under Sicily's spell as we all have.
Its like Italy 40 years ago before the tourists ruined it!!

For an overview of Sicily, IMO your plan is good EXCEPT you don't need 3 nights in Taormina. (And like I said before, I am one who really enjoyed Taormina.) Also, I would stay in Siracusa (Ortygia) instead of Noto - the latter is an easy day trip from Siracusa; add a night to your stay in this area to accommodate both.

When you drive from Agrigento to Noto/Siracusa, do try to detour to Piazza Armerina (if the Villa Casale is open) and Caltagirone. Neither need more than an hour or so - though you might well end up spending a lot of time (and $$!) on the ceramics in Caltagirone. Really great!

I recommend the agriturismo Gigliotti a few km. from Piazza Armerina.