Sicily - 5 nights Siracusa and the Southeast
 

We have 5 nights in Sicily, actually 4 days, coming in by car off the ferry in Messina after a long driving day from Lecce. Thinking of staying night 1 and 5 in Taormina to be a close distance to the ferry, as we leave early day 5. We have reserved Hotel Casa Adele in Taormina nights 1 and 5. The middle 3 nights, we want to explore around Syracuse. We have booked an apartment in Syracuse at Palazzo Alfeo and a B&B in Palazzolo Acreide, Villa Santa Margherita. Should we stay at one of these or somewhere else? Accommodations for those 3 days, May 10-13, are limited due to a kite event.

For Siracusa, stay in Ortigia., Siracusa’s historic section. We spent a week there and it was very hard to leave!

Palazzo Alfeo seems to be located on the Ortigia island itself, and would be the preferred choice.

Another vote for Siracusa, One of my favourite places
https://slowtravelitalyspain.blogspo...-2017.html?m=1

another vote for Ortigia, so Palazzo Alfeo would fit the bill. looks very nice! we have stayed on the other side of Ortigia, but as you will see, it's easy to walk everywhere.

Thanks for all of your feedback. Ortigia at the apartment wins!

make sure your contact sorts out the ZTL for you

It's a very popular time for you and I'm afraid that options for renting housing will be limited. In this case, I always do the same thing - improvisation)

Thanks! I assume you by "contact" you mean we should check with the hotels about parking?

Absolutely. So many of the places we looked to stay were booked, but we cannot adjust our schedule again so close to leaving. Do you think we should make some restaurant reservations (which we usually do not do)?

We appreciate all of this help. Our 4 full days in Sicily (which I know are not enough) are being contained in a section we hope will be doable, and not too much. Starting in Taormina 1 night, should we stay ing Syracuse the 3 nights and do day trips to Noto and Ragusa before going back to Taormina to get to the ferry or should we stay 2 nights in Syracuse and the next in Ragusa, before heading back? And, should we squeeze in Villa Romana Dei Casale even though it is a little further?

We stayed four nights in Ortygia and took the bus to Noto one morning, we were back late afternoon. Found enough to see and do in Ortygia/Siracusa for the rest of our stay. With two day trips planned you won’t have much time in Siracusa and will be selling it short IMO.

Of course if you’re driving you can perhaps see both Noto and Ragusa on the same day. Personally I’d stay in Siracusa and not shift bases, you waste time doing this.

And I’d stay in Ortygia, it’s much lovelier and more atmospheric than Siracusa. Just my two cents.

Really appreciate your "two cents"! :)

100% agree with this. We spent 3 nights in Ortigia in 2018 and felt even a week wouldn’t suffice. Of course like every Italian city we visit we instantly fell in love with it.

Ortigia has a time dependant ZTL which is about car transfer through the area rather than parking. You do not want to drive through the ZTL during its live time without having your number plate registered. The hotel should sort this.

Getting parking is a different story. There is limited street parking and two large car parks, one next to the bridge connecting to the island and one in a central square. Thesee are all first come first served facilities. Some hotels may have car parks built in but since most of the hotels are based on structures prior to the invention of the car it is unlikely.

I'm pretty sure you can drive to the big parking garage at the north end of Ortigia without entering the ZTL. The easiest thing, if you're driving to Siracusa and staying in Ortigia, would be to park there and walk to your accommodation. If you want to drive right to where you're staying, you should make sure the property has on-site private parking and ask them about ZTL access.

Thank you for the parking, driving help!