nsarkun

Hello everyone! We are planning a 7 day trip to Sicily at the end of July-beginning of August'24. We are a group of 8 including 4 children ages 9, 10, 11 and 16. We are very much into beaches and trying to come up with the best itinerary. I know Sicily is at least a 2 week destination but unfortunately we do not have that much time. We have the option of booking direct flights to both Palermo and Catania and can easily arrive to one airport and leave from the other one as we will be renting a car. I would like to have two bases for the whole week as it is tough to keep changing houses/hotels with the kids. I have two itineraries in mind:

Itinerary 1:
Arrive to Catania Airport
Taormina for 4 nights with day trips to Syracuse and surrounding towns
Go to Palermo and stay in Mondello for 3 nights and do days trips to Palermo and close by towns including Cefalu or Trapani
Depart from Palermo Airport

Itinerary 2:
Arrive to Catania Airport
Stay in Fontane Bianche or Noto Marina for 4 nights and do day trips to Syracuse/Noto/Ragusa/Modica
Stay in Taormina for 3 nights with day trips to close by towns.
Depart from Catania Airport

I know the weather will be hot so we would not be able to do a lot of sight seeing with kids during the day so I feel like we need to be spending at least the first half of the days near water and do some sight seeing in the afternoons. So what would you suggest doing?

Thank you!

ekscrunchy

I think the second is far better. You have too little time and several kids, and it will be very very crowded and hot, so keep your trip into a relatively smaller section off the island.
I understand that everyone wants to go to Taormina, but if it were me, I'd leave that for another time and keep to the Siracusa/Noto/Ragusa and nearby beaches area. You could still do a day trip to Etna from there. Unless you stay at the beach below Taormina, I think you will find the town hot and jam packed and besides the views and shopping and the Greek theatre, what else will you do for the time planned?

There is SO much to do win the SE corner of the island and, especially in August, leave Taormina for another time OR with your car,, take a day trip there. You could even splash out and take a hired driver for a long day to see Taormina and go to Etna, from a base near Siracusa or the nearby beaches.

nsarkun

Thank you so much for your reply ekscrunchy! Would you choose the SE corner over the NW corner? if so, why would that be? I hear the best beaches are around Palermo.

J62

"Best" beach is all relative. With kids, the definition of best in my mind is one close by where the kids can enjoy playing in the sand and splashing in the water.

nsarkun

Thank you for your reply, J62! I totally agree with you. I was able to find a house right by the beach in Mondello and am trying to see if I should let that one go and find a house near or by the beach in SE of Sicily. What would be your choice?

J62

By nearby, I mean near where you are already traveling, not trying to rush off to another side of the island.

@ekscrunchy said it well:
You have too little time and several kids, and it will be very very crowded and hot, so keep your trip into a relatively smaller section off the island.
I understand that everyone wants to go to Taormina, but if it were me, I'd leave that for another time and keep to the Siracusa/Noto/Ragusa and nearby beaches area.

Translated: slow down, check off fewer places, and enjoy la dolce vita.

HappyTrvlr

There are beaches south of Ortigia/Siracusa.
I would not want to spend so much time in Taormina, rather stay in Ortigia. We were glad we had only booked two nights in Taormina, and that was enough. We won’t return to that part of Sicily.

Sassafrass

Please do not take this to be too negative. You may not have much choice of travel time and Sicily has a lot of wonderful things to see. Traveling to Sicily in the hottest time of year, with four kids of varying ages and mostly a desire for a beach, rather than sightseeing, seems perhaps not the best choice. I wonder where you are coming from and if a different destination might fit your needs better.

nsarkun

Thank you J62 and HappyTrvlr for your replies!
And thank you Sassafrass for your honest response I wish we could visit Sicily in early June when the weather is much cooler and the places not as crowded but unfortunately that timing does not work with the other family that we travel with. Nevertheless, our children are very used to traveling with us since they were very young and adapt pretty quickly. We do want to do sightseeing but at the same time would like to be based close to the sea so that we can enjoy both. I feel like SE corner of Sicily will be the best area for us to be based and do day tours to close by towns.

ekscrunchy

I agree. There are so many appealing rural inns and hotels and agriturismo that are a little inland but near the beaches....that's what I am doing for part of my trip--staying at a small rural hotel outside Ragusa, where we can eat if we do not want to drive to a restaurant at night. WE did that last May at a different location and it worked out just great, although that time we did not rent a car and relied on private drivers.

nsarkun

Thank you very much for your reply! Have fun!!!