Sicily in Oct. 2-3 weeks---last minute planning
 

As usual we are doing very last minute planning and are thinking to use up some FF miles. (Obviously, we are flexible type people who don't need to have everything all precisely planned and laid out ahead of time.) I'd been vacillating between Provence and Sicily (looking for decent weather) and think I've decided upon Sicily--one reason being that I can get a better deal with my miles on more favorable dates. Plus, October sounds like a lovely month to visit. Knowing that daylight savings time ends on Oct. 25, I am trying to plan so that we leave by then (or a day or two later).

We are flexible on the amount of time we can be gone (the benefits of retirement). We're experienced travelers who've driven all over Europe, so we'll rent a car. We know we want to spend our first couple days in a city (no car rental) where we can decompress, recover from jet lag, and wander around without a specific plan. We like to be in the city we are flying out of the night before departure just in case there are problems.

We don't need to hit all of the major tourist sites but want to do some. We do not need to do it all, preferring quality over quantity, and we are fine with visiting really good places that are not on the typical foreign tourist itinerary. We'd like to visit the Aeolian Islands for a couple days. The one place I want to make sure to fit in our itinerary is the place with the fabulous mosaics (can't remember the name off hand). We've visited Greece and Turkey and seen lots of ruins, so those probably are not our first desire. We love harbors, seafronts etc. but have no desire to go to the beach for relaxation.

We are moderate rather than upscale travelers. Our preferred travel style is to have some bases where we can rent an apartment/small house to spread out and be able to make an occasional meal, but from what I understand this is not too easy in Sicily. We'd prefer at least a couple nights n each place rather than getting up and moving all the time with a string of one night stays. Since this is off season, in some ways I am tempted to just do a road trip where we wing it a lot. But, I also know the down sides of this idea in all of the time that can be spent looking for the next place to stay. We like active travel and want to do some half day walks or perhaps a bit longer walks in interesting places, but we are not super fanatic hikers who want to do nothing but walk. Kayaking or easier cycling are also things we'd be interested in.

Where do you suggest we fly in and out of? I am thinking that if we visit the Aeolian Islands it would be wise to do that on one end or the other of our trip so we wouldn't have to just let a rental car sit for a couple days at a ferry landing. Do you have any general ideas for what might make a sensible itinerary? Finally, are there any places you just loved?

Thanks much for any advice you can give me.

julies-I'm so glad to know that I might be following in your footsteps, as I'm currently planning a 2-week trip for April or May. Your footwork makes mine easier, as I followed you in India a few years ago.

I'm at work now so don't have time to write, but do check out TripAdvisor for recommendations for Sicily, if you haven't already done so. There is a wonderful moderator there (Vagabonda) who is extremely knowledgeable and generous with her help. She lives there and can answer a lot of those questions.

Divide your time between the east and the west to cut down on driving time and enjoy the culture.

Here is a place in Scopello we enjoyed tremendously.
http://www.pensionetranchina.com/

Click on my name to find my trip report.

Here are the pics from that 15 day trip:

http://www.slowphotos.com/photo/show...y.php?cat=3828

Bob--

Very great and helpful report. I've already taken a look at some of the lodgings you stayed in and am glad to know that we can do some sort of different bases type of trip.

We've now spent four months in India (three different trips), so I think we are ready and Sicily will suit us just fine. In fact, we much prefer the real to the super gentrified.

IM--

Can you tell me the places you visited from Scopello and about how long it took to reach them.

progol--I'm on my over to TA now. We'll see what I learn.

Thanks all. There are so many helpful people here, and it makes trip planning so much easier.

You might want to take a look at my trip report, skipping the medical part; click on my name to find it.

I had no trouble renting an apartment in Palermo using the agency Visit Palermo. I stayed a week, but you can get a shorter term stay.

http://www.visitpalermo.it

You should also be able to easily find agriturismo rentals in most parts of Sicily.

If you are traveling with internet-access capability, you don't need to spend much time looking for accommodations or book far in adavnce. When I road trip, I use booking.com and usually book 24 hours in advance.

I second the advice to consult with Vagabonda on TripAdvisor.

Also, I just noticed that Visit Palermo also has lodgings in many other locations in Sicily, well beyond Palermo, including Scopello and Siracusa, and places in central Sicily

http://www.visitpalermo.it/where_to_sleep.asp

I had an excellent experience working with them

Hi Julie's

Bob's TR and others here inspired my own trip in 2013 which was over 3 weeks. I did rent a car for 9 of those days. Click on my name for the report. I would recommend everywhere I stayed except the b&b in Agrigento, although I understand it has a new owner.

For your interests you could spend more time in some areas and cut out some of the one nighters I did in order to see the temples, etc. which were a major interest for me. However I would still recommend a visit at least to beautiful Segesta! Doesn't take too long and the scenery is gorgeous.

Definitely visit Villa Romana de Casale near Piazza Armerina for the simply amazing and indescribable mosaics.

Sicily and the Scicilian people are lovely!

Buon viaggio

I am sorry I do not recall the traveling times. From Scopello we visited Agrigento, Segesta, Cefalu, and Selinunte.

I believe the farthest was Agrigento.

FWIW, my favorite places in Sicily included the Cathedral of Monreale; the Villa Romana del Casale; the ruins of Agrigento, Selinunte, and Segesta; Ortygia; and Palermo -- but what matters most here is what YOU want to see.

Yes -- fly into one city (Palermo?) and out of another (Catania?) if possible. If you decide to make time for the Aeolians, you might want to decide whether your time there should be at the start or end of you trip.

As you already know, you don't have time to see all of Sicily's best corners -- decide accordingly.

Of the half-dozen guidebooks I used when planning my time in the area, I thought the Rough Guide the most useful.

And there is a LOT of information on this board. The "search" function isn't as useful as I used to find it, but it hasn't been disabled.

Good luck!

I suppose you know that Scopello is a very small place (there will not be many people in October), but good for hiking in the Zingara Park. San Vito lo Capo (in the same area) would be somewhat less deserted.

Main sights (in this order):
Palermo/Monreale
Siracusa/Ortigia
Girgenti (officially called Agrigento since the fascist area)
Taormina/Mount Etna
Baroque cities: Noto (with the Roman villa close to Vendicari Natural Park), Modica, Ragusa
Selinunte
Segesta
Eolian Islands: Vulcano, Lipari, Stromboli+

Well, that's neckervd's opinion of what order the "main sights" of Sicily are, maybe copied over from a guidebook, and maybe highly useful to you. But I am glad I didn't follow that order for my visits to Sicily.

1. I never copy from a guidebook
2. Everybody gives it's personal opinion. I cannot imagine that people just follow the recommendations they get in this forum (otherwise some catastrophes couldn't be avoided) without doing some own research in order to check whether these recommendations match with their own interests.

We absolutely loved Sicily. Started in Palermo - a lovely city and made our way south and east, visiting Agrigento, Villa Casale del Romana, Siracusa and Taormina. We had only 11 days so limited our stops to the east. Don't miss Monreale outside of Palermo. We loved every place we visited. we had a car which made it easy to move about and see things we might not have seen otherwise. The people and the food are wonderful.

Enjoy your trip!

I've been spending time reading old trip reports, and it is very helpful and has helped me make some progress in my planning. In fact, once again realizing how helpful these reports are to other people planning trips, I've made a new entry and continued on with my on-going saga (trip report) of six weeks we spent in the south of India this past winter.

Yes, the one absolute for sure place I need to fit in my itinerary is Villa Romana de Casale near Piazza Armerina, so I will be working out how that will fit in with an arrival to one airport and a departure from the other.

Having done some more research about the Aeolian Islands, I have decided to unfortunately give them a pass since apparently October is not the greatest time to visit them and weather for the ferries can be problematic.

I think Segesta is also going to make it into the program, but we'll see. If I am understanding correctly, we could visit there and Cefalu and also hike Zingara Park if we based ourselves in Scopello or San Vito lo Capo.

Vagabonda and other over at TA have also helped me out some with the airport logistics. I downloaded a copy of Rough Guide to my Nook last night and I have a couple other Sicily books from the library, so things are starting to shape up a bit and not be so amorphous.

I will have to spend some time on the visit Palermo lodging website to see what is available (haven't had time yet). I am starting to become more and more inclined to pre-book my first few nights and last (where I already know I'll want convenience to the airport) and then just do it as I go along. As we all know, what often sounds great in the abstract isn't quite what it appears to be in person. And, I am remembering in particular a trip we took to Greece about five years ago where we had our first few nights booked and our stay in Athens booked. Other than that we winged it. We found a fabulous small place on the Pelion Peninsula that we never would have found with an internet search because there is no internet listing. And, by showing up we got another great place that is mega bucks in the winter ski season but was dirt cheap in May.

Thanks again to all of you.

If you like the Roman Villa close to Piazza Armerina, you will like the Roman Villa close to Noto I mentioned above too (less known because open to people since 2008 only).
http://www.villaromanadeltellaro.com/La%20villa.asp
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_Romana_del_Tellaro

My highlights were the same as Kja.
Add to it a one way stay in Lipari island, with visit to Stromboli (or going past it ?, I know we saw small eruptions during the night), visit to the sulfur smelling island, visit of Lipari itself etc.

Catania can be avoided imho.

Lots of small places absolutely fabulous too.

I, too, have a Sicily TR, although it is getting a bit old. I would chill out in Ortigia at the start of your trip, or possibly Erice or Trapani if you fly into Palermo instead of Catania. If you love mosaics you will have a great time in Palermo as well as at the Villa. I stayed in a nice B&B in Palermo on a street that was like a little village.

The views from Taormina are good, but it is very touristy - make it a half day visit.

I didn't make it to Enna or to the national park behind Cefalu, both are a bit off the beaten track so you might like them.