Dayle, I strongly suggest re-considering Castelmola. As I said, I really wanted to stay there, and I even booked a room -- which I cancelled about a week prior to our stay (and lucked out by getting into Hotel Schuler.) I continued to second-guess myself until we actually took the bus up to Castelmola one afternoon. Our hour in the actual town of Castelmola was more than enough. Instead of taking the bus back, we hiked down to Taormina, which was AMAZING, because we were literally the only human beings on the trail, and it felt very Siciliano as we ran into herds of goats grazing on the foliage; admired and then plucked a few prickly pears (DON'T do it!!); and just enjoyed the spectacular views.

btw, we didn't "do" Etna either. It was very visible (and very beautiful) from where we were staying, but we just didn't feel like spending a full day doing the trek. No regrets, either.

omg, kga: jinx, you owe me a Coke!

Thanks Lucie & kja. Maybe I'll reconsider. I'm only there 1 nt and part of a day. Just enough to see the theater and stroll, have a nice dinner. Just didn't want to pay those resorty prices, but maybe it't not worth the time to go back and forth to Castlemola.

I am the one who didn't care for Capri after all!

Dayle - One advantage I've noted to staying in certain places for only one night is that it isn't a huge problem if it turns out to have been a less than ideal choice. Maybe it's time to stop re-thinking?

EuropeSept2012 - sorry for helping take your thread off-track!

Me too Europe. Nice though that we all can exchange Sicily info. This is what the forums are all about and I hugely appreciate the input!