hidebs

We are flying into palermo with the focus of this part of our trip being to visit the Aeolian Islands (particularly Stromboli). However, since we are in Palermo we thought we would look around as much as we could for a couple of days before heading to the islands. With 3 days before we head to Lipari can anyone make some suggestions as to what to see. Is getting to see Mt Etna possible in this time frame? Should we hire a car or catch trains/buses? We are a family of 4 (2 boys 10 and 14). Please give any suggestions. I have been reading on this forum for a while and think i have got myself quite confused as to how to go about it. Many thanks.d

Steve_James

Hi Debs - Etna would be a long day trip. Palermo-Catania takes 2hrs 40' by bus (- longer by train) - so you'd spend several hours travelling.

But it's viable if you make an early start.
Fare: € 20 return. First departures weekdays are at:
05.00 - 05.45 - 07.00

Here's the link:

http://www.saisautolinee.it/regionali.htm

Car hire would be the other option - though a one-day hire can be expensive.

Other possibilities for trips include Monreale, Cefalu, Agrigento ...

Hope this helps ...

Steve

hidebs

Thanks steve, Your info is very helpful. I am thinking it might be wiser to fly from London into Catania instead of Palermo. ( I have not biooked this yet so it is changeable) Doing the trip to Etna and then heading up to the Islands. I wish we had more time as Palermo sounds like a interesting city. We have 4 weeks but I want more!!!!

Pilates

HD: Can you fly into Catania and out of Palermo? You can fly into Catania and see Etna, Taormina (even a day trip-just to see the village and the Greek ruins)

Then you can do the islands and on your way back you'd land at Milazzo, take a cab to the train station of Milazzo then take a train to Palermo. That way you can spend a couple of days in Palermo seeing Monreale and maybe Cefalu without the need of a rental car.

Here is a great airport shuttle service:

http://www.airporteasyshuttle.it/tariffe.html

For 4 people it would cost 40 euro from Palermo to the airport.

We stayed on Vulcano at "Les Sables Noirs". I can highly recommend them. They have excellent customer service. It was a really neat black sand beach. We were there in the off season and it was really quiet and relaxing. Have fun!

TravMimi

That's a beautiful hotel! Everyone I know who gets to the Aeolians are really upset they didn't plan a week there to island hop.

babylene

Would you recommend the Aeolian islands in March? Thanks

TravMimi

Late March perhaps. It's not a weather problem it's just that it's the off season. Good in some ways. No crowds, but many things including hotels are not fully open yet. Many residents are there only for the tourist season, shops and such. Also the transportation system is in off season so there aren't as many island hopping hydrofoil connections and ferry services.