sicily next week!
 

Hi,

One of my favorite aspects of trip planning is getting input from you wonderful fodorites.

Taking my husband to Sicily for 2 weeks, leaving this weekend. Two accomodation questions. We will have a car, travel a lot, enjoy special places and meeting people (guests and innkeepers) and my budget is flexible:

Baroque towns for one overnight -- l'orangerie or talia in Modica or Locanda don Serfina in a suite in Ragusa. we might try for duomo for dinner, but could arrange for a driver to/from modica. which lodging do you prefer?

Agrigento for one or two nights -- Terrazze di Montelusa, Mandranova, or Fattoria Mose, or another?

Erice/Trapan -- Baglio Santa Croce, Baglio Fontana, or la Pineta or other?

Thanks so much Foderites!!

Hi Bonnie.
As regards your choice in Agrigento, in my opinion you have to consider first if you'd like to spend your holiday 1)in a farm in the countryside or 2) in the historic center of Agrigento. If your choice is 1), then you have to choose between being 15 minutes away from Agrigento and the Valley of the Temples (like Fattoria Mose) or 30/45 minutes away (like Mandranova). On the contrary, if your coice is 2), go to the B&B Terrazze di Montelusa.
Hope to be some use to you.
Enjoy Sicily!

THanks for your reply! We are arriving from Piazza Armenia and will be leaving the area in the direction of Selinunte. Is Mandrova in the "wrong" direction for us?

Mandranova is near to Palma di Montechiaro, a village on the Southern-Western Sicily coast. If you are leaving Piazza Armerina and going to Selinunte, you'd better get the direction Gela. Then you will pass Gela, Licata, Palma di Montechiaro (MANDRANOVA), Villaggio Mose (FATTORIA MOSE), Agrigento (TERRAZZE DI MONTELUSA), Sciacca and finally Selinunte. Check out the right direction on the site www.viamichelin.com

Try to make a stop at Scala dei Turchi just a few miles west of Agrigento. It's really quite beautiful. Google image search (scala dei turchi)

I posted too fast. I forgot about Hotels. I really like Hotel Akrabello in Agrigento -Villaggio Mose. It's a nice hotel with a nice pool and lots of swallows in the pool court to watch. Very peaceful.

I really like L'orangerie in Modica. I would eat in Modica. If you've got an extra time, spend it in the baroque towns.

I think one night in Agrigento is enough, unless you need a break. Try to visit the monuments very late in the day. I stayed at Camere con Vista (near Pirandello's house and the hospital, quite close to the temples.) The hosts were great.

This time of year is a great time to go to Sicily. Probably too early for swimming, but you'll get beautiful flowers.

thanks so much.

I was thinking that we would leave Modica, maybe stop in caltagirone briefly (not really into shopping when travelling with my husband) and onto Piazza Armenia and then to Agrigento. So guess if we leave Modica by about 9, stop for hour in caltagirone and then one or two hours in piazza armenia, what time do you think we might reach agrigento? I thought of staying two nights which would allow us to have laundry done (hopefully) and then leave morning after the second night to see selinunte and then to marsala-trapani area for 2 nights before palermo. What do you experts think?

Just outside Agrigento I would recommend the Baglio della Luna. Very charming, great food, a view of the temples & parking. I think 2 nights is a good idea so you can spend a whole day on the sights, making an early start on the main temples before the coach parties get there. Don't miss the less-visited area the other side of the road or the Hellenistic Roman Quarter - the museum is quite good too.

We stayed a night outside Ragusa at the Eremo della Giubiliana which was also very charming but thought Ragusa itself didn't warrant more than an hour or so - to me the best thing about it was the view from outside.

How long are you staying in Palermo ? We stayed a week, loved it and would go back - there was so much to see in the city we didn't even make it to Monreale.

Hi Caroline,
I have been following your wonderful advice to others!
We are going to be in Palermo 4 nights plus one night in Cefalu-- we are driving from Tapani area (looking for Baglio between trapani and marsala area) to Cefalu for an overnight and then drop car in Palermo at the end of the next day.
Bonnie

4 nights in Palermo sounds wonderful and one in Cefalu. It's a beautiful town. It's only about 40 mins from Palermo so it's a very easy day trip if you decide to stay the extra night in Palermo. Palermo is my favorite city in Italy.

I forgot to add to my last post. If you like hilltowns and ghost towns there is a very interesting hillghost town about 25 miles north of Sciacca. Poggioreale - It was destroyed in the 68 earthquake and abandoned. It's like a more modern day Pompei. Not many people get there.

Thanks for those kinds words Bonnie ! I didn't much care for Cefalu but everyone else seems to like it. On my first trip to Sicily we'd planned to finish up with 4 nights there but actually left after 2 nights & went back to Taormina, where we'd started.

Do you have a hotel booked in Palermo ? We stayed at the Villa Igiea which was fabulous - it's on the outskirts, by the sea, but they run a shuttle minibus into the centre every day.

We did what you are planning and dropped off our hire car when we got to Palermo. Due to what we'd heard about the traffic (as with any big city), we'd been a bit nervous about finding the car hire office in town and then getting a taxi or walking to the hotel. But when we called first at the hotel to drop off our bags they offered to take the car back for us, for €20 I think - we thought that was a fantastic idea and worth the money !

I think I'm going to have to take notes here, about the places I haven't been yet - you have a beautiful trip planned.

(BTW I went to Sicily for my honeymoon so it must be my favourite place !)

thanks caroline! we are staying closer to the city. my husband likes to walk when possible. with my daughters I would have stayed out at your place.
Bonnie

Hi Bonnie
I am anxious to hear about your trip. I have a similar trip planned for May. We will arrive in Catania and spend our first two nights in a B&B in Acrieale Palazzo Giovanni. Thought this would be a good spot not far from airport and close enough to visit Taormina for lunch and a stroll and maybe Etna. Day 3 I am thinking of using Casa Talia in Modica as a base for the next 5 nights. Hoping to see Ortigia, Noto and surrounding coastline, Ragusa and another Baroque town nearby, time to explore Modica and settle in. My husband hates to pack and unpack every 2-3 days. Next stop for us will be Mandranova. Not sure if will stop at Piazza Armerina in rte as we were told not to leave car with luggage in it. So I was thinking of 4 nights at Mandranova as a base thinking this would allow time to R&R around the house, take a boat ride along the coast, a cooking class one day and plenty of free time to road trip into Agrigento and/or Piazza Armerina and maybe the hillside near by. From here I am confused as to where to base ourselves for the western portion of the island. I was thinking about Baglio Spano which is 20 min east of Marsala, would like to see Erice, Segesta, Scopello and Zingaro Preserve. I was going to book 2-3 nights here and leave my last 3-4 nights open for spontaneous planning, We are sailors and fantasize about sailing to one of the many islands for a night or two, the other thought was heading inland to Castelbuono, Ficuzza or Regalti. I welocme any thoughts or comments and would love to know if you ended up staying at the Mandranova OR Casa Talia and if so your feedback. We are going to bypass Palermo despite all the rave reviews on this post and many others. We are not into the crowded city experience and would rather spend extra time hiking or on the water. Hope you had a great trip and I look foward to hearing about it. I forgot to add that we fly out from Catania and have 16 days total leave on the afternoon of day 17. ANy advice is much appreciated

"Not sure if will stop at Piazza Armerina in rte as we were told not to leave car with luggage in it"

Everyone else does - it's fine.

And how can you do a driving tour if you are never prepared to leave your luggage in your car ?

Bonnie,

I had ambitions to drive from Modica to Calitigrone and Piazza Amerina and onto Agrigento in a single day and was warned by locals it was too ambitious, and settled for going straight to Agrigento. The more time you spend in Agrigento, the more rewarding it will be, but I do think if the Greek monuments are your major reason for going there, they can be seen in one very long afternoon.

tishkb,

I also skipped Palermo on my first trip to Sicily, not because I dislike noisy crowded cities but simply because Sicily is jampacked with sights and I felt better not trying to cram in too much.