Fodor's Travel Talk Forums

I don't think you can easily travel by bus from the northeast to the other two areas you want to visit, or at least not for daytrips. I was told that once you're there, it is fairly easy to find local people who will drive you around for a fee, but I didn't try it myself. (I can tell you that it's not easy to find out about these things in advance from USA.) I discovered that it is not easy to schedule visits to tiny towns by bus. For example, I wanted to visit a little town in the Nebrodi Mts. about an hour inland by good road from Capo D'Orlando. There was a bus TO the town in the a.m., but no bus BACK the same day; the bus back was only in the a.m. as well. So having a car and driver may be necessary, unless you stay a few days in EACH of your three towns, which may really be very enjoyable. I don't know too much about public transportation, but I think depending where in the NE you stay, you can easily get to Cefalu by train, and there's probably a bus to Geraci Siculo from there (probably more than one a day, since that's a bigger town than the one I visited). (I don't know anything about bus route running north/south to Agrigento, but I know there are routes running AROUND Sicily, but that would be a really long way to go to Agrigento area.) Re: accommodations that are not too expensive -- Try agriturismo places. You can search in www.google.com by putting in the word agriturismo plus the name of your town (put the name in quotation marks if the name as more than one word like Geraci Siculo). You will probably find some agriturismo places. I stayed in one on the outskirts of San Salvatore di Fitalia (near Nebrodi parklands, province of Messina) and found it an interesting experience. The owner may even provide driving/touring service for a fee (Mine did, but I didn't happen to take advantage of it.) Also, I think Bronte may be in the Nebrodi Park. There are some good-looking glossy brochures about the Nebrodi and they include a list of accommodations in the park. You can request it by e-mail from the park's website. (If you can't find it, write to me; I have it bookmarked at home.) You might also write to the municipal offices of each of "your" towns and ask if there are hotels in town. If it's a small town, some nice person may answer. Re traveling with 9+ multigenerational family members: EEK!!! (but the Sicilians will probably love you for it). The Aeolian islands are beautiful. I stayed in Lipari, and visited only Salina and Vulcano. Vulcano smells vile because of the sulphur. I loved Salina, which is great for hiking/picnicking and refreshing your lungs with clean air. Lipari is good for all ages. Yellow Pages · more... Privacy Policy- Terms of Service - Guidelines Copyright © 1994-2001 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.