Delaying a trip to Sicily, but when planning it again, would it be recommended to do the trip on one's own, or sign up with a Tour? Also, for about a 7-10 trip, would it be best to fly into the country, or take some fast motorboat ride from Naples, Sorrento, or one of those cities that make the connection? (We don't have a lot of money to spend on this trip, so doing it as economically as possible. We do get to go standby on airplanes for a nominal cost, using Star Alliance connections. Still with these wonderful cost cutting helps, it still is somewhat difficult for us to make this trip affordable.) We are wanting to visit our Ancestral cities located in Villalba, Valledolma, and Santa Anna de Caltabellato. So, I need help planning this trip, please. Thanks.

Also, for about a 7-10 trip, would it be best to fly into the country, or take some fast motorboat ride from Naples>

There is no fast boat from Naples but several-hour long ones, some of which go overnight - trains also take 4-5 hours or so so try to fly into Sicily (which is not a country but a part of Italy) - once there trains and buses go just about everywhere and are dirt cheap - no need to rent a car but would probably be more convenient for the places you need to go. Anyway for info on Italian and Sicilian trains check www.seat61.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

I've taken trains all around Sicily to all the most famous places so that is very realistic - buses go where trains do not.

It is difficult to see both sides of Sicily in a week, so if you can manage it, try for the ten days.

No fast boats from the mainland, only ferries or train. Train would eat up, IMHO, too much of your time. I don't know the cost of overnight ferry from Naples, but that could work.

Look into where you can use your cheap flight connections and see which ones also have best, cheapest flights to Sicily. Look at Milan, Pisa, etc. It might even be London or someplace in Spain, not just another place in Italy.

Check the price of car rental, including insurance and gas. There are trains and busses, but you would have to be tighter with your planning.
I hope you can make it work out.

Thank you for your reply and help in the transportation area.

What other places in Sicily do you envision going? I'd say Taormina, Syracuse and especially Agrigento are top sights along with Mt Etna, which is a bit difficult to easily reach - the summit that is.

IMO, it is difficult to see Sicily in even 2 weeks! I tried, and regret that I didn't give it a bit more time. YMMV. That doesn't mean you shouldn't go if you have less time than -- just a warning that you will need to be selective, the more so the less time you have.

There is NO need to sign up for a tour -- Sicily can be visited on your own VERY easily.

How to get there depends on when, exactly, you are going; your starting location; your tolerance for multiple stops and changes of transportation, etc. I'm not convinced that Star Alliance connections are the best way to go to keep costs to a minimum, but I could easily be wrong on that.

I recommend that you get a really good guidebook or two (I found the Rough Guide especially useful for planning my time in Sicily, but there are other good guidebooks out there) and look at some others at your local library (perhaps doing that first so you can purchase the guidebook that seems most useful for YOUR purposes). IME, having a good guidebook is ESPECIALLY useful when traveling on a budget -- it will give you info about how to cut costs, how to avoid spending more than necessary, and how to use your limited time efficiently. JMO.

I'm glad I didn't restrict my time in Sicily to the places PalenQ lists (sorry, Pal!). For example, the cathedral in Monreale and the mosaics of the Villa Romana del Casale are, IMO, among Sicily's most magnificent treasures. Again, YMMV.

Hope that helps!

I would try to work it out to fly into Sicily. Don't know about costs but Star Alliance can get you there. I don't know the cities you mentioned visiting, but I would look at a map and figure out what is nearby and what makes a logical itinerary. Not sure what your budget is, but places to stay in Sicily in general are reasonable and you can eat very reasonably.

Pal, we are thinking of Sigonella because of space a travel. I was worried we would not find enough to do. Princess, do tell us how it all goes if you make the trip. Glad to hear about the train service.

Flpab,
We did space-a to Sig several years ago. You will find plenty to do. Filling 2, even 3 weeks would be easy. Add the little islands and you could spend another week. Unfortunately, because of flight scheduling, we stayed less than a week and were really unhappy with such little time. Sicily is so beautiful, there is so much to do and see, we want desperately to go back.

If you can catch a seat, it is a fab space-a destination.

sassafrass, that is great to hear. We were hoping to get out of Jax but we are going to go with the flow and land wherever. What plane did you go on? My pick is Germany, Italy, UK or Rota. We have McDill close by also. UK will be closing soon so last chance for that unless we go to Glasgow. We are studying the space-a sites. Did you stay in Navy Lodging? I think I will do list of hotels by every base, taxis service, train and bus schedules. Someone told me they throw into their trunk two suitcases depending on plane and location. An adventure for sure. Hope you get back.

Flpab,
Didn't know bases in UK were closing. Is that Mildenhall? We want to get to the Azores before it closes. We went to Sig via Norfolk. It was kind of a short trial run. We did stay on base, and did not rent a car, but that was a big mistake. You could stay on base and do day trips, but you absolutely must have a car for that because, even though distances are not great, and there are busses, the schedule to/from and around the base just can't be counted on. You might be able to use the busses if you were not on base. I would not stay on the base again either, just boring, especially at night.

We don't pack two suitcases, but we do put in both jackets and swimsuits and a few guide books and maps with plans for alternatives. We went to England twice when we wanted to go to Spain. We went to Naples when we wanted Germany, etc. When we are ready to go, we take anything we can get a seat on to anyplace it is going and explore wherever we end up - the best way to enjoy space-a.

Didn't mean to hi-jack the thread, but thinking about it makes me want to go back to Sicily more than ever.

Thank you for the info. Mindenhall not closing but they said space- flights there would be going away.