Hi there,
This is my first post, so be gentle please!

I am in the process of planning a trip for my best buddy and myself for some time before the end of this year. We will be meeting up in Rome, then possibly overnight train-ing to Catania to spend a couple of days roaming through the Sicilian countryside. The thing is, we want to go to Hydra and Athens after this. If we want to go the ferry route, then I believe we may have to travel all the way back north to Brindisi.

Can anyone offer itinerary ideas for better ways to do this? Or stops along the way to break up our trip? We have no real desire to see Palermo (from what I've read it can be quite dodgy), and we will be meeting in Rome for convenience's sake, and it's relative proximity to Pompeii, which we both have not yet seen. We both enjoy history, and want to see what we can without too much stress.

As for getting to Greece - I admit I am a little bit stumped as we don't want to pay a fortune, nor take a long trip out of our way!

Thanks a lot for any help!
allison

Palermo is great! Any city can be described as dodgy! If you do a search for Palermo you will find many Sicily trip reports (including my own), and not too many include Catania visits (which doesn't mean it doesn't have anythng to offer). Almost all do include a few days in Palermo, as it has so much to offer.

Are you spending a few nights in Rome? I would fly to Palermo. Check out the budget airlines, like http://w4.volawindjet.it/ Depending on how long you will have, I wouldn't want to waste a day on the trains. Round trip from Rome-Palermo for 2 at the end of Oct. seems to be about 200 E.

It seems like a lot of hopping around, Rome to Sicily to Greece, unless you have a lot of time. Tell us the amount of days so we could assist better.

Time is something we haven't quite nailed down yet - I would say right now we are loosely planning for sometime in November, for maybe up to two weeks. I have a very flexible schedule, and my friend is in europe travelling around anyways.

I will look into Palermo a little more, I am not completely against it - it's just what i DID read was along the lines of the city has gone up so fast in some areas, it is all housing, and no police stations for miles! It IS on my list to research some more tho....

As always, start with the basics:
WHEN?
HOW LONG?
HOW MUCH?
No one can offer good advise without these basics. Otherwise, it is just dreaming.

Well, as I mentioned, I would happily accept advice for WHEN, since we are flexible - though before the end of the year is preferable, and not around christmas time. HOW LONG will be between one week and two, maybe 2.5. Cheap and cheerful is the budget, and we will be couchsurfing in the major cities wherever possible. Not that we are willing to scrimp on the good life as well, we would just prefer to have to company of local folks, and to spend on good food and wine.

I realize most ferries may be working under a different schedule since it will more than likely be off peak season. I am thinking around this time of year from what I have looked at it will be most likely somewhat rainy, which is fine. Hydra is one of our must-sees, as is Athens and Pompeii. Sicily is just one of those places where we have a desire to go, but not for much specifically, besides maybe the greek ruins, and etna.

And AP, thanks for the link, I'll check it out.

My best advice:
Go in Oct.
Stay at least 2 weeks or consider postponing.
Keep it in one country---your pick !

Rome, Pompeii & Sicily is easily a 2 week trip in itself. If you insist on these places, I would Fly straight to Catania, and stay in Taormina for 3 nights to see Etna. Then see if you can fly Catania-Naples to spend 3 nights in this area to see Pompeii and all the other sites in that area. Then train it to Rome for 4 nights. Fly from Rome to Athens, spend 3 nights in Athens. I believe you can day trip to Hydra, but Oct. will probably be considered the off season. I would agree that sticking to one country would be better though.

I personally think that this is two different trips unless you really have the time,energy and money to move around.Sicily is a wonderful country that deserves more than 3 days and ESPECIALLY basing yourselves in Taormina(which in my opinion is the Wisconsin Dells of Sicily with all the tourist buses and tacky souvenir shops and "gouging" optional tours).The Sicily that is amazing is Siracusa and its environs all the way over to Trapani area. Why not meet in Rome and use it as a base to see and do daytips to Pompeii-then fly or train out of Rome over to Brindisi to get to Greece which seems to be where you really want to go? October would definitely be a better month for traveling weatherwise I think. good luck!

Thanks a lot guys! Short and sweet advice too I appreciate the idea to stick to one country, but i think we may be batty enough to traipse through the two! (Or three depending on who you ask!)

We have both been to Rome many times, so staying there for several days hadn't occurred to us, and chances are we WILL be doing Pompeii as a day trip. My friend reeeeally doesn't want to go to Naples aside from using it as a necessary transfer hub. The links I have now seen for flying into Sicily are great(thanks AP), and if I can find some sort of deal, I will try to rent a car from Palermo to drive in a crooked line to Catania, and fly from there back to Rome.

I am thinking now this will definitely be a trip of at least 2 weeks, 2 nights in Rome, 3/4 in Sicily, one more in Rome, then fly to Athens and have 3 nights there, then island fun for another 4. Aside from Hydra, we have no itinerary yet. But I'm working on it! This will probably be the only trip either of us will make to Greece, so we will want to see the major sites. I could probably spend all day wandering around in history, but my buddy would go nuts if she had to spend all her time doing it.

I would fly straight to Sicily instead of doing the days in Rome in the beginning/one in the end. From what I hear Hydra is REALLY small, so 4 nights migt be too much. Why not Santorini or Mykonos? Once you get a taste of Greece, it probably will not be your only trip, trust me!

If you go to Palermo, I would like to add one more suggestion. From Civitavecchia (Rome port) you can take Grand Navi Veloci to Palermo. It's an overnight ship and much better than an overnight train.

I think this sounds like several trips- all that in 2.5 weeks. I feel exhausted just thinking about it. We had 10 days in Sicily in 2003 which was wonderful. Flew to Palermo- had 2 nights there- great city so atmospheric and felt quite safe. Hired a car. On to Erice,stopping off at Segesta (Greek temple and theatre) then to Agrigento, Siracusa and Cefalu.
On another trip we flew to Naples and visited Pompeii from there before going to Positano on the Amalfi coast.
Greece is a whole other country.....