Hello fellow travellers! I urgently need advice about staying in Milazzo, particularly at the very end of the tourist season in October. Primarily, it is about getting around without a car. If anyone has spent a reasonable amount of time there, I would appreciate making contact with you. TIA

Hi, we stayed there a week just using public transport end September a few years ago.
The train station is about 4 kilometres from Milazzo itself and you can walk it, catch the bus or there are usually taxis handy. Coaches depart directly from by the port to local towns and Messina. Anyway, we enjoyed our stay. This is what we did:
https://slowtravelitalyspain.blogspo...-2017.html?m=1

Hello. Thank you so much for replying to my post. I hope I can pick your brain a bit. So I will be coming from Salerno to Messina and then taking the bus rather than the train to Milazzo since, as you say, it's "less than convenient." I will arrive on Saturday 26 October, so I have Sunday free to orient myself, maybe go to the castle etc. Starting the Monday, I will be attending a language school Mon - Thurs mornings only, so I'll have afternoons free. The Friday 1 November is a holiday so I will have 3 full days to make longer day trips before completing my 5th day at school and then I'm planning to that the overnight train to Rome on the Monday.

So one of my questions is how would I get to Tindari by bus? I am also interested in getting out to the point (Cape Milazzo/Piscine del Venere) as well as the winery (La Baronia, Planeta's seaside vineyard). I couldn't find any information about local public transport so started looking into renting a car for 1-2 days. My accommodation does not include parking so I'd either have to find a public carpark if it was for 2 days or simply pick up early and drop off the same day. I used street view to "drive" to Tindari and if you don't take the toll road, it's very windy and hilly. Here is the link to an article I found which gave me these ideas. Actually, I could not upload the link so this is just text to copy and paste into your browser: https://www.forbes.com/sites/liviahe...wn-of-milazzo/
I was in Palermo last year so I hadn't considered going quite that far. I was also in Cefalù last year, but weather permitting I thought I might try to do the paved portion of La Rocca. It was wet the day we could have done it so it was closed. I thought I would take the train there, again transport to and from the station is a concern, especially since the sun sets around 5.30 in October. I'm travelling alone BTW. I think you said there are usually taxis around to meet the trains. How much would the fare be from the station, although the cost is not really a big issue, especially compared to the cost of hiring a car, including getting the international driving license which I wouldn't otherwise need for the rest of my trip.

So I hope you're able to allay some of my concerns about getting around to those places. I also want to visit Santo Stefano di Camastra which I am assuming I can do by train, but if you know of a bus, maybe that would be better. If I go in the afternoon, I must be careful about the last return bus etc but I suppose there's always a train and taxi home.

Thanks so much. Where are you from?

Hi again. I forgot to mention that I was considering one of the tour/excursion boats to the islands. There is one that leaves midday and returns to Milazzo at 10pm which takes you around Stromboli so that you can see the "fireworks." The problem for me is that those excursions finish for the season at the end of September which means I would have to go on the first Sunday and then be up early for school the next day. I think the weather might be questionable if they consider Sept the outermost of the season so I might just have to take the normal ferry to at least one of the islands since I'm there and have the time. I'm not interested in mud baths so I probably won't go to whichever island that is.

Have you consulted rome2rio? It's pretty comprehensive, IME -- you just need to be sure to click through to the underlying links.
Also, the Rough Guide generally covers transportation options.
Good wishes!

Hi there. Yes I use rome2rio quite a lot. I will check it out again. Sometimes I don't feel it's comprehensive enough, but I will give it a go. Thanks.

Hi we spent several holidays in Sicily just using public transport. However they were 'slow' holidays and involved a lot of walking.
We just walked to the end of the Promontory and the Piscine di Venere. I remember it was an easy and relaxing walk.
Here's the description of the day.
https://slowtravelitalyspain.blogspo...lazzo.html?m=1

I don't know if there's public transport that time of year. I've actually spent some time now trying to find out about buses in the area but there isn't much available online. I'd ask the school you'll be attending for more information.

We got the bus to the sanctuary of Tindari, walked down to the laghetti and then took the train back from Olvieri to Milazzo. Online I can't find that bus anymore but there seems to be a bus from the località Locanda in Patti up to the Sanctuary
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So maybe train to Patti??? Anyway you can't drive up as far as the sanctuary. There's a car park and a shuttle bus but I don't know if that's the one above or a different one.
To be honest I think Milazzo is a good place to stay put and enjoy the town and language school but it's very inconvenient to day trip from there considering that you'll be alone and the time of year that is it gets dark at 5.30 and the four kilometres between the town and station. In 2017 the taxi cost ten euros. If you read the article in my previous post and click on the links you can find more information.
Messina is the easiest day trip, because the bus is directly from the port and is well worth a visit.
Maybe the school will organise some trips? Or other students will have a car?

I'm originally from the UK but have lived in the north of Italy for over 30 years.
I haven't visited Santo Stefano di Camastra.
For investigating travel options I usually use Google maps but in this case I think you'd better ask the school directly...there is a servizio urbano i.e. local buses in Milazzo it's just impossible to find it updated online
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Hello again. Thanks so much for your help. Glad to know it wasn't just me not finding info online. I will ask the school if they can help organise transport. Otherwise, I may just end up getting a car for 2 days. After renting cars for four different parts of my trip last year (hubby only driving in one of them), I swore I'd never do it again. The car rentals in Milazzo seem convenient enough.