Sicily

[Elizabeth T]

Hello Slow Europe Travelers. I am new to the forum. My sister and I plan to travel to Sicily in a few months and would greatly appreciate any must see places.
We plan on beginning our journey near Catania.
thank you

 

[Eleanor]

You will love Sciliy. I visited in 2017 flying in and out of Catania. We were based in two centres - Agrigento for the Valley of the Temples, Palermo and Monreale. We then moved to Taormina (visiting Villa Romana del Casale on the way). Taormina has the Greek Theatre as well as some wonderful old churches and gardens. We also did a day at Ortygia which I loved. Unfortunately we didn't have time to see Syracuse. We did visit Mount Etna but that was the one day in the holiday when it wass raining with low cloud...

My trip report is here and I have also wrtitten more detailed travel articles for Taormina and Ortygia which you may find useful.

There is also this thread from January and this one from February which you might also find helpful.

 

[Tina]

There are so many beautiful places to see.....How long will you be there? Are you renting a car or using public transport? What plans have you got so far? What are your interests?

 

[Elizabeth T]

thank you so much. I will certainly look into the places you mentioned.

There are so many beautiful places to see.....How long will you be there? Are you renting a car or using public transport? What plans have you got so far? What are your interests?

We will fly into southern Italy probably Bari and make our way around the heel; visit Lecche, and Matera and take the ferry to Sicily. From there we plan on heading over to Catania and take the train to Riposto, where my father was born. From there on our plans are sketchy but we do want to mingle with the locals. We do hope to visit Italy for a period of about one month.

 

[Tina]

Ortigia (Siracusa) is beautiful and could make a good base also to visit Noto. Ragusa Modica and Scicli are also special places. If you are going to see Puglia etc before Sicily, once in Sicily maybe concentrate just on the east coast so Taormina Catania and then down to Ortigia etc

Siracusa Trip Report October 2017

A blog about travel, vacations and holidays in Italy and Spain with advice, tips and trip reports

slowtravelitalyspain.blogspot.com

 

[wco81]

thank you so much. I will certainly look into the places you mentioned.

We will fly into southern Italy probably Bari and make our way around the heel; visit Lecche, and Matera and take the ferry to Sicily. From there we plan on heading over to Catania and take the train to Riposto, where my father was born. From there on our plans are sketchy but we do want to mingle with the locals. We do hope to visit Italy for a period of about one month.

If you plan to visit or stay in Taormina, you may want to do that first before going to Catania since Taormina is north of Catania and closer to the Messina where the ferry will arrive.

It is pricey to stay in the Taormina centro but it's more or less flat whereas there are places to stay up and downhill from Taormina which will require walking uphill.

If you have a car, it's not convenient in Taormina but not impossible. Or you can pick up a car after your stay in Taormina.

What are your interests? If you like architecture, then definitely places like Siracusa, Noto and Ragusa are great places to visit or stay.

If you like antiquity, you get some of it in Ortigia and Agrigento. Or make the long drive to Villa Romana in Casale to see the mosaics.

If you like to lounge by the beach, maybe stay some days in Cefalu.

 

[konradd]

Would highly recommend booking a tour up to Mount Etna from Catania
Taormina is nice but an expensive high end tourist town.. Good Catacombs in Syracuse
Ortygia ,Syracuse are very nice.
Siciliano wine is very good