We booked 4 nights at the Plaza Hotel Catania to use as a base for touring in early April 2025, however, there are conflicting reviews on its website. We have car service scheduled for 2 of the days to go to Taormina and to Villa Romana de Casale, and another day to transfer to Palermo with a stop in Agrigento. We also have lunch scheduled at a Mt Etna winery. Should we stay in Syracuse instead?
Posted by
Huntsville, AL, USA
8371 posts
We were in Catania for an afternoon coming off a cruise ship last year.
It was perhaps the most dreary European city we've ever seen, and we have no desire to go back. I assume the rest of Sicily is more scenic, however.
You might want to find another city to do day trips out of.
Posted by
Madison, WI, US
86 posts
I have spent a few days in in both cities. As David stated, Catania is gritty. That doesn't mean that I didn't like it though. It has perhaps my favorite fish market that I've seen in my dozen trips to Europe, and I liked the authenticity of the city. I would however recommend that you base your trip out of Syracuse, specifically Ortigia. It is absolutely beautiful. A visit to Catania is in order after you've seen the highlights of Sicily. We also loved Cefalu. It's close to Palermo and found it to be very relaxing.
Posted by
Twin Cities of MN
6676 posts
Catania was fine. Nice/interesting cathedral and fish market. Lots of Baroque churches, often a nice cityscape of churches with Etna in the background. Interesting WWII museum. We did the RS walking tour from the guidebook. Catania may take a bit of time to get used to, but its worth a bit of time.
I wouldn't daytrip from Catania. If you are talking about something like a daytrip to Noto, you could do that from Ortigia/Siracusa. Ortigia is a place where I'd spend 4 days.
I wouldn't be a fan of a daytrip to Etna wineries from Ortigia, or even Catania, but I'm not one for day trips with 2+ hours round trip in a car. We stayed in Randazzo and visited wineries from there. Randazzo is a very interesting town with lots of areas that were impacted by lava flow.
How many days do you have for SIcily? Are you flying in and out of Catania? BTW, there is a bus from the Catania airport that goes directly to Siracusa.
Posted by
OP
6 posts
Thank you— this is very useful information. We are flying into Catania and out of Palermo.
Posted by
🏝️ Hobe Sound, FL⛱️
3307 posts
Just remember that basing in Ortigia adds 2 hours travel time to Taormina and Etna and about 1 1/2 hrs to the Villa. It might also increase the cost of your car service. Since you will not be in a base city for much of your time, I would stay in Catania. I have stayed at the Liberty Hotel in Catania on two separate trips and recommend it highly.
Posted by
OP
6 posts
Thank you- I will check out that hotel.
Posted by
11697 posts
We spent ten days in Ortigia and didn't want to leave! Ortigia is the historic island off of Siracusa. We began our tour of Sicily in Palermo and then went to the west coast to Agrigento, up to Villa Romana and then over to Siracusa, north to Taormina. Flew out of Catania.
We loved staying in Ortigia, and enjoyed our stays in Agrigento( near the antiquities, not up the hill in the city proper),
Ortigia, and less so in the cruise port, touristy Taormina.