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13 Nights Sicily

Hello,
My husband and I will be in Sicily end of April. We will spend 3 nights in Palermo, then pick up a rental car and drive to Scopello, Segesta & Trapani & take the cable car round trip to Erice if weather permits. Would it be best to stay 2 nights in Trapani or Marsala area? On the 2nd day in this area, we will go to Mozia Island and the salt ponds. Next, 1 night Agrigento, 1 night Piazza Armerina, 3 nights Ragusa or Modica, 2 nights Syracuse/Catania area, & 1 night near Catania airport as need to drop off car late as possible, & catch 7AM flight to Malta next morning.
My questions are: stay in Trapani or Marsala area? Can you recommend any agriturismos or similar in the areas we will be visiting? If they have an excellent restaurant that would be a great plus!
Thanks,
Pat

Posted by
26829 posts

Don't skip Erice unless the weather is truly dreadful and you just don't want to go out in it. You can get there by car or by bus as well as by the cable car.

I'm not familiar with Marsala, but both Trapani and Erice are worth some time, so you won't go wrong by staying in Trapani.

I'd definitely want to stay in the Ortygia section of Siracusa while in SE Sicily. If you want time for Catania (which does have a nice historic district) and/or Taormina, I wonder whether you could manage with just two nights in Ragusa. It's not a long drive from Piazza Armerina, so you could do some local sightseeing in Ragusa on your arrival day. Then on the first full day you hit Noto, Modica and perhaps Scicli (all small). Then the next day you could spend some additional time in Ragusa before heading to Siracusa. Or, since Modica and Noto are basically on the way from Ragusa to Siracusa, you might be able to stop at one of those towns en route--but only if you have a secure trunk on your rental car, nothing is visible, and you find a parking spot you're comfortable with. Noto's also visitable from Siracusa if you need to do that.

Posted by
11613 posts

Sounds good. I would definitely stay in Ortigia, the old part of Siracusa. There is a big car park near the market if your hotel doesn't hhave parking.

From Piazza Armerina, you can visit Villa Romana del Casale and Morgantina; Morgantina's finds are at the museum in Aidone, a few minutes away.