6 days in Italy (Sicily)

Visited Sicily for the first time last month. LOVED IT!!
I would either stay somewhere central and do day trips, or maybe split it 3/3.....3 nights on one coast, 3 on another
Day trips we did and loved: Cefalu, Taormina, Marzamemi, Noto, Siracusa.

We didn't make it to any of the bigger cities.

That’s not much time, but if that’s what you have, I choose flying into Catania and heading directly to Ortigia. From it you could visit Ragusa, Noto, Villa Romana del Casale, and Modica. To me, Catania has no must see sights; at least nothing that couldn’t been seen elsewhere. If you chose to fly into Palermo, then you could see it, Cefalù, Segesta, and Trapani/Erice. Optimally, 2-3 weeks would be better for seeing the island.

Choose just one side of Sicily for such a short trip. Stay in Ortigia and visit the Baroque towns of Noto, Ragusa, Moderna and perhaps Taormina.
A day trip to Taormina is possible. Ortigia/ Siracusa was our favorite place in Sicily and we spent a week there. Wonderful outdoor food market.

Thank you, this little time is a crime, hopefully we will be back. Suggestions for car rental and B&B's. Looking to splurge, big anniversary : )
So the consensus is to fly in and out of either Palermo or Catania?

I agree with Suki. With such a short period of time I would choose one side. We spent 7 nights in Palermo, loved it more then we thought we would, with a day trip to Cefalu and Monreale. We spent 2 nights in both Oritiga and Taromina. Can’t go wrong with either city. We were pleaseantly surprised by how much we loved Sicily. The food was fabulous, people as nice as can be, and we found it to be very inexpensive. We were there this past April.

This is just a side question, with this short time would it be better to go to Positano, this was recommended by a friend?

Would anyone recommend we start in Palermo and end in Catania, or better to stay on one side? We only have 6 nights / 5 days. We will be there this mid October. We are very interested in art, architecture, food, walking tours, we are not interested in doing big treks to ruins nor long drives. I am attracted to Palermo, Cefalu, Ortigia and Siracusa but this seems too much. We are happy for a slice of Sicilian life.

I have a question about travel FROM Catania. Do we go through Customs AND Passport Control prior to departure in Catania? Has anyone flown through from Catania to Frankfurt and had to go thru Security again in Frankfurt? I am concerned because we only have a 50 min layover in Frankfurt (transit to US) and am concerned we will miss our connecting flight.

I would fly in and out of Catania if you want to see Ortigia, but Palermo is you want to see Cefalù and Palermo. I don’t think you have enough time to fly into one and out of the other and do each place justice.

@ intorder8504 - you don’t need to go through customs when leaving. You’ll go through immigration (passport control) in Frankfurt if that’s your last departure point from the Schengen zone. In 2018 when we transited Frankfurt from Catania, the immigration line was short and we did NOT need to go through security again.

Skip Positano.