8 Days Sicily Itinerary

That’s ambitious but probably workable. Kalsa isn’t all that close to the train station compared to elsewhere in central Palermo, but it’s a good area to stay. But here is my personal viewpoint, with which I’m sure many will disagree: with that limited time in Sicily, I would not waste one single minute going to the beach. Not that there’s anything wrong with Sicilian beaches as far as I can tell (I was there in February so no beach time regardless), but the glory of Sicily is its culture, beautiful towns, history, and so on. It’s not clear where you’re from, but if from US as most forum participants are, there are thousands of miles of beaches at home much better than anything in Sicily, or most other places in Europe for that matter — California, Gulf Coast, Atlantic, Hawaii, and Great Lakes too. I have enjoyed some beach time in Portugal and Spain, many years ago as part of much longer trips, but those were Atlantic beaches, and while I love the Mediterranean region, its beaches tend to be rocky, hot, and overcrowded.

Personally I think that you are cutting Palermo short. It has a lot of great sites to see. I would suggest dropping Cefalu and doing
4 nights in Palermo and 4 in Ortigia. You can take a 3 hour bus between the two, nd then pick up a car for your daytrips or I think train to Noto.

We just returned from Sicily. We spent all of our time on the Eastern side of the island and will return to the Western side another time so I can’t comment on Palermo. We stayed in Cefalu for 4 days and spent a half day on the beach. Their beach is actually sand) the opening scenes of White Lotus Season 2 were filmed there) rather than the pebbles in Taormina and Ortigia. The beach area is longer with a mix of beach clubs and open areas. We rented an apartment across the street (we wanted a parking space and to avoid the ZTL) and just walked over with beach towels. If you stay in the older city area, you will have easy access to the beach if that is important to you.

We spent two nights and one full day in Ortigia plus the day of our arrival which was fairly relaxed due to travel. We were actually in Ortigia by 9:30 am but like to take a quick nap our first morning. We did a fantastic food tour, but otherwise walked a lot. We did not add any day trips, but agreed between the afternoon and the full day that we felt like we saw most of what there was to see in Ortigia/Siracusa.

Otherwise, the itinerary looks good, but does have a bit of movement. We found our pace was a little faster than we like with 3 bases, but it was intentional. The drive from Ortigia and Cefalu took longer than expected due to a lot of work zones along the highway (A20 I believe) so just a heads up.

Have a great trip!

Ballrooms B and B in Palermo. About 5 minute easy walk from train station. Large modern rooms in historic location. Great breakfast. I paid $80 night. Only possible drawback is that it is accessed up a flight of stairs. If you can’t do stairs it may not be for you. Otherwise it is great.

Friends kept urging me to visit Ortigia but my schedule kept getting in the way. After several years I made the trip and have been back several times since. Day trips are fairly easy by train or bus. Evening strolls around the island, late night dinners along some tight walkway, ancient Greek sites, wonderful food (don't miss the pistacchio gelato!), wines made from the grapes along Mount Etna, and some very nice people. That said, Palermo has something to offer too but honestly I considered cutting my time there short. The highlight was a day trip to Agrigento - a trip I would gladly take again. So, after 5 stays in Sicily, it is now on my 'favorites' list - as long as it's based in Ortigia, preferably staying in a VRBO with a rooftop deck with plenty of seating and a full kitchen!