8 nights in Sicily jun 2013 - need suggestions

Last year we did something close to what you are planning. We flew into Catania and stayed at the Hilton in Naxos, which is right on the water and a short 5 minute ride to the downtown and a multitude of terrific resturants. It is also a short drive up the mountain to Taormina(the parking lot for Taormina is at the end of the road up the mountain), and close to Mt. Etnathe staff at the Hilton was super in helping us with our plans during our stay. We saw Villa Armenia on our way to Cefalu, and then we went onto Palermo, which was a good base to see the Valley(about 2 hours each way-and you can detour to see Segesta which is outstanding on the way). Erice is about another 2 hours from Palermo and absolutely worth the trip-we did stay in Erice and loved it. The down side of staying in Palermo is parking is a nightmare, and traffic is best avoided during the rush hour. We did stay at the Hilton in Palermo on an 85E a night fare, which was cheap compared to local hotels we searched. Another point to deal with is that Sicily is basically closed mid-afternoon, so carry snacks whole in the country. Finally suggest you go to TripAdvisor and go to the Italy forum and ask Vagabonda to critique your itinerary as she is super for help and advise.
Best of luckand the traffic is pretty sparse out in the countryside.

2 bases are too few. On the western side I like to stay in Scopello, next to Zingaro Natural Reserve (great sea). From there you can day trip to Erice, Segesta, Selinunte, wine country (Trapani province is the largest grape producer in Italy) and even Palermo. On the east side follow Zoe's advice: Taormina or next door Giardini Naxos (on the beach) is one base, Syracuse (an absolute must) is another. If you prefer to stay out of town consider an Agriturismo. Masseria Sul Mare is just minutes south of Syracuse on the way to Noto. Great private beach too (google it).

Also If you only have 8 days I would skip Agrigento. Segesta, Selinunte and Syracuse will give you already an overload of Temples and Greek ruins. Agrigento is much farther to get to. But if you absolutely must do it, just stop as you travel from the West (Scopello?) to the East.

My friends and I did a similar trip last June, in 10 days. We spent several nights in Palermo (great city) and daytripped to Monreale, Segesta and Erice. We could have done a very long daytrip to Agrigento as well, but our itinerary changed. We stopped in Cefalu (which has some nice beaches) on the way to Taormina, our second base. From there we visited Naxos, Piazza Armerina/Villa Romana di Casale, and Morgantina (just a few kilometers further than Villa Romana). We also daytripped to Mount Etna from Taormina. If you decide to spend a night in Agrigento or if you get through the temples/museum reasonably quickly, the town of Porto Empedocle has good beaches (you can see the sea from the Valley of the Temples). I prefer Taormina to Catania because it's such a pleasant place to unwind after a day of sightseeing. We stayed at Hotel Nazionale in Taormina, just a short stairway to the main street, and parking at the public lot was easy. If you can do 3-3-2 nights, I'd suggest Siracusa as a third base. It's a fabulous city with a great museum and an archeological zone, and an easy drive to Noto from there. Hotel Posta in Ortygia is a nice hotel, near the daily market and parking lot. I would advise against Enna as a base city, since it's high up in the mountains and you will spend some time getting to other places from there. As for highway congestion, we only had one problem, on a Sunday evening when everyone was coming back to Palermo from the beaches. Otherwise, no congestion.

I'd definitely recommend Taormina as a base for one part of your trip! Taormina itself, is a lovely town that will welcome you with unwinding, walking with great restaurants and shops, and has some fantastic Greek ruins! A very large Greek Theatre which is still used today for concerts. We used a local guide, Angelo, for a few day trips which we really loved, including Etna, and even a fantastic Sicilian winery not too far from
Taormina itself. I highly recommend him, and his website is " magicofsicily.com " Re Trip Advisor and Sicily: I am highly ranked on Trip Advisor, but the "destination expert, Vagabondia" has it pretty much locked up and she seems to remove any recommendations from people, like myself, who make independent suggestions, and I don't understand this. It's never happenned to me before. I have NO financial connections or family when I write a review. Again, I highly recommend Taormina and the surrounding area, and even though it is not directly on the sea, there are many hotels and piazzas with jaw ping views of the Med......and it's a wedding destination city, and it's hard not to be caught up in the entire romance of the city, with so many wedding processions going down the street every day! Etna is only about 40 minutes away (if memory serves me), and it is still smoking and sometimes erupting and not to be missed! The locals have a charming love affair going with "their volcano!" My visit to Taormina was my favorite trip ever...and I've been to Italy numerous times, as well as most of Europe!

I would follow Roberto's advice. The sites are too far too all be reached from Catania. Siracusa is spectacular. I found Taormina overly touristic/tacky and was happy that we hadn't decided to stay there.

Here is a link I used when planning my trip to Sicily. Lots of good info on this site.... Sicily...

Thanks for all information! Apparently Agrigento is the odd link that won't fit in the chain here... I was making some simulations on TomTom website, which I was told give more realistic driving times than Google or ViaMichelin. It could be possible to visit Agrigento departing early from Taormina, driving to Agrigento, visiting the Valley of the Temples (which I read is actually a hill) and then driving to Palermo. However, that would mean 5h30 driving time + time to visit the site. Looks too tiring and extenuating, but on the other hand we wouldn't like to break our 8-night Sicily stay in more than 2 hotels. So we are working now in a plan like this: day 1 - fly to Catania, rent car, head to Taormina hotel
days 2, 3 and 4 - day-trips to Etna, Noto + Siracusa, and Taormina + Catania themselves. day 5 - depart from Taormina, visit Vila Romana del Casale en-route, arrive at hotel in Palermo days 6, 7 and 8 - day-trips to Erice, (to be decided), and one full day at Palermo itself day 9 - drive to Palermo airport, return car, fly out Now, more questions: is the city of Piaza Armerina worth iself a visit? How "overrun by tourists" Taormina really is in June? I realize the city is high up on a cliff, so the coast is by no means easily accessible from "uptown". Maybe hotels near the ocean are on busier areas than those in the village?

We got to the (very rocky) beach at Taormina via the funivia. Or you can stay at a hotel on the beach rather than in town.

Buon giorno! Piazza Armerina del Casale is definitely worth the visit! We stayed in a hotel nearby in the town of San Michele di Ganzaria. Here's the link to Hotel Pomara:http://www.hotelpomara.com/indexen.html If you stay there, buy the half board which is a set price for dinner at a nearby restaurant. They decide what dinner will be and you get to try things you would never know to order. We did a trip similar to yours and stayed in Catania at San Placido Inn.
Here's the link: www.sanplacidoinn.com The beautiful thing about it was the roof top terrace where breakfast was served with Etna in the background. We didn't have a car while in Catania so don't know about parking there, but maybe they could help you on that. We travel a lot on our own in Europe and never stay in brand name hotels. We think you get a much richer experience staying with locals (as Steve always says) and it's less expensive. Also, We were advised to stay away from Palermo because it is a very confusing, congested city to get around in. One couple we met said they spent the day there driving around trying to find a certain site, but never did find it. After a week in Catania, we rented a car for the rest of our trip and found no problems driving. We did not have a GPS.

I would think you'd need more than half a day for Siracusa it basically took a day for us to see Noto when we were staying in Siracusa. You would really be shortchanging yourself, I think, by not spending a couple of nights there, it's so magical at night. I admit that we didn't go into Catania for any sightseeing there.

Affiliation or financial gain didn't appear to be in question; but that the guide didn't hold the proper credentials and that the rental was illegal. http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g187892-i344-k5345389-9_days_no_car_What_to_do-Taormina_Province_of_Messina_Sicily.html#40452954 http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g187886-i343-k5610412-Need_recs_for_a_6_day_trip_to_Scily-Sicily.html#42429234 As per TripAdvisor guidelines, TripAdvisor moderators delete posts that promote illegal activity. Destination Experts are not moderators. http://www.tripadvisor.com/help/what_does_family_friendly_mean
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Giovanna what does your post have to do with the price of eggs?

I went on the Rick Steves Sicily tour in 2009. We started in Taormina then and I arrived early and was there for several days. I loved it. I stayed at the Hotel Continental and enjoyed my coffee every morning looking out to the sea below and to Mt. Etna steaming to my right. His itinerary is a good overview of what to see. I did not like Catania when we went there to see a WWII museum-traffic congestion and people everywhere. Taormina was very quiet in the early morning and evening-like many tourist destinations. The only place I would not revisit was Palermo. Maybe it was just Sept 2009 and has gotten better since then, but the graffiti & garbage everywhere (including dead cats on the streets) and the traffic from cars and motorbikes was awful. Highways were good and being a small island nothing seemed very far away. We stayed in the country at Piazza Armerina (sp?) when we went to Agrigento. I don't have the exact name, but PM me and I will look it up if you are interested.

I think Giovanna is referring to Donna's post...

When we visited villa Romana del Casale we stayedin a delightful agriturismo close to Piazza Armerina called Gigliotto. It was quite reasonable and a beautiful place with a nice restaurant and swimming pool. I have been going to Sicily for more than 50 years and would definitely stay in Taormina. When people say that there are too many tourists in a particular place, there is a reason. It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. Just right for the length of stay you're planning. The hotel I prefer there is the Villa Paradiso. It too has a website. I know that Palermo is not high on everyones list, but I love it. It's a little bit of Africa and Italy all rolled into one. Be sure and look up their markets before you go there as they are the best in Europe. Monreale, just above Palermo, is certainly worth a visit as its Cathedral has the best tile work anywhere. I would skip Enna and also Catania if you are on a time schedule. Do make arrangements to rent a car from the US rather than renting once you arrive in Sicily. It's too expensive when you rent there. A good travel agent can do the rental for you if you aren't comfortable doing it yourself. You are going to one of my favorite places on earth. Have a glorious trip. Chloe Erkenbrecher...

When we visited villa Romana del Casale we stayedin a delightful agriturismo close to Piazza Armerina called Gigliotto. It was quite reasonable and a beautiful place with a nice restaurant and swimming pool. I have been going to Sicily for more than 50 years and would definitely stay in Taormina. When people say that there are too many tourists in a particular place, there is a reason. It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. Just right for the length of stay you're planning. The hotel I prefer there is the Villa Paradiso. It too has a website. I know that Palermo is not high on everyones list, but I love it. It's a little bit of Africa and Italy all rolled into one. Be sure and look up their markets before you go there as they are the best in Europe. Monreale, just above Palermo, is certainly worth a visit as its Cathedral has the best tile work anywhere. I would skip Enna and also Catania if you are on a time schedule. Do make arrangements to rent a car from the US rather than renting once you arrive in Sicily. It's too expensive when you rent there. A good travel agent can do the rental for you if you aren't comfortable doing it yourself. You are going to one of my favorite places on earth. Have a glorious trip. Chloe Erkenbrecher...

....and Chloe, don't forget to tell Frank and Lisa not to attempt to drive into and out of Palermo during either morning or evening rush hour!

I just returned from Sicily and perhaps have a little different view from some other people. Taormina is beautiful but it is really touristy and doesn't really feel like Italy. We stayed one night and that was plenty to see the town and sights unless you like to shop. I would certainly go out of my way to see Agrigento. We did not go to Catania but either Modica or Noto might be a good base for some excursions. Also, I would not bother with a car in Palermo; get a car when you are ready to leave there. Not worth the hassle.