Base cities in Sicily

Hi! I haven't been to Sicily yet, but planning to go in April for 12 days. As far as I can tell from my own research, your plan sounds like a good one. Great you'll have a car - I hear it's much easier to get around, although I'll be using public transportation. I'm planning on 5 nights in Palermo with day trips to Monreale (everyone I've spoken to has recommended it), and Cefalu. Also planning on 3 nights in. Siracusa, with day trips (haven't decided where, as yet) and three nights in Catania - also with day trips - perhaps to Mt Etna wine country.

In addition to all the great info on the forum, I found a great website earlier today that might be helpful when in Palermo: wearepalermo.com.

Enjoy!
Theresa

I'd like to see an additional night (total of 3) at Siracusa. I think Noto's probably easier to visit from Siracusa (or on the way to it, I guess, if you can protect your luggage in the car while it's parked) whereas Modica and Scicli are easier to visit from Ragusa. Siracusa has a rather large medieval district (Ortygia--which is where you want to stay if parking isn't too much of a challenge) as well as an archaeological museum and archaeological park. Of all the places I went in Sicily, Ortygia felt like the nicest place just to be. It's a super-atmospheric place just to wander around in the evening. However, if you can manage to stop off in Noto (which is quite small) on the way to Siracusa, you can manage with just two nights. Keep in mind, though that if you aren't big on Greek ruins and don't plan to trek to Agrigento/Segesta/Selinunte, the archaeological park in Siracusa (with a Greek theatre) is an easy way to see something along those lines without having to go far.

The major area you haven't mentioned is the interior. I think it's sort of a shame to spend as much time in Sicily as you have and see only the coast. Piazza Armerina looked like an attractive place as I went through it on the way to the Villa Romana del Casale (great Roman mosaics), Enna was very quiet at mid day--like a step back in time, and Caltagirone is known for ceramics. I'd happily trade off some of the planned Cefalu time to see a bit of the interior, but I don't care for beaches and acknowledge that you may have very hot weather in June and a beach break would be nice.

Three nights in Taormina is longer than you need for seeing the fairly small town, so that's another place where you might steal a night. I would much, much prefer to have more time in Siracuse than in Taormina than the reverse, but plenty of people love Taormina (thus the mobs of visitors), and I assume it's a lot nicer at night.

You might want to consider spending a night in Agrigento and/or Piazza Armerina if visiting the Valley of the Temples or Villa Romana del Casale. In the countryside of Agrigento, the hotel Baglio della Luna offers great views of the temples - spectacular at night. I would also steal a day from Taormina and add it to Siracusa (stay In Ortigia) - easy day trips to Catania and the vineyards on Mt. Etna.

If you are staying in a city of any size, expect to pay for parking. It’s a fact of life. The parking lots around Erice charge fees during season. Ragusa has some free parking lots but if you can’t find a spot, there’s pay parking as an option. If you stay on the island of Ortigia, there are pay parking lots, usually about €10 per night. More importantly, make sure you get an International Driver Permit (at AAA) and familiarize yourself with the ZTL’s.

When we visited we flew into and out of Catania. Our nights were spent as follows
Catania area - 4, Agrigento - 2, Marsala -1, Erice -3, Monreale -2, Cefalu -1, Taormina -2
If we had to do it again, we would take one night from each, Catania and Erice, and add Ragusa or Modica. In Cefalu we stayed at Hotel Alberi del Paradiso. Breakfast was included and parking was free. It also had a free shuttle to take you the mile into town and back. In Taormina, it was Hotel Bel Soggiorno. Again, breakfast was included and there is free parking, although it can be tight depending on the time you arrive. We stayed in Erice and took the funicular into Trapani. The hotel was basic and no frills, but parking was free and the view was fantastic. Breakfast was included, but more of a continental type, whereas the others were buffets. The hotel was Hotel Villa San Giovanni.
awrzesinski was correct. During the day, Erice is a tourist trap, but after the tourists leave by 4pm, it’s a great place to relax. Then again, so is Taormina, and Siracusa for that matter. Regarding driving, a good GPS comes in handy since the rural roads are poorly marked. I didn’t have a problem spotting the ZTLs.

I think it’s mostly a decent plan, but I have a couple thoughts. I think you might be best served leaving leaving someplace out, mainly Trapani/Erice. By all accounts, Trapani is nice but small and basically just useful for Erice/the islands/ the salt flats. I feel like similar experiences are available in places you plan on visiting on the east coast. Opinions seem to vary hard on Erice from magical to tourist trap, which kind of puts me off too.

Leaving this out gives you a little more wriggle room as you cross the island. Your planned drive from the west (Palermo or Trapani) is a looong way from Ragusa. The autostrada only gets you so far, the rest of the way will be country driving through the hills. It can be challenging and you may get a little lost (though your stick-shift skills will get sharp in a hurry.) I would absolutely break up this trip with at least one overnight somewhere between. Though you didn’t list ancient sites among your interests, Sicily boasts two exceptional sites that make sensible stops. Valley of the Temples and Villa Romana del Casale are off the charts places that just don’t compare with much. It would be a crying shame to pass either of those up.

The other real outlier here would be Ragusa. I won’t tell you not to go there, it looks great. But if you had your heart set on Trapani, you could cut Ragusa, add time in Ortigia and use that as a base to visit Noto which is lovely in its own right and an easy day trip. Coming from the west, the autostrada takes you past Catania to Siracusa, so that makes some logistical sense as well.

Thank you for all your responses!
My question is: is it possible to visit the wine country in the Mt Aetna area from Taormina or Siracusa?
Is it possible to visit Caltagirone from Siracusa?
Once again , thanks for your ideas!

You can use ViaMichelin.com to get estimated driving times. Just remember that they don't include any stops, getting lost, traffic tie-ups (not a lot of those in rural Sicily) looking for parking, or walking from the (possibly inconvenient) parking space to what you want to see.

I don't think Noto is a substitute for Ragusa. Noto is nice but tiny. Ragusa has a lot more to see.

Although there were certainly a bunch of tourists in Erice the day I visited it, they were mostly in the part of town nearest the parking lot. I walked through the whole town, and for a good bit of that time I didn't see anyone else on the street. Taormina was much worse.

In October 2018 my husband and I did a 3 week trip to Sicily flying in and out Palermo. We had a car and did a counterclockwise trip around the island. Rick Steves' Sicily bk wasn't out yet so for planning I used the Lonely Planet Sicily bk, National Geographic Sicily bk, R.S. forum and the Trip Advisor forum where "vagabonda" who lives in Palermo and is a Sicily expert offers a wealth of info. I always think in terms of nights so 4 nights in a location gives you 3 FULL days and maybe part of the day of your arrival and/or departure.
We picked up our rental car upon arrival at Palermo airport which is outside of the city and headed straight to Trapani. We had 21 nights and our itinerary was as follows:
TRAPANI 4 nights. From here we visited Segesta, Erice, Marsala & the salt mines. We had planned on doing a daytrip to Favignana/Egadi islands but skipped because of rain. Enjoyed Trapani. Stayed in old town near the cathedral.
AGRIGENTO 1 night. Visited Valley of the Temples, archeological museum & Turkish stairs. We don't like to do 1 night stays but sometimes you have to.
PIAZZA ARMERINA 2 nights. Visited Villa Casale and town of Caltagirone.
RAGUSA 3 nights. Stayed in Ragusa Ibla. Day trips--one day to Modica & Scicli and another day to Noto. Enjoyed all of these.
SIRACUSA 3 nights. Stayed in beautiful Ortygia.
TAORMINA 3 nights. Beautiful, touristy but loved it. Stayed on Corso Umberto. Went to Castelmola(don't miss Bar Turrisi) and Isola Bella.
CEFALU 2 nights. Loved Cefalu! After leaving Cefalu we returned our car to Palermo airport and took taxi to our B&B.
PALERMO 3 nights. The train line from airport into Palermo was under construction at the time but prob done now. Is also a bus into town. We stayed between Teatro Massimo & Teatro Politeama which was a nice location. Lots to see in Palermo and took bus to Monreale. We almost were going to skip Palermo but so glad we didn't as we were pleasantly surprised at how much we enjoyed it. Several of the main streets are now pedestrian only which is very nice. We loved Sicily! Hope this helps and let me know if I can offer you more info. I shld do a trip report on Sicily. Also as a sidenote--we never left luggage in our vehicle per advice from Vagabonda on Trip Advisor. Buon Viaggio!!!

Thanks for sharing your itinerary! It is quite similar to what I want to do, except you left Palermo for the end, which makes me wonder if I should do that. It might make the airport transfer easier at the end...
You seemed to have stayed at B & B , which is what we love. If you remember any, pls let me know!
Unfortunately, my concern now is with the Coronavirus threat... uncertain if we should go 😞
Thank you!

The Catania airport's pretty easy to get to. It seemed to me that just about every bus from Catania to another city (or returning from another city) stopped at the airport. The airport's just over 3 miles from the center of the city. However, it's to the south and Taormina is to the north.

In next several days....I will dig out my Sicily file for b&b's we stayed at. Yes, the sudden spread of the coronavirus is very disturbing and fluid.

More time needed in Siracusa , stay on Ortigia Is, we spent a week; less time is needed or wanted in terribly over touristed Taormina ( and we were there in very late October.)
Stay in Trapani over Erice.

Thanks for all your replies. I have heard beautiful comments on Ortigia!! Will revise a few places...

For those that have been to Cefalu... after touring the island for a bit with a car, we want to end up in Cefalu to rest up. Is it worth it to have a car or is it better to drop it off there?
We are debating wether to make Cefalu our last stop ( go to airport from there), or visit Palermo after Cefalu.
Any ideas?

What time is your flight out of Palermo? What I wouldn't want to do is spend time in Palermo, shift to Cefalu and spend time there, then have to go back to Palermo for my last night. Changing hotels is a pain. I'm not sure how practical it would be spend the last night in Cefalu. If it's the flight out of Palermo connects you to a transatlantic flight, you don't want to miss it.

It’s a nonstop leaving at 1230 pm.
I have two options: visit Palermo first, then get a car and tour the island ending in Cefalu ( but departing from Palermo airport). The other would be arriving in PAL, getting the car and drive to Trapani and other base cities.... visit Cefalu and hop over to Palermo for a few days.
I need to see what is logistically easier and if it is a good idea to drop off the car in Cefalu.

If you're arriving in Palermo from the US/Canada, I don't think anyone is going to recommend that you hop in a rental car and drive to Trapani. There's too big a risk you'll be sleep-deprived and/or jetlagged.