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Best Base for 3 Nights in Ragusa, Syracuse, Modica Region

Posted by (Boston) on

Ciao! I'm not sure why I do this to myself every trip, but in a research hole and struggling to finalize the itinerary for a trip in 3 weeks.

We'll be traveling from Sciacca and have 3 nights between there and Mt. Etna region. I cannot for the life of me decide on the base. People have said Ragusa and Syracuse are very different, but I'd love to hear people's own preferences and experiences in both and what makes them so different. We are also struggling with the question...do we stay in the countryside or do we stay along the coast? Here is what we enjoy, I hope that someone will read this and say, aha! This is the town for you :).

Interests:

-Food, wine, just taking in all of the culture. We move very slowly and do not need to cram in a ton of activities

-We are not big museum people and prefer to visit towns/important must see sites during the day and lounge by the pool or beach at night.

-We love the idea of being able to walk around in the evening after dinner or grabbing a drink at a cafe. A sleepy town doesn't bother us, but it's always nice to have at least one option to grab a drink after dinner or at least having a balcony to relax.

-But we also love staying in the countryside, as long as there's a place we can sit outside with a glass of wine.

-I live in a city, therefore try to stay in quieter places/smaller towns, but is staying in Noto, Syracuse or Ragusa worth breaking this "no city" preference?

We are looking at the following towns, but can't seem to make a decision. Please share your recommendations, preferences, arguments for staying one place vs. another! Also, if you have places you stayed and loved, would love those recommendations as well!

-Ortigia
-Avolo
-Modica
-Caltagirone
-Ragusa

THANK YOU!

Posted by
28437 posts

I haven't been to Avola and I don't know anything about beaches.

The places you mention are rather different in population (from Wikipedia):

Siracusa 121,605 (but Ortygia's just one area of Siracusa)
Ragusa 74,251
Modica 54,456
Caltagirone 38,391
Avola 31,407
Noto 24,048

My first thought is: Which one will minimize your driving time? That depends partly on how many days' worth of sightseeing you'll be doing in Siracusa. Of the others, Ragusa needs the most time. Use viamichelin.com to check driving times for each pair of cities.

I think Caltagirone is too far from the others, given that it doesn't have the wealth of sights you'll find in Siracusa.

Another consideration would be availability of lodgings with parking nearby in a convenient part of town.

I believe Caltagirone gets the fewest tourists, but I doubt that there are many tourists hanging around Modica or Noto in the evening. Italians are sociable folks who spend a lot of time outdoors when the weather is nice, so I believe any of the towns would be lively enough if you choose lodgings near the passegiata area. I think Ortgia would be the liveliest and probably has the best food scene. However, Sicilian food is very good, over all.

Modica has a different sort of feel to it in that it is built down the sides of a ravine. Whether that would cause you problems driving in and out every day, I do not know.

Posted by
7054 posts

Siracusa used to be a major Greek port so the old isthmus called Ortigia faces the water on three sides, and is largely flat. Ragusa and Modica are inland and are quite hilly with winding streets. Ragusa has an upper and lower town and is full of old UNESCO churches and palazzos, same with Modica. All three cities are of similar style (Baroque) and were rebuilt after the earthquake. Siracusa is the only one with the old theater and fabulous archeological museum. Noto is lovely but small and has a flat pedestrian zone.

Check out some Google images of each. Ragusa and Modica are very similar in look and topography.

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