Catania or Taormina?

Neither would be my first choice of destination in Sicily, though both are worth a visit. How many nights will you be spending at whichever you choose? Is it to be your only base in Sicily, or do you have a full tour planned but just a question about this one stop?

What are your interests? What sort of environment do you prefer? Can you enjoy places with a high density of foreign tourists?

More information will get you more information. But I'll happily start off with: neither! Have you looked at Ortigia? I can't think of anything about Ortigia I don't want in my dreams.

As said, difficult to answer. However, my Wife and I spent 6 nights in Taormina right before Covid, and really enjoyed it. Yes, you can sprint through Taormina, check out the greek theater, and get on out in a day and a half... Or, you can take it easy, rent a cool apartment overlooking the water (as we did), base for the area. We did horse back riding, took a cooking class, ate wonderfully, and had a very relaxing 6-7 days living "as a local". We befriended an older taxi driver, who ended up being our "Driver" for the entire time we were there - looked just like my Grand Father lol.

So if spending a handful of days/nights, either would work. If you are spending longer, then you may want to research other bases, Ortigia, Palermo, etc. We plan on going back as soon as we can (although we have a Paris trip for this spring), and plan on basing in the Palermo area - I have Family there.

You will get a lot of varied answers here, as we all have our own preferences. Add more info on what yours are, and folks can respond to that.

Glenn

I've done a little research, and I think Taormina might not be the best base for an 11-12 night stay. Catania would be better in terms of transportation and centrally located, but we just stayed in Nice for 12 nights and I'm looking for a village or small town for our next trip, as long as we can find historical sites, old churches, a museum or two and some small shops in the vicinity. I have done a little checking out of Ortigia. It looks beautiful although I wonder how far it is from the nearest airport. I think Comiso would be the closest?
It's a wonder that anyone replies to my posts, given my sketchy knowledge of Sicilia. But as I await my two travel guides, I'm SO grateful to all of you for sharing your knowledge!

Well, I can't locate Cosimo airport, but it looks like Catania AP might be the one we'd use if we choose Syracuse/Ortigia.

Ortigia would be an excellent choice and the Catania Airport is closest. There is a bus from the Catania Airport to Syracuse if you don't want to rent a car early in your trip.

Between your first two considerations, I’d pick Taormina. In 2 trips to Sicily, it’s the one I’ve visited both times. But I’ve also stayed in Agrigento both times, with Greek temples in better shape than any still present in Greece. Catania was on the second trip, and charming Erice was on the first trip, but I’d return there in an instant. It’s a small village, perched just above bigger city Trapani.

If a “village” is important for your base, and something a tad bigger than 30,000 population counts as a village, then inland Caltigirone would be my suggestion. The town itself is tremendous, and ancient Greek and Roman sites aren’t far away. Catania’s going to be the closest airport.

If you hope to see a lot of Sicily, I would definitely not recommend plunking yourself down in one place. There's no place in Sicily that functions as Nice does in southern France--as a rail and bus hub for transportation to more than enough places to keep you side-tripping happily for 12 days.

Do you plan to rent a car, or will you be limited to public transportation?

To cover Sicily reasonably well without spending a lot of time driving back and forth (even if you do have a car), you need to set yourself up in Siracusa (which allows coverage of the charming Baroque towns in the southeast), Taormina/Catania or nearby, Palermo, Trapani/the West, and Agrigento. A spot in the interior (like Caltagirone or Piazza Armerina would also be helpful), and many people like to see the Aeolian Islands (which I didn't have time for despite 17-18 days in Sicily during which I avoided the Greek-temple sites out in the countryside).

Even if you were willing to move around that much, you wouldn't have time to see the entire island at a sane pace in just 11 or 12 days.

Ortigia, the medieval section of Siracusa, has sort of a small-town feel. You might use Google Maps to walk some of the streets there and see what you think. Siracusa to Catania by train takes 66 to 86 minutes. Siracusa to Taormina-Giardini (bus required from the train station up to the town) takes from 1 hr. 44 min. to 2 hr. 20 min. I imagine a trip to Mt. Etna would also be possible but haven't researched that.

Ragusa's one of the Baroque towns you can visit from Siracusa, but I don't know how well it would work as a base to visit the other Baroque towns (which include Noto, Modica and Scicli) if you didn't have a car. There's some spotty train service in that area and some buses. Neither service is particularly frequent, and you should be extremely cautious about planning to take an intercity bus trip on a Sunday or holiday.

You might also consider Cefalu, which is on the coast east of Palermo, with about 12 trains a day (weekdays) to the big city. However, I don't think it has a wealth of side-trip options. The thing is, there's so much to see in Palermo that you'd probably end up going there at least 4 times, and if you're going to do that, why not stay in Palermo for at least part of your trip? It's at least 45 minutes each way by train from Cefalu to Palermo. I understand that the hectic environment of Palermo is not what you want for 11 or 12 days, but it's one of the best bases on the island because of the very large number of sights in the city, the rail service to Cefalu and the transportation available into the interior. I believe there are also some points of interest along the coast to the west; that's an area I missed during my 2015 trip. Maybe one or more of those would be reasonable day-trips. I count it as a Palermo sight, but it's outside the city, so I should mention that the cathedral at Monreale is spectacular and arguably the best sight on the entire island.

Although I liked Trapani, and Erice is charming (though touristy), I don't think there's enough in that corner of the island to keep you busy for 11 or 12 nights.

Catania has the largest airport in Sicily. Its not a resort village like Taormina, but rather a gritty, working city. Distances are short so Siracusa/Ortigia are close enough to reach from Catania airport.

If you’re looking for a base for 12 days, I’d pick a couple different places. To me Taormina and Catania are worth no more than 2 days each. Catania airport is just outside the city. The main bus station is within walking distance to the historic center and you can pretty much get anyplace from it. Syracusa is about a 50-60 minutes drive from the airport. Where you’d like to go should help you determine which city or cities to use as a base.

If you had a rental car and used Syracusa as a base one could easily get to Noto, Ragusa, and Piazza Armerina (Villa Romana Casale). Using Monreale as a base one could take day trips to Erice/Trapani, Palermo, Segesta, and Cefalù.

Some excellent recommendations up thread. I will share my experience in 2014. We finished a Southern Italy Culinary tour in Taormina. We spend a few nights there and enjoyed a cooking class & the historic sites. On our own we took the train to Ortigia for 5 nights and did a guided day tour to Noto, Ragusa & Modica. As mentioned up thread if time is limited you may want to look at one specific area that appeals to you. We went to Catania the day before our flight home and that was convenient. We had planned to revisit Sicily for a month in September 2020 but of course it was canceled due to the lockdown. This was the itinerary we were going to follow: see link. Plenty of time to see what we missed the first time. Our plan was to revisit Taormina as a day trip & hopefully see our previous guide who lives there. Enjoy your planning!
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/my-trip-to-sicily-in-zoe-s-memory/

I want to recommend Sicily Life if you need transfers from Catania Airport.

I used them from Catania Airport to Taormina. Reasonably priced. The driver spoke English and told me what we were seeing on the way.

I like Taormina but I wouldn't use it or Catania as a base for your entire stay if you want to visit the entire island.

Have never been to Catania, but cruise ships stop in Taormina. My sister stopped in Taormina on a cruise and had to go back for the shopping. When she and I went to Sicily together afterwards, she insisted on stopping there and I did buy a handbag that made the experience worth a day there.

Janis mentioned Modica, which was a real treat, especially if you’re a fan of chocolate. It’s a gem of a town, except be prepared for lots of stairs, if you see both the lower and upper towns.

We spent two and a half weeks in Sicily and Taormina was our least favorite place; we will not return. Ortigia was our favorite, a wonderful experience.

Back to Chocolate in Modica! Our driver dropped us off at their favorite Chocolatier. We enjoyed tasting the heavenly nibs. They are Aztec inspired with a grainy texture. Antica Dolceria Bonajuto. Lovely shop. https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20151207-sicilys-secret-chocolate-obsession

Taormina is much more scenic by far and more touristed by far. Catania is real. Parts are gritty. Think of Taormina as Miami and Catania as Philadelphia. Both worth seeing, but you will have different experiences. Having been to Sicily twice, I would suggest doing more than just one or both of those places. I agree whole heartedly with posted comments about Ortigia I was also pleasantly surprised by Palermo. Palermo is much better for tourists than Catania.

I agree with Suki above regarding Ortigia and Taormina. We spent three weeks in Sicily in 2019 and stayed in a few different places. One base doesn't really work well, too much backtracking. If I were going to stay in one place it would be Ortigia. Lots of good day trips from there and it is just plain nice.