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Cinque Terre to Sicily - Help with itinerary please

Posted by (Langley, BC, Canada) on

Hello everyone, we'd really appreciate your advice on our itinerary please. This will be our 2nd trip to Italy and loved it so much we've decided to come back. Our first trip included the classics: Milan, Venice, Florence, Rome and Pompeii. We're trying to see different parts of Italy (with the exception of Florence, which we need to spend more time in). Our transportation is exclusively public so everything needs to be accessible on major routes. We created this itinerary and are now second guessing it - We're not sure if we're missing something major (like Naples or another amazing place) or overdoing an area (Amalfi Coast, possibly repetitive after CT). We're mid-forties budget travelers, who would rather spend our money enjoying new places and experiences than on hotel rooms. We love good food, history, churches, and architecture. Any thoughts or feedback would be greatly appreciated.

4 nights Cinque Terre (Vernazza) – extra night due to travel day.
3 nights Sienna
4 nights Florence
2 nights Positano
3 nights Capri
3 nights Lipari (taking evening ferry from Naples)
3 nights Syracuse
3 nights Catania (flying on to London)

Thanks in advance!

Posted by
11294 posts

I haven't been to Catania, and it does seem to have things of interest - for a day or two. But Syracusa, while nice and interesting, particularly for its Greek history sights, can't hold a candle to Taormina. And, there are buses from Taormina right to Catania airport. I'm normally not one to call any place a "must see," but for your itinerary, I do think Taormina qualifies, so I'd take time from Catania and/or Syracusa and put it in Taormina.

From Syracusa, you can take easy bus trips to Noto or Ragusa - both worth seeing.

Is there a reason you're spending 3 nights in Siena in addition to 4 nights in Florence? Particularly without a car, that seems like a lot of time.

You will have a lot of relaxation on this trip (Cinque Terre, Positano, Capri, Lipari). As long as that's what you want, you're set. If you want more "action," do consider time in Naples. It certainly has the "good food, history, churches, and architecture" you want. It's a fascinating place, albeit a bit stressful for some. The Archeology Museum is one of my favorites anywhere, and the sculptures in the Cappella Sansevero are unforgettable (the Veiled Christ is more famous, but was even more blown away by Disillusion).

As always, in Italy it's all good, so you can't really go wrong.

Posted by
11613 posts

I agree with Harold, if you can cut a couple of nights in Siena, add them to Sicily. Less time in Catania, add Taormina and Cefalu (2 nights in each).

Posted by
6 posts

Harold and Zoe,
You have been incredibly helpful in your suggestions! Siena - what can I say? - it's just calling to me! Based on some of your thoughts we went back and made some major switches - I'd love to know your thoughts (in a nut shell we added Naples, dropped Lipari altogether, chose Amalfi to explore the coast, and replaced Catania with Taormina) :

CT - 4

Siena - 3

Florence - 4

Train to Salerno, onwards to Amalfi

Amalfi -5 (with visits up and down the coast)

Up to Naples - 2

Fly to Catania

Syracuse - 3

Taormina - 3

Better????

Posted by
11294 posts

I certainly like your new plan better, but as always, there's a million ways to do this.

Book your flights within Italy as soon as you've gotten your plans nailed down, to get the best prices. Use Skyscanner for research http://www.skyscanner.com/. If you want to book Alitalia within Italy, the International website often has better prices and/or lower discount fare classes than the US site. The International and the Italian website show the same prices, but International has an English language option, while the Italian is in Italian only.

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