Getting away from Canadian winter to Sicily for a month in February 2020

There are tons of informative and entertaining trip reports in that section of the website, as well as lots of entries on the forum section on all the questions you asked. Many of them have been added by people travelling quite recently. It's a good place to start, along with the guidebook, of course. We have found everyone's contributions to be very helpful in planning our month-long trip in May. Happy planning!

Your questions are a bit broad...
1. Emphatically, YES. Car is most convenient, but icy conditions can happen inland in February.
2. See above: the mountains are actually snowy! Not very dependably, but quite significantly in recent years. However, on the coast, daytime highs should consistently exceed 10C, perhaps even 15C, and freezing is very rare.
3-6 are too broad, sorry.

1. By car: if you are a reckless driver probably not. Otherwise yes. By train: always safe.
2. Average high temperatures in February in Palermo, a coastal city, are 15 degrees centigrade. Average lows 11 degrees centigrade. In the interior temperatures would be a bit less mild (a bit colder at night and maybe a bit warmer on a sunny day).
3. One month is enough to see everything. A loop of the island would be good. Use www.bestofsicily.com to plan.
4. In winter I would prefer to be in or near a big town. Maybe you could split your stay into two spells: Palermo area on the west and Catania or Siracusa area in the east, the largest metro areas. If inside a big city is not to your liking choose something very near. For Palermo, I would choose the district of Mondello. It’s a popular beach town in summer. In winter is definitely calmer, but very close to the city center. On the east side, in winter, I would probably choose Siracusa, which is not too big and is beautiful. If you prefer near Catania, besides Catania itself, I would opt for Acireale, a nice decent size town between Catania and Taormina.
5. Yes.
6. Plenty can be found in this website. Just use the search box.

Mehbs, we were there last February. The temps were in the ranges of what's already been mentioned. But it was also very windy in some places, and there was some snow on Mt Etna if you visit there. So not exactly beach weather. Don't be surprised to see the locals in down parkas, hats and gloves. Our favorite place was Siracusa/Ortigia. My tip would be to read up on Greek and Roman history of Sicily before you go, so you'll understand what you see better. I would never attempt to drive in Palermo.

A month in Sicily will be heaven. It's a large island, and I wouldn't want to try to see it from just one or two bases. This is the way I group a lot of the key destinations; I'd want to spend multiple nights in each of these areas. Caveat: My trip was in June/early July (don't do that!), and I can't speak to what conditions will be like in February.

• Trapani/Erice/Segesta/Selinunte and the west coast.
• Palermo/Monreale/Cefalu. Don't drive in Palermo, but sleep there; there is a lot to see, and there's no sense in day-tripping into the city 3 or more times.
• Taormina/Catania/Acireale/Mt. Etna (Taormina for extreme, but very touristy, beauty; if not OK with that stay somewhere else)
• Siracusa/Baroque towns (Noto/Ragusa/Modica/Scicli). I'd be tempted to set up a separate base in Ragusa rather than visiting all four from Siracusa.
• Interior (Enna/Piazza Armerina/Caltagirone). Don't miss the Villa Romana del Casale.
• Aeolian Islands (if you deem them suitable in February; I haven't been there).
• Agrigento if you're up for another Greek site. (I skipped all of them except the archaeological park in Siracusa and a peak at the theatre in Taormina.)

We've been to Sicily twice (five weeks total) and love it. However, one year we went about March 20 and stayed three weeks. We had every kind of weather conceivable from very cold and rainy to pretty darned hot. Take layers! We do all our traveling by public transportation (we're 70+).

I'd do at least four bases (choose from acraven's suggestions), and in Siracusa, be sure to stay on Ortygia. We always choose to stay in apartments.

Happy planning!

I spent 2 weeks in Sicily in April-May 5 years ago. A month sounds more than twice as good.

I found driving outside of cities to be very easy - good roads and decent signage for the most part. I am used to driving in traffic-jammed cities and that's what I found in Palermo and Catania. Not really difficult to drive, though it helps to be a little aggressive and you need a lot of patience. I stayed in Palermo without a car, took train to Cefalu and back, and rented the car after that, then kept it until I flew out of Catania. While in Palermo I watched locals crossing busy streets between parked cars and somehow the drivers managed to avoid them. That was my only real concern as I drove out of Palermo - that a pedestrian would suddnly appear in front of me. I didn't go to Taormina, but I was in a couple of other hilly towns with historic centers and they are difficult to drive through because of the very narrow streets and blind corners.

I focused mainly on the ancient sights, the Greek temples and the Roman ruins. A couple of things I remember quite well: small towns are mostly closed on Sundays, plan accordingly, Etna should only be visited when you know the weather there is clear - it can be cloudless and sunny a few miles away on the coast at the same time that Etna is shrouded in cloud and fog.

To get a better idea of what to expect (though climate change is making any predictions much harder) is to look at actual daily weather data for various cities at timeanddate.com.

I recently returned from a 22 day stay in Sicily during Sept to Oct timeframe. This was my second trip to Sicily. On my first I only visited Palermo province, to visit the small town my grandparents immigrated from in 1913. This time with three weeks we circled the island, starting and ending in Catania and travelling counterclockwise. We used public transportation, both busses and trains, all easy, comfortable and cheap, with the exception of one day with private driver (that I saw recommended here on this forum) and who took us from Agrigento to Ortygia/Siracusa via Piazza Armerina, Villa Casale and Caltagirone.. With your four weeks you have plenty of time to circle the island and visit what most interests you. During our trip we stayed at BnBs in Catania, Taormina, Palermo, Mazara del Vallo, and Agrigento. In Cefalu at a hotel and in Oliveri and Ortygia at AirBnB apartments. I have no complaints about any of them. I always look for breakfast included when possible. I found Sicily to be very budget friendly, especially lodging and transportation. We were two women, both past 66 and we felt safe at all times. Situational awareness and common sense are important, regardless of where you are. Don't let the dire warnings of scams and pickpockets that often appear on forums scare you unnecessarily. If you are comfortable driving in Sicily, a car gives you great freedom to do more exploring but there are very good public transportation options available in Sicily. I would avoid driving in Palermo. We also used a driver one day to take us on a daytrip from Palermo to Segesta/Erice/Marsala and back to Palermo.

One of my favorite stops on this trip was the fishing town of Mazara del Vallo, with its mix of Arab, Jewish and Christian influences. We stayed two nights there and used it as our jumping off place to visit the beautiful ruins at Selinunte (which I liked actually more than Agrigento). From Mazara del Vallo we took the train to Castelvetrano and a bus from the train station down to the extensive ruins and then back to Mazara del Vallo at the end of the day.

I always try to mix both major attractions with lesser known sites and smaller towns. These are the towns we based in: Catania, Taormina, Olivera ( in order to visit Tindari), Cefalu, Palermo, Mazara del Vallo, Agrigento and Ortygia. If you have a car (or even by bus from Cefalu) head inland into the mountains, maybe to Castelbuono or Caccamo. We spent our biggest block of time ( six nights) in Palermo and were busy everyday. There are many great daytrips you can do from there and Palermo itself has many great sites and experiences to see and do. Don't skip Monreale. If I had extra time I would consider stays in Ragusa and Trapani and maybe Sciacca or somewhere inland. Make sure you attend a puppet show. That was fun.

If you want the names of the BnBs or the two drivers we used just send me a PM.