Our family of 4 will fly into Catania in June for 3 nights in sicily - 2 in either Taormina, Cantania or Siracusa and 1 in Palermo. We will have a car. Any good hotel recommendations in one of these areas?
Posted by
DeWitt, MI, USA
199 posts
Shelley, we spent 8 days in Sicily last fall and stayed in both Taormina and Cefalu. We much preferred Cefalu. We stayed in two good hotels: Hotel Condor in Taormina, and Hotel La Giara in Cefalu. At La Giara we ran into a Rick Steves tour group staying there...so, if Rick ever covers Sicily in his book he will certainly recommend it.
Posted by
OP
Alpharetta
11 posts
Thanks Ron - we'll check out both.
Posted by
bergamo
401 posts
I know that there is a huge Bed and Breakfast industry in Siracusa, but if you do stay in Siracusa, try for the "historic" center of Ortigia, so beautiful, and much calmer than Catania, plus you can walk all over without using the car. I would be very wary about driving in Catania....they make driving in Rome seem easy......
Posted by
bergamo
401 posts
I are you thinking of driving from Catania to Palermo for one day? That's a long way......I would just the three days you have and see the area around Catania including Mt. Etna.
Posted by
Italy
247 posts
Don't drive in Catania or Palermo. Both are very challenging to drive.
The drive from Catania to Palermo will only take two hours and fifteen minutes. Taormina to Palermo would take two and three quarter hours.
Etna is best seen from Taormina or Catania. Since you will already have one night in Palermo, a large city, consider Taormina or Siracusa instead of Catania. Taormina is a beautiful hill town , a resort town with a beach below at Mazzaro. Siracusa is not a beach destination, but a very historic town, and Ortygia (island) is the place to stay in Siracusa.
If you were to stay in Taormina, Villa Schuler is a good value. It has a central location in the historic center.
There are many B&Bs on Ortygia, like L'Approdo delle Sirene, Aretusa Vacanze, or Ortigia Sea View Bed & Breakfast.
La Giara is a really nice hotel in Cefalu.
Ambasciatori Hotel is a good value in Palermo's historic center. It has a great roof terrace with views of Palermo.
Posted by
OP
Alpharetta
11 posts
Very good information - thanks! The only reason we were considering staying in Catania was that my husband supposedly has a distant relative there and it seemed centrally located. He wants to visit Sortino, his familys original hometown. But with the feedback we are tending to staying either in Taormina and taking a day trip down to Sortino or staying Siracusa.
Posted by
Italy
247 posts
Siracusa would be the best town for you to visit Sortino and Ortygia is delightful.