Ideas for Syracuse?

Catania has the busiest airport in Sicily, and the Catania airport is closer to Syracuse than the Palermo airport. If you have plenty of time, you could also fly to Rome or Naples, do some local sightseeing, then take the (slow) train down to Sicily. Do not under any circumstances take the night train, however. I mention the Rome/Naples options because--esepecially for Rome--you may find airfares a lot less expensive than to Catania. That varies by origin airport, of course.

Among the major sights in Syracuse are the medieval district of Ortygia (the best place to stay), the archaeological museum and the archaeological park. You can spend a lot of pleasant hours just walking around Ortygia.

Outside of Syracuse are several Baroque towns that make popular day-trips. All are accessible by train and/or by bus, but linking two of them on a single day is more challenging (not necessarily impossible). Ragusa seems to have the most things to see; I think it would be worth spending one or two nights there. Other interesting towns in that area are Noto, Modica and Scicli.

Rick released the first edition of his guide to Sicily this year. You need to get a copy of that.

Sicily is fascinating. I always recommend that people spend at least 2 weeks there, and that's if they will have a rental car to simplify getting around Three weeks wouldn't be too long, though it would not be possible to cover the entire island from a base in Syracuse.

You would fly into Catania, there’s frequent and inexpensive busses to Siracusa right from the airport. It’s very easy to navigate.

When people talk about visiting Siracusa, they’re mainly taking about Ortigia, the ancient town center. Ortigia is pretty small, but an absolute joy. I was there four nights and never got tired of wandering its streets. Ortigia’s piazza del Duomo is now my favorite in Europe. In season, there’s areas built up for swimming on Ortigia and mainland Siracusa.

On the mainland, the Neopolis archeological park and Museo Paulo di Orsi and worth a day. The museum is extensive and terrific, particularly if you have an interest in archeology. The museum divides its exhibits based on the different settlements and gives context on the sites.

Day trips, or side trips would usually include the Baroque hill towns south of Siracusa: Noto, Modica and Ragusa are among the most popular. Further afield, Villa Romana de Casale is spectacular, and on most tourist hit lists.

There’s a lot to see in Sicily, and it can get a little complex logistically. Time is the thing you need most.

Fantastic! Thank you both! Acraven, can I ask why not to take the night train? Just curious....

Your daughter is so lucky to end up in Siracusa for her study abroad! The food, seafood, cannolis, calamari,octopus, all delicious. Swordfish is on every menu. Sold for only 12Euro per kilo in fishmaket. Fly from Rome to Catania(CTA.) You can find nice rentals at Wonderful Italy.eu; they have an office on Ortigia in Piazza Archimede. Favourite restaurants on Ortigia were Locanda de Collegio and Regina Lucia(set back on Piazza Duomo.)Loved the walk up made to order cannoli window just off of the Piazza Duomo too.
This was our favourite place in Sicily in two trips there. Do a day trip to Noto by bus or train, and maybe overnights to Ragusa, Modica.
How long will you be in Sicily?
Must sees include Agrigento and the Valley of the Temples, Segesta, Villa Romana Casale.

I took that train in 2015. I did not get one wink of sleep because of constant side-to-side jerking. I assume the rails are rough on that line. It wasn't like the motion I had experienced on other trains (daytime and overnight). It was an utterly miserable experience, and I slept through much of the next day, which meant I was off-schedule, almost as if I had just come off and overnight flight.

I’m so excited about Sicily now! My family stopped somewhere there on a cruise ship in 2005 but I don’t recall which port. We walked to the town’s city center but didn’t see any major sights.

@acraven thank you for the tip on the overnight train. I am not sure where we will be arriving from— I’m still on my search for where to “live like locals” for a month. Now that my daughter has selected Florence and Siracusa for fall of 2020, I am looking at large towns or small cities In Italy that are walkable, offer cafe life and some interesting sights for us to take in during our telecommuting weeks. Aix en Provence is still at the top of my list but it’s super difficult to get to Florence from there and I’m thinking perhaps this should be an Italian adventure. Maybe Verona for a month? Visiting Florence is not a must for us. We’ll meet up with DD in Siracusa.

@Suki thank you for detail on Ortiga. I had no idea it offered so much although I should’ve guessed if UCLA is sending students there ;) You’ve got me thinking that maybe we spend our “month” there. We could plant ourselves in Ortiga in September and then spend our few last nights with our daughter when she arrives from Florence in early October. Is it too small for a month? I need to do some research on the area!

I think people's tolerance for/interest in long stays varies a lot. Part of it is personality, part of it is interests, and part of it is where they are in their travel life--do they feel they've seen a lot of their top sightseeing targets already so they don't mind slowing down?

Personally, I feel the call of all the places I haven't yet been, I love art museums and 20th century history, and there are entire countries in Europe in which I have not yet set foot. As a result, there are few cities large and interesting enough that I'd voluntarily spend a month in them--as opposed to splitting the time across several other places. Siracusa is really nice, but it is definitely not one of my maybe-one-month places, though its proximity to the Baroque towns is a plus. Would you consider spending a month in Richmond, Virginia, rather than also camping out in Washington DC and Baltimore? And what about Philadelphia? New York? Boston? Richmond is about twice the size of Siracusa.

For a month in Siracusa I'd have to have a project. For me, it would be Italian lessons. Perhaps for you it would be working your way through an Italian cookbook. But you'd miss so much of what Sicily has to offer by pinning yourself down in one place. Sicily really has enough to keep you busy for a month, but not if you stay in the same hotel or apartment the entire time.

I've never been to Verona but like Padua a lot. Alternatively, Bologna is extremely well-positioned for day-trips. An advantage to choosing a mainland city for your one-month base would be the availability of trains to get you to a lot of places within 60 to 90 minutes. Because of limited and infrequent rail service, transportation around Sicily is not rapid.

@acraven You are a wealth of wisdom. So true; no I would not settle in Richmond for a month. In thinking about your analogy, perhaps I’m looking for a “Bethesda”. Charming little town with easy access to Washington, D.C.

I do need to work 30 hours a week while abroad but I definitely want to take in the historical sights and get out on weekends. Maybe back to searching outside Paris 🤦‍♀️ My search continues.... :)

Oh, I missed--or forgot--that you are going to need to work so much. To me, that makes a lot of difference. Still, could you not at least split your time between Siracusa and Palermo? There's a lot to see in Palermo, though the central city is certainly not a relaxing environment. I don't know whether there's a convenient section of the city that would be a good spot for you. I know the coastal town of Cefalu (about an hour away) is popular, but I wasn't much of a fan. I'd find more than one night there too long. Maybe others will comment.

I suspect part of the problem is that I genuinely like big, bustling cities. That characteristic isn't a negative for me. I can't help mentally comparing the available activities in Rome/Paris/London to the more limited options in smaller spots and finding the latter wanting for a long stay.

I have spent just over 2 weeks in Orvieto and in Nice; I was taking language lessons. I really liked Orvieto, but there wasn't really enough to keep me busy for 2 weeks, and the town is not well-positioned for day-trips. Nice would have supported a longer stay because of the great train service along the Riviera and the buses radiating up into the hills.

@craven I might have mentioned in another thread that my 22-year old DD spent 6 weeks in Nice in 2019 and 4 months in Paris in 2018 and is pushing both...