Is it best to stay in Siracusa or Taormina Sicily?

It depends on what you want to do and see, I generally prefer to split my stay between the two and use both as bases since the distances are such that it's hard to make it work from one base only. Taormina/Giardini is good for the North East (Taormina, Mt. Etna), Siracusa is good for the South East (Siracusa, Noto, possibly Modica and Ragusa)

Hard decision. We stayed 2 nights in each city and enjoyed them both. If push came to shove, I would probably choose Taoramina. But really, we had fun in each city.

We agree...split your time between the two. We did, and loved it.

Agree with the others. Would recommend splitting time with 3 days for Taormina (+Mt. Etna) and two in Ortigia.

I was very ready to leave Taormina after 2 or 3 hours. It is physically beautiful but full of international boutiques and swamped by day-trippers for much of the day. And it is expensive. It's the last place on the island where I'd want to spend 5 nights.

We spent a week on Ortigia Is off of Siracusa and did not want to leave there! It was perfect.
Later we spent two nights in Taormina and could not wait to get out of there. It was so much more “touristy” than any other part of Sicily we had visited. Lots of cheap tourist “ junk” for sale. Crowds. We had been warned and warned about Taormina but wanted to see for ourselves.
We loved Sicily with the exception of Taormina.
And to add to my anti- Taormina woes , I got food poisoning right after leaving there. The doctor said I definitely picked it up in Taormina but it didn’t hit me until Heathrow where we had to spend three nights because of how sick I was.

Thank you everyone for your responses, it's been very helpful!

I prefer to stay in Giardini Naxos instead of Taormina. Nice beach and Taormina is just up above the hill (5 min by car), but prices in Giardini are much cheaper and less crowded.

I had same question before our trip. Decided to do 2 nights in Taormina and 6 nights in Siracusa/Ortigia. It worked perfectly. Day trips from Siracusa were great (train); It was great hanging out in Ortigia (old town of Siracusa). There was plenty to see (Churches/old Jewish baths in one Church/underground paths that were Greek and used during WWII to survive the war bombs). also wonderful Church in Siracusa that houses Caravaggio painting of Saint). There is good food and lots of good ambiance. Taormina was very touristy, but we did enjoy our full two days. Hiked down to the Island below, saw Greek ruins on beach near old town, and did the Godfather tour. You don't have to do the tour to enjoy the hill town. Can take bus there too. Wonderful town to wander in and eat a pizza on the plaza outdoors. We enjoyed the tour, got a descent price so it was worth it. (don't do the tour with meal included, buy a drink or a pizza or sandwich for $10 E. I totally understand why they decided to film the Godfather scenes in Savoca. (go on your own if you can or take a tour if you don't mind spending. We got ours for only 50E each (2 of us)..... it was 5 hour tour with no food. Worth it. Only 4 of us total in the tour group.
The tour bus goes there too. (Red on/off bus). Taormina is worth seeing.

We also flew into Catania. We stayed two nights in Taormina followed by two weeks in Ortigia (outside of Siracusa) . We loved both! In fact, when we return to Sicily, Taormina will be at the top of our list. I think a lot depends on the time of year you go. We visited mid to late September. Aside from a bit of rain, it was beautiful. Very close to Mt. Etna and Aeolian Islands. You won't regret your stay in Siracusa; it's a great base for many places to visit. I also believe Taormina is a massive tourist stop because it's so beautiful. Just go when it's less busy.