I am planning a 10 day trip to Italy May 2014, travelling with my husband, my sister and her husband. We're all seniors, but have a youthful approach to travel. We are in a dilemma trying to figure out the best route to travel with the desire to visit Naples, Amalfi Coast and Sicily. Our plan in Sicily is to have a home base in Taoramina and rent a car to sightsee. Should we travel Naples down to Sicily or Sicily up to Naples? Suggestions on this trip and the best way to connect to transportation would be very much appreciated. Please note that we don't want to take the overnight ferry. Thank you.
Posted by
roswell, ga, usa
1501 posts
I'm actually at the Rome airport ready to go home after a three week trip to Rome and Sicily! Lucky me! You can do a good 2/3 of sicily if you fly Naples to Palermo, drive East, stop in Cefalu and use Taormina as a home base. You can tour the entire East coast basing from Taormina: mt Etna, Syracuse, and Taormina has splendid Greek ruins. Private message me for more info. We rented an apartment in Taormina, and there's also a great BnB if you don't want a kitchen
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
16236 posts
10 days are too few for your plans, in my opinion. With only 10 days you should do Sicily only, which is a huge island with so many things to see you will be overwhelmed. Also you cannot visit Sicily using one base only, because of the size of the island and the distances involved. Sicily is larger than Massachusetts and Rhode Island combined. It is shaped like a triangle. The best approach is to have 3 bases, one approximately in each corner. In the West somewhere in the Palermo or Trapani provinces. One in the Northeast corner (Catania or Messina provinces, and Taormina, which is in between Catania and Messina is good). One in the South corner (Syracue province or between Syracuse and Noto is good). I don't know if by 10 days you mean 10 nights on the ground or you include also travel days (two days go wasted in travel from the US). If you only have 8 nights on the ground, then you might have to concentrate on 2 out of the 3 corners only. For Sicily planning consult this site: www.bestofsicily.com The Naples area (Naples, Pompeii, Sorrento, Amalfi Coast, Gulf of Naples islands such as Capri, Ischia and Procida) deserve at least 4 nights on the ground to visit some of the above. If you go there, there isn't enough time for Sicily. At most you could take a flight from Naples to Palermo with Volotea and do the Western corner only (Palermo and Trapani provinces). Or you could take an Alitalia flight from Naples to Catania and visit that area (incl. Taormina, or Mt.Etna or even Syracuse). If you don't fly, the trip from Naples to Sicily will take almost a full day.