I will be in Sicily in May. I have 5 nights after an 8 days of cooking class in Modica. I am leaving from Catania Airport. What would be a good itinerary without a car. I was thinking taking the train to Palermo and come back to Catania, but the ride is a bit long and I would like to visit the Etna.
What would be your suggestions for me?
Thank you,
Chantal
I would go to Siracusa. You can go there by train. I am not sure if there are tours of Mt Etna from Siracusa or not. If not, you could divide your time-3 nights in Siracusa and two nights in Catania which would leave you well positioned for your flight.
Palermo is lovely but with only five nights it makes sense to stay on the east side of the island.
Take the [poky] train from Ragusa to Siracusa.
Stay on the Isla de Ortigia. We did for 4 nights.
Take the very nice train from Siracusa to Catania. We spent 4 nights here.
Thank you both for your input and taking the time. I know Syracuse makes sense but I will have done it in my first week there with the cooking classes.
Thanks again
While many people here don't find it particularly appealing, I would take a look at Catania for a few days. There's enough there to fill a couple of days, and we found the food to be particularly good. You could do an excursion to Etna from there, too. Or Taormina might be another option. You could day trip to Etna from there as well. In addition, you could go to see the Riace Bronzes at the Archeological Museum of Reggio Calabria. It's a bit of a schlep, as you'd take the bus or train to Messina and then a short ferry ride. The train used to go from Taormina to Reggio Calabria because they loaded the train onto the ferry, but that was a while ago and I'm not sure they do that anymore. It would be a long day trip, but you could always stay overnight in Calabria. We did not have good luck with the train from Siracusa around Etna and to Randazzo, as the only one that would have allowed us to take that itinerary was cancelled.
Thank you very much, I will look into your suggestions.
I love Ragusa Ibla. Another Sicilian Baroque town, like Modica, but really special. And when I stayed a few nights outside of the historic center of Catania and sat in the local park, watching the old men play chess and B.S. with one another, and shopping for snacks in the local grocery store or having coffee and pastries in the local cafe, I really felt I had a sense of the authentic Sicily. Catania is a little gritty, sometimes literally from the ash from Mount Etna, but it is interesting. I love Palermo, but I agree that would be a stretch given your timeline. Don't discount the possibility of hiring a private taxi driver for part of a day to see some sites. I did this on three separate days and had wonderful conversations with the drivers and it wasn't actually that expensive. Your hotel or you're cooking class may be able to recommend someone.
Can’t speak to public transportation since we had a car, but would suggest a day or two in Agrigento to see the Valley of the Temples at dusk and then a couple of days in Taormina with a day trip to/around Mt. Etna.
Instead of Catania, You could go to Taormina if you have already been to Siracusa. They are very different kind of places. We enjoyed our three nights in Taormina and it is a good place to take a tour to Mt Etna. We took a taxi to train station but there is a bus that you can take instead. I actually had bought that ticket but it was pouring rain and decided not to walk to Taormina bus station in the rain. Otherwise, it would have been easy.
There is a bus to the airport too.
thank you all for your input! Really appreciate it
Chantal, I am going to Sicily in autumn and am looking for cooking classes. What cooking school and classes are you taking?
thank you,
carrie
It is called WhereinSicily, here's the link
https://www.whereinsicily.com/
