Hi. Getting into CTA a little late and leaving a little early after 5 nights. Can anyone rec a convenient place to stay? Will likely rent a car. Rick seems to like Aci Castello- but do you hit traffic going through the city to/from the airport? It’s north of the city and the airport is south of the city so I’m a bit confused. Thanks
Posted by
WA State
3961 posts
I cannot comment on traffic situation, but I can recommend a B&B that we booked in 2020. It was highly recommended on this forum. Unfortunately we had to cancel due to Pandemic. That said, it is 20 minutes from the airport. The B&B host was going to arrange our taxi for an early am flight. https://www.brucaroomhotelcatania.it/en/
Posted by
Twin Cities of MN
6662 posts
Don't stay in Aci Castello on a Monday. Only one restaurant close to us was open and it was awful. We stayed at Bed and Fly by the airport. I wouldn't go so far as to recommend, however it was cheap, clean, the owner/manager was friendly and kind and he was reliable and got us to the airport at 4am. A word of warning, a review of the hotel indicated that it was walkable from the airport. Distance wise it was, maybe we chose a bad route, but the walk was not safe in terms of traffic.
I wouldn't recommend staying in Aci Castello if you have an early flight. I wouldn't want to trust the traffic, etc. to get me to the airport on time. There are several buses that go to the airport from Catania and I think from Aci Castello.
EDITED TO ADD: We stayed at the Hotel Brucca mentioned in the above comment. It is very inexpensive. Though it was not the least bit fancy, we liked it. Our room was very small, maybe the others were bigger. It was spotless. What made this place excellent was the people staffing the desk. They helped us with logistics to get to our next accommodation in Siracusa and recommended bus over the train as there was a bus stop extremely close. I had planned for the train not knowing we could catch the bus just a few blocks away.
Posted by
WA State
3961 posts
I am adding another recommendation for Hotel Bruca in Catania from a former forum contributor “Zoe.” Zoe wrote her last trip report in 2017. She passed away in 2018. Her experience at this hotel was similar to what Jules mentioned up thread. See “Catania” in this posting- https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/remembering-zoe
When we had to cancel in 2020 the hotel staff were very gracious and invited us back when we could return.
Posted by
Mid-Atlantic area
7249 posts
There are a few hotels that show up on Google maps very close to the airport. You could probably stay at one of those and get the rental car in the morning, saving you a little money. I have no idea what they are like. I’m retired military and we stayed about 6 miles south of the airport on the navy station because our flight arrived late afternoon and I didn’t want to drive very far on unfamiliar roads at dusk.