My husband and I are researching a potential 2-3 week trip to Sicily this fall we love the small towns in Italy and enjoy car touring
Ideally, we would like to fly into Palermo and out of Catania, but that can change
We would like to find accommodations that are within two hours of the cities listed below so we can day trip
Taormina, Agrigento Syracuse , Mt Aetna, Ragusa Palermo, Catania
We don’t want to be changing accommodations every two days or so
My questions are
Is 2-3 weeks to much time in Sicily?
Is there “civilization”: outside of the big cities/tourist areas and does anyone have a recommendation?
How are the roads?
We do not necessarily need to see the beaches as we live near beautiful beaches in Florida
Thanks
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We spent two and a half weeks touring Sicily. Three weeks is perfect for your trip.
Our favorite place was Ortigia ( original part of Siracusa, the historic center) where we spent a week in a water view apartment. Our least favorite was Taormina where thankfully we only spent two nights, It was very touristy and crowded which the rest of Sicily was not. Yes, there is civilization outside of the cities, in Sicily’s smaller cities and towns.
We loved Sicily! The antiquities are incredible. There are 16 Greek temples that remain in Sicily.
Visit Agrigento but make sure you stay close to the temple ruins not up in the old city which we didn’t care for.. We liked staying at the Colleverde Park Hotel there with a view of the nearby Temples.
We loved Palermo. There are a lot of antiquities to visit there. It is a very walkable city and the dining is amazing! It has an extensive history of conquests which all left a bit of their cultures.
Make sure you visit Monreale which is on Palermo’s southern border. Buses go directly there. The cathedral in Monreale is the most beautiful in Sicily with its Norman-Byzantine architecture. Don’t miss it!
The roads and highways in Sicily were good. As far as driving, you really need to be alert and not assume anything! We landed in Palermo and drove down the western side, then across and up the eastern side. Many visitors go the opposite way.
We liked all of our hotels, BnBs except one. The one we didn’t like had a very intrusive owner so we left early and experienced an Italian temper, wow! But he experienced a NYC temper back! Otherwise, all the hosts at our hotels and BnBs were warm and welcoming.
We loved the food in Sicily! Swordfish was on every menu as well as other seafood. Seafood is our favorite so we were very happy with our meals. We only had one meal we didn’t care for. and it was a recommendation from a friend. Some of our best meals were at simple local places
who really knew how to prepare seafood.
We enjoyed dining at Locanda del Collegio on Ortigia Island and ate there twice.,
If we return we would stay in Palermo and Ortigia again.