Sicily and The White Lotus issue!

There's plenty to see in Palermo. It's too bad you don't have time for charming Ortygia, the medieval section of Siracusa.

Although Taormina has beautiful views, I was glad to leave after a few hours because of the density of tourists. That was in 2015. The forum is split on the subject. Some folks like Taormina a lot. Others of us would much rather be in Siracusa. (Or a lot of other places in my case.)

I should add that we are going in April 27 - may 7 so it's not peak season but still high. Yes we plan to visit Ortygia as we head through Syracuse on the way to Modica. We have a car and like to do the miles. But yes, we won't have days in each spot.

Other than heading north to Taormina then doubling back to go to Modica, it’s workable. The drive to Modica from Taormina is slightly over two hours and an easy drive. If you were to get an early start when leaving Taormina you could stop off at Ortigia for a couple hours. I felt a couple hours was sufficient to see the highlights, but others will have a different opinion. From there, drive to Noto. A couple hours there is sufficient too. Then go on to Modica. By visiting Noto en route to Modica you could save on day trip and a couple hours driving time (45 minutes each way) from your Modica stay.

Villa Romana Casale will probably take less than three hours to visit and the town is small. One night in Piazza Armerina should be sufficient. The speed limit in town is very low and there are cameras.

To save time when arriving in towns, bookmark town parking lots on Google maps or your navigation system. At Ortigia we parked in the lot at Riva Sauro, 1. In 2018 the parking machine only accepted 1€ coins. In Noto we parked at Parcheggio Centrale - Arluma, at Via Camillo Benso Conte di Cavour. When we were there there was a person collecting the parking fee, but there was also a machine. Parking at the Roman house in Piazza Armerina was in a huge lot right at the attraction.

End of April and early May is busy since there are a few national holidays in that period.
In my opinion Palermo and Siracusa are the most beautiful cities in Sicily. Taormina is pretty, but crowded with tourists (and expensive). It’s also small so you’ll be able to see it in less than a day.
Palermo deserves 3 nights, or 4 if you plan to take a day trip to Cefalù.

We loved Palermo. It’s an architecturally beautiful city with a vibrant atmosphere. With your current time allotment you’ll have time to visit Monreale as well as sites in the city. One of our favorite adventures was the Streaty Food tour which is a small group tour that joins food and city history.

As Roberto mentions, there are holidays during the period you are there. The biggest one to impact us was May 1st. Wherever you plan to be that day, check to see how the holiday is impacting opening hours.

jaimeelsabio - thanks for all that amazing detail. So helpful and yes, not sure if it's good or bad, but we are quick schmick tourists - we prefer lifestyle tourism - enjoying the places we stay and the wanders through town so for us Ortyga and Noto very possible in one day. Yikes. Thanks for all the parking info too! so helpful Jaime.

Thanks Patty - will check all of that out and I love the sound of that tour. many thanks

Thanks Roberto - will take all that into consideration too.

we are fans of Palermo too. We also spent a week in Ortigia and could have stayed longer. We couldn’t wait to leave Taormina.

Ok these responses re Taormina is reminding me of my complete distaste of Venice and Portofino for the blatant tourism. Think we will cut Taormina down to 1 or 2 night rather than 3 and spend a night in Syracuse instead then on to Modica. You guys are fabulous.

I hesitated to say anything about the amount of time you were allotting Taormina, but I’m kind of glad you cut down to add someplace else. One thing we did enjoy there was taking a taxi up to Castelmola. It doesn’t tend to get as many tourists up there, the views are breathtaking and there is a history to the town that I will let you look up. I know you’ll have a car, but it’s a nerve-wracking drive up. The taxi dropped us off, arranged a time to come back and pick us up and then stopped at Madonna Della Rocco on the way back. Lots of people visit the Greek theater, but I think we actually preferred walking through the botanical garden. Maybe because it was so hot that day.

we were there last year first 2 weeks in May. Some attractions are still closed but less busy than later in the month
We preferred Ragusa over Modica. Stayed in Ragusa 3 nights and did day trips from there.
Syracusa was lovely, on the way stop in a Marzamemi. Palermo is too crowded. Preferred Catania over Palermo. The historic center and the university of Catania (do a tour) are lovely.
Castellammare del Golfo and Cefalù are nicer than Taormina.

Also Erice.
That's my 2 cents!
Enjoy

Thanks everyone once again for all the invaluable feedback. Hopefully it won't be the only time we visit Sicily. There's only so much one can do in 10 days so we are really happy now with our itinerary and have found some really beautiful places to stay which I'll come back to post trip and let you all know for future use.

I've taken note of everyone's comments and have booked Streaty Tours and added a few of your suggestions to the itinerary. Has anyone done Villa Romana at Piazza Armerina and if so do you recommend a guide for this site? Any guide recommendations?
cheers, Janie

I took a day trip by bus to Piazza Armerina from Catania in 2015. There was a local bus on to the villa, but I go too late a start to catch it, so I had to use a taxi. I thought the villa was very worthwhile, and for whatever reason, it was uncrowded when I was there; not everyone has had that experience. Perhaps bus tours tend to show up earlier in the day.

I will note that my interest in ancient ruins is pretty much limited to mosaics, and mosaics are a very big part of what you see at the villa. Folks who don't care about mosaics should probably consider the time needed to get there and what other sightseeing could be accomplished instead. I wouldn't rank it as high as Monreale, just for one example.

We are leaving out Taormina on our upcoming trip.
One: we don’t have time to see everything in Sicily.
Two: I have heard it was crowded and expensive even before that tv program was set there.
No wish to battle a mob!

Villa Romana is spectacular, and I thought the audio guide was good. I’m sure a guided tour would be a plus, but not necessary. I would do your level best to be there early or late to avoid crowds.

I’m not sure if you’ve settled all your accommodations at this stage, but Piazza Armerina is not worth two nights. It’s a pretty sleepy town. If you are settled in for two nights already, the evocative ruins of Morgantina are worth a look. I call them “evocative” because there is little to no marking or descriptions to be found, but the setting is amazing and there are very few tourists.

Palermo is the best, you won’t regret spending time there.

Hi Janie,
The Villa Romana del Casale will only take a few hours and no, I don't think you would need a guide. It is set up inside with one way walkways so once you enter the main area you just go with the flow of the crowds. I was there in mid September and it was packed, hard to linger and stop to actually marvel at the mosaics. One night in Piazza Armerina would be enough and if you want to save that night to allocate elsewhere, just make it a stop on your way from Modica. Personally I would rather spend a night in Cefalù than Piazza Armerina. As far as Taormina goes, I stayed just one night and that gave us plenty of time to see what I wanted to see. I will suggest that you visit the community gardens while there. They are very pretty, and have tremendous picturesque views. One or two nights max would be enough for me. I think you will be happy to keep Palermo in the plan. Lots to see and do there. Lots of excellent daytrips nearby: Monreale, Mondello, The Sanctuary cave of Santa Rosalia, patron saint of Palermo on Monte Pellegrino, Greek and Roman ruins at Segesta and beautiful enchanted hilltop Erice. Segesta and Erice can both be done on one daytrip. I don't know how much interest you have in ancient ruins but since you are skipping Agrigento and Selinunte then Segesta is an easy trip from Palermo to get your antiquities fix. If you go to see the mosaics at Monreale be sure to buy the ticket to also visit the cloisters, very pretty. The Palermo street food tour you plan on doing should take you to the markets. The swordfish is delicious. I think it is cool you are also visiting Puglia. I want to go there, maybe next year, so looking forward to your suggestions then!

This may be tourism heresy, but what would you think of ditching Taormina completely, staying in Catania a day then going to Ortigya for a couple of nights? Or, skip Catania and go straight to Siracusa/Ortigya. I think most of us would agree that it would be a shame to only spend a few hours there. Driving to Ragusa and Noto from Modica wouldn't be not, but what's your comfort level with creatively tight parking and long walks from the parking lot into town? If there were other choices, I'd skip driving. You could ask your your agriturismo hosts what they would recommend. I don't know. Maybe the train or bus? One night in Piazza Armerina is enough, but as mentioned earlier, get to the site as early as possible. It gets uncomfortably crowded on those catwalks by lunchtime. Ideally, I'd arrive in town the night before, see the mosaics when they open, and continue on to Palermo. It's easy to fill several days in Palermo. Stopping in Cefalu on your way in to Palermo would involve a little backtracking, but that would only add less than an hour-ish. But, what time are you estimating you'd arrive there, how much time would you want to spend (3-4 hours with lunch perhaps?) and what time do you need to drop off the car? Cefalu may be easier as a day trip from Palermo.

We had planned to go to Italy this year before I saw White Lotus. My great grandmother came from Ucria and my husband's family is from Montefino in Abruzzi, so we hoped to visit both. After hearing about the extra attention Sicily is getting this year and with so many places to see in Italy, I decided to skip it this time around. I've waffled a few times, but I think Sorrento is going to be as far south as we get this time. Reading this has me reconsidering again, but we leave in 2 weeks so I probably need to wait! Good luck to you!!!

Thanks everyone for all your input - you are all really gracious with your tips. As we are travelling from Australia, everywhere is really far away and we tend to be what I call 'quick schmick' tourists which has its pros and cons for sure. We are only in Piazza Amerina for one night but did plan on visiting Romana Castale in the late avo as that's when we will arrrive into town. The reality is, too much to see and too little time. My husband always says it's good to leave somewhere wanting more as we will hopefully get back to Sicily again and do the west coast. Thanks again and I think I'll ditch the idea of a tour guide in Piazza Amerina. Mosaics don't truly interest me that much. Final question for all - I've booked Streaty food tour in Palermo but does anyone recommend one of the Mafia tours in particular. thanks again for everyone's input.

cheers, Janie

Final question for all - I've booked Streaty food tour in Palermo but
does anyone recommend one of the Mafia tours in particular.

Janie--

The only related tour we've ever done is out of Taormina, through Sicily Life, in October 2010. I just checked and they still do it. You are driven what seems to be straight up the mountain a few minutes, and arrive at the 3 ancient villages of Savoca, Forza D'Agro & Castelmola. All look out over the Ionian Sea. Various spots around here were film sites for Francis Ford Coppola's Godfather movies, and are very familiar to fans of those movies

In Godfather I, where Michael Corleone gets hit by 'the thunderbolt'', and meets Apollonia's father at the cafe Bar Vitelli, that's in Savoca. Inside the cafe, rumor has it that Coppola wanted to buy the ancient granita (Sicilian Italian ice) machine.

Hello. I have always wanted to go to Sicily and we have a chance to go- in August. Am I crazy? I would love to park ourselves in a small village near the sea where my kids can hike and swim. We will take a few day trips, but we are mostly there to soak up the atmosphere and expose the kids to typical Italian life- nothing more. Does anyone have suggestions for a small village? I was thinking Scopello . Many thanks for any thoughts you may have. Thank you for sharing so many other wonderful tips on here

We have also booked a Streaty tour in Palermo for April.
It's the evening street food tour.
It got good reviews.