Sicily in 2 weeks

Tracy - Here is an Itinerary for 2 Weeks Sicily Trip

Palermo - 5 Days (Day Trips included to Trapani and Cefalù )

Messina - 3 Days

Taormina- 3 Days

Catania - 3 Days

Thank you. We will check that out. And any other suggestions you make have...

Take a look at the Best of Sicily itinerary. You don’t want to rent a car until you leave Palermo. When you say a 2 week trip, does that include travel days? If so, you only have 12 touring days. The best sights in Sicily are widespread and I would definitely include some 2 night stays. I think 4 nights in Palermo is fine. Then, visiting Monreale, Segesta and Erice on the way to Trapani for a 2 night stay. Then 2 nights in Agrigento. Leaving Agrigento stop at the Roman Villa near Piazza Armerina. Next stop would be for 3 nights on the island of Ortigia in Siracusa. Last stop would be Catania. Taormina is nice but I would not overnight there but rather take a day trip from Catania. The only reason I ever visited Messina was to catch the car ferry to the mainland. I would not bother visiting there. Since your trip is in October, realize that Cefalu and Taormina are basically summer beach resorts.

Awesome. Fabulous info. Getting very excited! Appreciate any specifics, i.e., lodging, tourist sights, flight or car rental tips, etc. Obviously we are just beginning to plan this exciting trip.

Thank you for taking the time to reply, very grateful.

My suggested itinerary--based on my 18 days' experience in 2015--would be very, very different from RJean's. Five days is a bit long in Palermo when you only have two weeks (how many nights is that actually in Sicily?), but there is a lot to see and do in Palermo, plus there's a possible day-trip to Cefalu. So I'd say that depends a lot on how interested you are in religious architecture and big, bustling cities.

Taormina and Catania, though: They're quite close together, so I wouldn't stay in both places. Taormina is gorgeous and far more popular (massively over-crowded as far as i'm concerned). Personally, I wouldn't want to spend more than a few hours there, but many people disagree with me and love Taormina. Catania is a Sicilian city rather than a tourist resort. It has a nice historic area and an interesting food market. I liked it, but it doesn't figure in many first-time visits to Sicily. In any case, I would choose one as my hotel base and day-trip to the other if you're interested in it.

Messina is a port city of very limited tourist interest. I would only go there if I was traveling on to the Aeoloian Islands. I'm sure they're worthwhile, but it's hard to fit them into a 2-week itinerary.

Instead of Messina I would vastly prefer Siracusa and time to visit the little Baroque towns of Ragusa, Noto, Modica and Scicli.

I would also try to include Trapani/Erice in the west.

Sicily has some important Greek ruins that others have really enjoyed. They are not my thing, so I can only suggest that you search this forum for the earlier threads about Sicily.

I did enjoy a visit to the Villa Romana del Casale near Piazza Armerina in the interior. I think it's always interesting to see the interior of an island rather than just hugging the coastline.

I don't think you could cover all that I've suggested in two weeks, but you can do more if you rent a car than if you depend on trains and buses. Just don't drive in Palermo!

It depends on what you want to see and do. In October, the beaches should be uncrowded, the water still warm. There are major Greek and Roman ruins. There are Baroque towns, seaside villages, cathedrals.

It's usually best to start in Palermo and end in Catania, or vice versa. Palermo and Catania are miserable places to have a car. If you are planning to stay in either (or both) get the car after the first and drop it before the second. I stayed several days in Ortigia (the old part of Syracuse) with a car and loved it. It's a convenient base for the eastern part of the island.

We especially enjoyed and Noto Siracusa on the east coast and Cefalu and Palermo on the north coast. We also had a car, but didn’t drive in Palermo. (We dropped of the car when we arrived and then took the airport bus to the airport when we left.) We stayed at Terra Dei Limoni near Lido di Noto, a quiet place which has free parking, comfortable cabins and a great breakfast. We then drove into Noto to explore. Our favorite lunch in Noto was at Picnic with great salads and sandwiches. In Cefalu, we stayed on the ocean at the Tourist Hotel Cefalu which is a bit funky, but also with free parking and nice ocean views. You can then walk into town- it’s a ways, but great to have free parking!

I would pick Siracusa as one of your bases, just about every travel book will note it as a major highlight with a variety of sites to see (the archeological museum there was excellent, for example and took me half a day to see). There is more than enough to do there for 3 full days, including side trips to Noto, Ragusa, Modica, and Scicli. I can't imagine spending 3 nights in Taormina either (too small for that timeframe, and way too pricey in comparison to other places). It's fairly close to Catania so you don't need both as a base. Maybe Giardini Naxos would be a good alternative. Another base would be close to where you're flying in - either Palermo or Catania. Since you have a car, you may be better off staying in places that may be a bit out of the way and not exactly in the center of things (but still in a beautiful setting), although it's nice just to get out of the hotel and be in the middle of the action. But if I had a car, it would definitely shape my thinking - like perhaps checking out an agroturismo in the Marsala region, for example. The car would be just a waste sitting around parked in most cities since they're very pedestrian-friendly. So if you're going to rent a car, I would say to make the best use of it by hitting spots you can't easily by bus or train. I saw Sicily just by bus or train and it was easy enough to get around everywhere I wanted to.

Start with a good book and check out this website (ignore all the ads):
http://www.bestofsicily.com

Thank you everyone for your input. Can’t wait.