Visiting Sicily early December- any advice on car rental companies, weather, do they have Christmas markets, any recommendations or tips would be greatly appreciated.
(Thinking 10 days- Palermo- Cefalu- Agrigento- Tripani- Erice- Castallemare Del Golfo)
Doable??
Maybe doable, but certainly not advisable IMO. I wouldn’t try to cover so much ground. Six cities in eight days? Does that include arrival and departure days? So perhaps only six full days for travel? Where are you flying into/out of? Even if you have eight full days to travel, you will lose one half to one day each time you change cities, and that is assuming everything goes smoothly. Sicily is not a small island, and there are not always direct, fast roads to various towns. Even with a car, with that proposed itenerary you won’t have much time to spend in any one place. They are not all near each other. I think for such a short visit you would be better off choosing one part of the island, staying in perhaps two different cities and doing a day trip or two from each one. Palermo alone is worth several days. It is a choice of quality over quantity when time is short. Just my two cents. Have a good trip! I have been there in spring and fall but never in the winter, so can’t answer those questions.
Do you plan to rent a car? Cefalu is very doable by train, and you can reach Castellammare del Golfo in about 2 hours, but I'm not sure that will work so well for the other places you mention on a short trip. Trapani is over 4 hours from Palermo by rail, and the public-transportation path to Erice is via Trapani. They're close, but if you don't toss a taxi into the mix, it might take an hour to get to Erice.
One thing to keep in mind is that in Sicily, Sunday/holiday bus service is thin to nonexistent, and trains don't go everywhere, at least not by a direct route.
Palermo is definitely a place worth multiple days, and if you're flying in from North America, the arrival day doesn't really count.
I was in Sicily in June (not my brightest decision ever) and don't know what the small coastal towns and Erice will be like in December.
I think you could do most of this, with a little editing. If you have 10 nights: Fly into Palermo and spend 4 or 5 nights, with a day trip to Cefalu. Rent a car and drive to Agrigento. Spend 1 or 2 nights. Drive to Trapani and spend your remaining nights, with a day trip to Erice. Drive back to Palermo airport, drop off car, fly home.
I’d skip Castellamaro Del Golfo. Its biggest draw is that it’s a good base for exploring the area. You can use Trapani for the same purpose.
Not sure about Christmas markets but I’m sure you’ll find festive decorations and lots of shopping in both Palermo and Trapani. Both cities have main streets closed to traffic so you can easily explore on foot. If the weather is good, you can visit the little towns along the coast near Agrigento.
Edited to add: once you get your dates set, start checking for concerts or other holiday activities and buy tickets in advance.
With only 10 days you will be driving like crazy and not really enjoying Sicily. Those places are not that close to one another and you can't depend on public transport. Can you add 4 more days? You may consider visiting Siracusa-Ortiga, Catania, Mt. Etna...
I have very little interest in Greek and Roman ruins, but I enjoyed the archaeological park in Siracusa. There's also a good archaeological museum.
The market in Catania is lively. I believe it's food only.
I just returned from Sicily and did have a rental car. Flew into and out of Catania. Thank goodness for GPS since other than the main roads, the rural roads are poorly marked. None of the roads are all that well maintained and the speed limit on most rural roads is 30mph (if you can find a speed limit sign). To me, a half day in Siracusa and a few hours in Noto is sufficient. There is a cable car that goes between Trapani and Erice. I found nothing of real interest in Trapani and Erice is worth a day at most. Rather than stay in Palermo, we stayed in Monreale and took the bus into Palermo. Other than a couple churches, I found Palermo to be nothing special, but it was raining the day we went there. To me, the historic Ballaro market is much like others in many cities, including the one in Catania. Cefalu is worth a full day. At Agrigento, we stayed at a B&B that overlooked the temples. We walked to them from the B&B via a path through the olive grove. Between the temples and the garden we spent about 5 hours. Catania is just another town and could easily be skipped. We only went there since I wanted to see if anything had changed since I was there in the late 70s. It seems that the major attractions anyplace on the island are churches and it doesn’t take long to be “Churched out.” Same goes for the Greek ruins. Erice and Taormina were overrun with tour groups during the day. Cefalu had tourists but not nearly the number of tour groups.
"A couple of churches" in Palermo? Oh, Jaime.
OK, I admit that it helps in Sicily to be able to muster an interest in church interiors, but I enjoy the medieval districts of all the towns and cities, too. And both Palermo and Siracusa have good museums as well.
I'll grant you the two hours in Noto, though. It is quite small.
Antonio, it would really be much, much better if you started your own thread. As it stands, anytime someone tries to help you, Demi is going to get an email, and you are not.
Go here and click on Start a New Topic.
Jaime,
It sounds like you did not enjoy Sicily at all or appreciate the Churches, ancient architecture, cities, or cultural differences - - Sicily is not about thrill rides, amusement parks, or modern conveniences- its a land of mountains,beaches, ancient cities, vineyards, food, people, and a slower pace of life
