Ciao
We have narrowed down cities in Sicily and looking for recommendations of neighborhoods to stay in each city. I ordered the Rick Steves Sicily book but it has not arrived. There will be four of us, my 80 year old parents, my daughter and niece, 25 years old and myself, 54.
We will be staying in:
Palermo
Cefalu
Siracusa
Taormina.
Open to recommendations, suggestions or must sees in each city as well.
THANK YOU!
Grazie!
Are you driving or using public transportation?
In Siracusa, the medieval Ortigia district is definitely the place to be.
Taormina's built on the side of a hill, so it's worth paying careful attention to the terrain there unless both your parents have full mobility. I was in and out of town within a few hours (way too touristy for me to want to stay long), so I can't provide any guidance. If you arrive by train, you'll need to take the local bus or a taxi up the hill from the Taormina-Giardini train station to Taormina itself.
You can travel from Palermo to Cefalu by train in as little as 46 minutes, so you might consider consolidating those two stays rather than switching hotels. Palermo's a bustling city with challenging traffic (not always easy for pedestrians), but it has a lot more sights than Cefalu, so I'd choose to stay in Palermo, but I'm sure at least some folks would opt for the relaxing, much smaller town.
Happily, the old city centers in Sicily are great places to stay. Lots of accommodations including Airbnbs which may suit your group. I don’t think you can go too wrong. With the exception of Taormina, all are relatively flat and easy walking.
In Palermo, anything close to Via Maqueda from Piazza Bellini to Teatro Massimo, or up Via Vittorio Emmanuel towards the Cathedral would be ideal. These are fully pedestrianized streets, and almost anything you would like to see is a short walk off this spine.
Cefalu has a more modern, flat and drab area between the train station and the main beach. It can also be party central at night, so stay within the old center.
Siracusa, you want to stay in Ortigia. Anywhere is fine really, it’s small.
Grazie @acraven and @awrzesinksi for your suggestions and knowledge. We are planning on trying to do public transportation, but may do private cars to visit Contessa Entellini. I do not have a desire to rent a car at this time. I would like to stay as close to main sites as we may all do different things on some days. Sicily is so new to me to I appreciate all the help.
For public transportation: The train connects Palermo and Cefalu very easily, but otherwise your best option is typically the bus. They’re cheap and comfortable. It’s a little hard to parse the different companies and schedules, I found the Rome2Rio app very handy in this regard.
Don't trust the details on rome2rio. Just use it to identify the bus company offering service and go to its website for accurate info on schedules and fares.
Thank you both again for your help.
Grazie
Amy
