Sicily tour guide

You didn't say where you will be. If Palermo, take the metro to the airport and then rent a car to tour Western Sicily. It was spectacular and easy to navigate.
Out "tour guide" was DK's "Top 10 Sicily."
Good Luck!

We'll be in Palermo and don't want to drive.

Candy, are you locked in to staying your 3 nights in Palermo? I was in Sicily for almost 2 weeks last Sept and this was my least favorite of all the places I visited. I prefer the eastern side-Taormina, Siracusa, etc. If you are locked in to Palermo already, then be sure to go out to Monreale. I'm sure there are bus tours that go there. I recommend the Sicily Lonely Planet guide. It will have info on transportation as well as what to see.

Laurie,
Thank you so much for your reply. No...we are not locked into anything. We will be flying into Palermo and can go anywhere we want. I'm traveling with a lifelong, very adventurous girlfriend on what we hope will be the trip of a lifetime. Our kids are scared to death of us taking this adventure! We are both into landscape, markets and Sicilian cuisine. We will not be renting a car, so will depend on trains and buses.

You can't go to Sicily without seeing some of the spectacular Greek ruins. From Palermo you could easily visit the beautiful temple & amphitheater at Segesta. Other day trip possibilities are the ancient clifftop town of Erice or the old beachside town of Cefalu.

I agree with Jerry that a good guidebook is all you need. And Laurie is right, an absolute don't-miss in Palermo is the Cathedral of Monreale with its amazing mosaics.

Tom,
Thanks for your help. I just spoke with my friend and now we're wondering if flying into Catania would offer more for us than Palermo. We'll be arriving in Milan for a three week stay and plan to spend most of the time in the Cinque Terre area and work our way down to Rome.We plan to visit Sicily first and fly there from Milan, and then back to the Cinque Terre to finish our three weeks. As you can see, we are not world class travelers. We really want to see as much of the ruins as we can,as well as the lush countryside. We have read many guides, but get overwhelmed.

Flying into Catania might be a better idea since you have only 3 nights for Sicily. If you choose Catania, you could plan to spend all your time in nearby Taormina. It's a very beautiful town, it has excellent Roman ruins, it is on the water, and it is at the base of spectacular Mt. Etna. It is a very popular tourist destination, so there are plenty of shops & restaurants, etc. You'd find plenty to see and do there. The only disadvantage is that things are generally more expensive than elsewhere in Sicily. But I'm sure you'd enjoy it.

I, too, recommend flying into Catania and going up to Taormina. I loved the Greek Theatre, the shopping street (early or late in the day when it is less crowded), having a drink on the terrace at the restaurant where Liz Taylor and Richard Burton used to go, taking the funicular down to Isola Bella, taking the bus up to the small town on top of the mountain (Castelmoro maybe...not sure of the name). I would sit on the terrace of my hotel every morning with my coffee and look out at the sea and to my right I could see Mt Etna spewing steam. It was marvelous.
I stayed at Hotel Continental and the staff were wonderful. I treated myself to having them pick me up at the airport and it was worth every penny.

Laurie and Joe,
We cannot thank you enough for all of your help. Thanks to you, we have made the decision to fly into Catania and make Taormina our home base. My guess is, I'll be back with more questions. Both of you are the best!

Candy & Diane

Got to agree with Laurie and Tom. Stay out of Palermo for your 1st trip; Catania and Taormina are a great idea. We loved the Hotel Continental also; the staff, views from the terrace, quiet location and quick walk thru the back garden to the Taormina main street was icing on the cake. Oh, and the choice and pricing of restaurants was great. And........ my wife went crazy over the lo-cost of Italian shoes there.

Candy:

I think you do not really need a car. A tour guide is necessary if you really want to go deep in the history of Sicily. Otherwise, a good guidebook will do the trick. Three nights are not enough time. Here is a link to a site that can further help with your travel plans: www.sicilyguide.com