Hello, we (me, my sister and our 3 young adult kids) are spending a week on the west coast of Sicily, landing in Catania towards the end of June. Looking at a map, it seems like the major sites are pretty close by. IF you did not have a car and wanted to see: Siracusa, Ortigia, Noto, Catania, Mt. Etna and Taormina, where would you base yourself? Maybe having two bases (Siracusa and Catania). Who has travelled there without having to rent a car? Grazie mille!
Posted by
Los Angeles by way of Providence and Rome
557 posts
Aren't you talking about the east coast? None of these places are in the west.
Posted by
880 posts
Two bases probably works best. I would stay in Taormina and Ortigia. Bus service between all of these towns is good. Train service is poor and should be avoided. Picking up the bus from Catania airport could not be easier. There’s a bus station with ticket booth right outside the terminal, with pretty frequent connections to Taormina and Siracusa (Taormina is closer.) I found the Rome2Rio app very useful in planning public transport here.
I would not stay in Catania. Some people enjoy it, but it’s not a place people rave about as opposed to your other options. I’m certain you can arrange a tour of Etna from Taormina. It’s the top tourist town in Sicily, so there will be options out there.
Posted by
back in the Americas
677 posts
I travelled on the east coast of Sicily, staying in Catania, Taormina and Ortigia and traveling by bus. The bus from Catania to either Ortigia or Taormina is easy and cheap. Ortigia was my last stop on a 3 week trip around the whole island of Sicily so I did not have time to go to Ragusa or Noto, but if I had more time I would have visited them by bus or possibly with a daytrip tour out of Siracusa/Ortigia. Ortigia should be one of your base towns. The other could be either Catania or Taormina. There are daytrip tours to Etna, the wineries, the Aci towns and surrounding areas from either Catania or Taormina. Catania offers a lively urban nitty gritty city experience, (I enjoyed it) and Taormina offers a very scenic small town with beautiful panoramic views, less hectic but also more crowded with tourists. Both are lovely but very different experiences. Trains are also an option. You do not need a car. If you have a particular route or places that you want to see as a group of 5 you could hire a private driver for a specific day of siteseeing. Splitting the cost by the five of you should make it a very reasonable and feasible option.
Posted by
North Carolina, USA
336 posts
on the east coast, i based out of syracusa, catania and messina. i took the train from siracusa to ragusa, noto, modica and scicli. from catania i went to caltagirone and acireale by bus and randazzo by the circumetnea train. entirely doable by public transportation.