We are planning to visit Sicily for a month this November. I am looking foe advice as to where to make our home base for this extended stay. Originally I we would stay the entire time in Cefalu (in an AirBnb) and do day trips to other parts of the island but I am now wondering if the distances are too great to make this feasible/enjoyable. Alternatively I am thinking we could stay 2 weeks in Cefalu and then 2 weeks in the SE part of the island. Any thoughts/ideas on these options or other ideas as to where to make our home base would be appreciated. Our interests are in the history, food, wine and general sightseeing.
Thanks!
Posted by
Washington DC
28283 posts
Sicily is large and lacks express rail service, so there isn't one, single point from which you can conveniently visit the entire island. With a month available, I'd hope to see a lot, and that would mean staying in many different places. Is there a reason why you are (apparently) resisting staying in more places? I would want bases in Palermo (lots to see there; how many days do you want to travel there from Cefalu?), somewhere around Trapani, in Siracusa, somewhere near Catania/Etna/Taormina, and somewhere in the interior. You might also need a place or places convenient for visiting Agrigento, Segesta and/or Selinunte. I don't know what the Aeolian Islands would be like in November.
Do you plan to rent a car for at least part of the trip? You definitely shouldn't drive into Palermo. There is rail service between Palermo and Cefalu, then east along (near) the north coast. There's also a rail line down (near) the east coast that would get you to Siracusa. And Catania and Palermo are linked by trains. A car would be very helpful to see the small Baroque towns in the southeast (it might be nice to stay in a place like Ragusa), to get around the center of the island, to see the area west of Palermo, and to hit Agrigento/Segesta/Selinunte.
Posted by
Ancaster, Ontario, Canada
44 posts
We were in Sicily May 2022.
The island is too big to stay in one spot.
We flew into Catania, rented a car at the airport and stayed in Catania a few nights but Syracusa is even better.
If you want to see the whole island you need at least 3 places.
We stayed in Catania, Cefalù, Castellamare del Golfo, Ragusa and Syracusa.
In November you need to see what's open, so bigger cities may be better.
Posted by
Pittsburgh, USA
295 posts
I agree with acraven. Relocating isn't particularly simple there, but if you have 4 weeks, I'd absolutely choose 4 bases. You'll have time to fall in love with each. If you want to give one more play and really feel at home, give it (Maybe Palermo?) 10 days and Taormina 4-5 and a week for Catania and Somewhere in the interior as suggested. At least that's my take!
Day trips are far different in Sicily than they were in Bologna where I could zip to dozens of interesting places and back in half a day, but that doesn't mean it's not doable or enjoyable.
I'm not a huge fan of one night stays, but if you're going to several places along a coastline and find it would be a 5+ hour round trip to get back to some of them from your base, it wouldn't be the worst to spend a couple days going to 3-4 small cities that you would have given 5-6 hours to with a day trip. You could sleep over at one in the middle of your journey to your next base. It can save money and time if done thoughtfully.
You'll have an amazing experience and the food!!!
Posted by
Ashburn VA
839 posts
I, too, think you need to rethink where you will be staying. We had a month as well, and broke it down as follows and were pretty happy with it. On a previous trip we spent about 2 weeks in Palermo, Cefalu and Petralia Soprana, so we left that bit off this time.
4 nights in Catania
5 nights in Siracusa
3 nights in Ragusa
2 nights in Agrigento
10 nights in Trapani
1 night in Palermo and depart
From Catania, we day tripped only to Mt Etna.
From Siracusa, day trip to Noto
Ragusa, we thought about day trip to Modica and/or Scicli but decided against it at the time.
We stopped in Villa Romana del Casale, Caltagirone and Modica on the way to Agrigento. It was a long day,
Our stops in Caltagirone was a quick stop to see the tiles (but in our view not worth the stop) and Modica for chocolate (worth it!)
From Trapani, we day tripped to Selinunte, Poggioreale and Cretti di Burri; Mazala del Vallo; Erice; Segesta; Egadi Islands; and the salt flats near Trapani (Mozia was too much of an effort for us just for salt).. I had hoped to get to San Vito for the couscous festival, but alas, that didn't happen.
I generally don't like one-two night stops, but 2 in Agrigento was plenty. The night in Palermo was fine. We ended up doing that because Lufthansa changed its routes and no longer fries from Trapani to Munich, our preferred connecting airport. We used drivers for the long stretches, public transportation for the day trips from Catania and Trapani, except for Selinunte and Poggioreale and Cretti, as there's no way to get to Poggioreale and Cretti except by car. We added Selinunte to that day just because it was easier. Using cars and drivers was actually cheaper than renting a car, and a lot more pleasant.
Any way you go, it's wonderful. Our best food was in Catania and Agrigento, but it was good everywhere. Go with the house wine; we found them to be uniformly good. Except for Palermo, we stayed in airbnbs, which we do everywhere in Europe without issue.