My husband and I are traveling to Sicily in June/July. We only have 7 nights. We are thinking of having 2 home bases- Palermo and somewhere near Catania as we will be flying out there. We are flying in to Palermo from Rome. We'd love ideas on must see locations, things to do, places to eat, or stay. We are renting a car as well.
Thanks!
You can't see all parts of Sicily in seven days (that requires more like 2 to 3 weeks), so you'll need to focus on what is most important to you. Pick up a guidebook to the island and dig in. Palermo has a lot of interesting sights (markets, churches/chapels, archaeological museum). The #1 sight may be the cathedral at Monreale, just outside the city (city bus service available). Some folks really like the former fishing village (now tourist town) of Cefalu, which is on the coast east of Palermo and easily reached by train.
Although Catania has a very attractive historic center and an interesting food market, as an east-coast destination it tends to take a back seat to Taormina (beautiful town in a magnificent setting, plus a Greek theatre, but with the tourist hordes to match) and Siracusa (lovely medieval district, a Greek theatre, an archaeological museum, and good side-trips to Baroque towns in the interior).
I'm not sure a car will be very helpful for getting from Palermo to Catania, because there is rail service (taking as little as 3 hours). There's also rail service along the east coast from Giardini-Naxos (just below Taormina) to Catania and on to Siracusa. Given the few days you have available, I'm not sure you're going to have time to do much outside the cities I've named, so the car may be mostly just something you have to pay to park.
If you do rent a car, and if you'd like to go to both Taormina and Siracusa, perhaps you can find a hotel in/near Catania that has (ideally, free) parking. Our hotel (in Catania center) had free street parking or, for more security, a nearby garage for €13 / day.
Then visit Taormina and Siracusa/Ortigia as day trips.
Taormina has four fee-based parking lots which will run you € 11.00 - € 14.00 for 10 hours, July pricing somewhat higher.
https://www.traveltaormina.com/en/how-to-reach-us/parking.html
Ortigia also has lots, approx. € 2 / hour.
http://www.easyparkingsrl.it/parcheggi_3.html
There are paid car parks and both free and fee-based street parking near the Greek Theater in Siracusa. On Ortigia, be mindful of the ZTL, limited traffic zones:
http://www.sicily-holiday.com/en/sicily-bus-car/58-parking-syracuse.html
If you've driven in towns in Italy before, then you're already aware that it generally takes longer to drive on local roads in Sicily than it would take for a comparable distance in the US. More single lane roads. More roads that go through heavily trafficked town centers. More pedestrians and double-parked cars/trucks to dodge. I've seen very calm drivers unnerved by it. One remedy is to set your clock on Italy time and you'll get there when you get there. Another remedy is to take public transport.
There are dozens of msut-see places. It depends on what you are interested in. Here are a few categories:
Greek ruins
Roman ruins
beaches
medieval churches and cathedrals
Baroque towns
Thank you CWsocial and acraven. I had read about the necessity of having a car from a couple of posts I read. We are fine with public transportation as long as it is fairly easy to get around. We traveled Northern Italy a while ago and public transportation was fine- just rented a car in Tuscany.
Thanks for your feedback!
We liked the flexibility of having the car. And there were 3 of us so the cost benefits made sense.
If you want to know ALL the details of my 10 night trip to Sicily with a friend (flying into Palermo and out of Catania and having a car), here's my detailed trip report: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/sicily-palermo-caltanisetta-siracusa-taormina
