Travel from Levanto (Cinque Terre) to Catania (Sicily)

Look for flights from Catania to see what destinations are closest to the CT. There are several budget airlines that fly between Sicily and the rest of Italy. You might also consider flying to Palermo. Car or bus/train - that decision depends more on where you want to go and how long your visit is.

Thank you for your response,

I want to go to Cinque Terre for 2 nights. Which town/village do you think is best to stay between Levanto or Monterosso for exploring the 5 villages

thanks,
Diana

Train travel is equally quick (15-20 minutes to Riomaggiore) from either Levanto or Monterosso and both are served by the summer boat service. If you're having better luck finding a room in Levanto, then that could be a reason to stay there, instead of within the five towns of Cinque Terre.

Pisa is the closest airport that may have budget flights, or Genova second; try www.skyscanner.com. By train, you can get from Monterosso to Catania by departing at 5:40 a.m., making one connection in Formia-Gaeta , and arriving at 21:30. Or you can take an overnight train that departs La Spezia at 23:00 and gets to Catania at 14:30 the next day. Check schedules for your date but note that some regional Italian trains are not published past June 14.

Fantastic ! thank you so much for your response
this will help me so much :)

I don't know where you want to go in Sicily after arriving in Catania, but I've done the East side of the island several times, and the north as well from Taormina-Messina-Cefalu-Palermo.

There are multiple inexpensive flights from most cities in Italy. Im also pretty sure that Pisa Airport is the connection you want to depart or arrive either to Palermo or Catania. I found flights into Palermo were less expensive than flights into Catania, but I wanted to see the "East Side" of Sicily. I did an open-jaw and arrived in Catania and flew out of Palermo. I think each flight cost only about $90, and I used Kayak.com

You can do all of it by train/bus. If you're landing in Catania and spending a few days you can get to a lot of places by train. When I went to Catania I went to Taormina, then based myself there and visited Mt. Etna and other sites, including Syracuse. It was less expensive to rent an apartment and take tours than renting a car and staying in different hotels for several nights. PM me if you wish.. I've GOT to write a trip report!

You will LOVE Sicily! My favorite place of all the places I've been in Europe!

It's a long distance. The train takes too long. It's better to fly.
From Pisa (PSA) you can fly non stop to Sicily to:
Catania (Air One)
Comiso, Palermo and Trapani (Ryanair)
Comiso is a former Air Force base near Ragusa, in SouthEast Sicily, not far from Catania.
From Genoa (GOA) you can fly non stop to Sicily to:
Catania, Palermo (Volotea)
Trapani (Ryanair)
There are even more options if you are willing to have a lay over somewhere.
Once in Sicily you can use trains, buses and automobiles. The same rule as the rest of Italy applies. A car is good to have for small towns and the countryside. A car is not good to have in big cities ( Palermo and Catania)

thank you guys for your responses
Now i'm even more excited to go to Sicily ;)

cheers,
Diana

Hi Diana,

I flew into Catania from Rome and it was very easy.
Once in Catania you can do almost everything by public transporation.
There is an express bus from Catania to Siracusa if you want to travel south. Siracusa is a great base for daytripping in the SE portion of Sicily. Beautiful baroque architecture towns nearby to Siracusa.

I then took a bus back to Catania and took a bus/train up the coast to Taormina.
Taormina is gorgeous and if you have a chance to stay in the main town there are incredible views, the Roman amphitheater with a coastal vista and great shopping/people watching.
In Taormina, it's possible to take mini-tours to other parts of the island. I took one to Agrigento which took all day and stopped in Piazza Armerina (well-preserved mosaics in a archeological site that was a Roman villa).
From Taormina, it's possible to travel further along the north to Milazzo and catch a ferry or hydrofoil to the Aeolian Islands. This is a fantastic area! You can visit an island with a dormant volcano and hike up the black sands to the top for an incredible view of the island chain (Vulcano), an island with an active volcano (Stromboli) or the island where they filmed Il Postino. The islands and Taormina were my favorite part of eastern Sicily.

Thank you so much for your tips!