Two or three home bases for a month in Sicily.

That's tough. Sicily is a big, long island. For sure, Palermo and Siracusa/Ortygia. But, then you still have some amazing cities that are long day trips--Agrigento, Regusa, Trapani, Modica, Marsala. Cefalu is an easy day trip from Palermo, but we liked it and stayed 2 nights. I feel Noto is a don't miss, but that's doable from Siracusa. Catania is a great city that I think is underrated. It has a wonderful WWII museum, Baroque cathedrals, interesting fish market. And then there is the Mt. Etna area, Randazzo is a super interesting town and wine area. There is a lot of buildings made from Lava stones, also remnants of lava from volcanic eruptions.

We used a combination of train/bus/rental car. We stayed in Catania, Ortygia, Regusa, Agrigento, Trapani, Palermo, Cefalu, Randazzo, and were there a bit over a month.

Catania and Trapani, for sure, in addition to Palermo.

I usually tell people to slow down but I might do the opposite here. I think you could mix in a few 4-night stays and get a nice sampling of Sicily. As mentioned above, some of your potential day trips are really long days spent in the mini-bus getting to and fro.

I don't really know what memories you want to make or what kinds of things you want to see and do. Do you like the hike? Do you like to chill on the beach? Do you have any bucket list things?

I’m very active and enjoy doing it all… I am looking for local flavor… the Cultura and understand the suggestion of four-day stays in smaller towns instead of being based in three different cities and going out on long day trips make sense. Renting a car might work out better as well. I have driven thru Tuscany, which was relatively easy but a little concerned about Palermo and Catania!? I am a foodie and looking forward to trying all the different regional specialties. My bucket list is way too long right now and will need to Edit and plan for accommodations even though it’s for Oct/Nov. Still working through it!

We made it a point to not drive in any of the larger cities. We picked up a car as we were leaving Siracusa and explored southern Sicily and returned the car in Trapani. The rest of the trip, Palermo, Cefalu, Taormina, Randazzo and Catania we did with public transportation.

We did a 15 day Sicily tour last Spring and had (3) regional bases beginning in Palermo, then Agrigento and finally Taormina which put us in close proximity to other towns that we visited (Trapani, Sciacca, Siracusa, Catania and Messina). We had a rental car but used local drivers in several cases to reach outlying destinations. This plan and home bases worked out great for our group of 5 by giving us many, many options including 3 wine estate visits, beaches, golf, WW2 sites, incredible ruins and amazing food destinations). With 30 days you will be able to do pretty much anything you want from these regional bases. Good luck!

I like that idea! You arrived in Catania and headed to Syracuse by train, bus or private driver? Thanks again!

Taormina is very expensive in comparison to the rest of Sicily. It also is a more difficult place to have a car, and is about a two hour drive to Ortygia where many spend at least three full days. Noto and Ragusa, are don't miss, IMO, and not close to Agrigento, Taormina or Palermo.

Tamarino, was not on my list necessarily, not because of the cost… But a little over developed for tourists. Who knows I change my mind every day it seems. Definitely looking for wine tours. I’m beginning to understand renting the car and then using public transportation or purchased day trips is the way to go! All I need is the itinerary! Exciting! I never thought I would want to go to Sicily, but after watching a YouTube travel blog and was hooked! Seems to be all the rage now including the heel of Italy…Puglia!

Palermo and Syracuse (Ortigia island) would be two of my choices. However if you are there for a month, I would consider more, and also I would rent a car for a portion of the trip, like for Western and south Sicily (Trapani, Erice, Scopello, San Vito lo Capo, Selinunte, Agrigento, Piazza Armerina,Val di Noto, Modica, Ragusa Ibla).

The great thing about this forum and posts is that everyone has their own viewpoint on which towns to visit. For our group the base in Taormina worked perfectly as we were wanting a little more higher end base town in this part of Sicily with great shopping/restaurant dining options and with great scenery (check). We took a tour to the top of Mt. Etna, did a winery tour in the shadow of Mt. Etna, toured the Greek amphitheater right outside the entrance to our hotel and had an amazing local in home cooking class while there. Both Siracusa and Catania were 90 minutes and Ragusa another 30 minutes south. That said, I agree with the other poster on this thread that Siracusa/Ortigia is probably a better option than Taormina for Sicilian culture, history and authentic daily life and on our next trip we will definitely base there. Taormina was the most expensive base city of the 3, but we felt for our needs/wants it was a home run.

From each of our home bases, we truly enjoyed the drive times (typically using local drivers) to outlying destinations that allowed us to take in the scenery. The beauty is that you have a month where you can explore a great deal of Sicily without rushing. Our group plans to go back again in a couple of years as we were blown away by Sicily!

This is just one person's idea of a moderately paced trip
6+ nights Palermo: Food tours, RS walking tour, catacombs, eat awesome food, soak up the vibe. Day trips eg Monreale. No Car
4-6 nights Southern coast/Agrigento. Need car for everything except Agrigento
4-6 nights Ragusa: Baroque Hill towns. You'll have your car to get here, but there are plenty of tour guides with cars too.
3-5 nights Ortigia No car but you could just park it on the big surface lot in November. There'll be tons of spaces
3-6 nights Randazzo or Southern Etna or ??? I would use some tours here; especially hiking tours.
1-4 nights Catania (or wind your way back to Palermo via the north coast. Maybe a night or two spend in Cefalu or similar??)

Late October/Early November will be really quiet. Some innkeepers will be shutting down but the good news is that you will get ridiculous deals on hotels if you wait until a few days before. I would book my Palermo and Ortigia hotels now, but maybe wait on most of the others. In Ragusa Ibla, I really liked this place. https://sabbinirica.com.

You're traveling and a great time. Sicily is wonderful. Enjoy

Hi Marmia, I am a solo female traveler and was in eastern Sicily a little over a week. My homebase was Noto and I was happy with that. I rented a car and was told by locals that trains aren't used as much down there (but I'm sure they are sometimes). I stayed my first and last night in Catania and didn't drive there and was happy to not drive there. Ortigia could be another great home base at least for eastern Sicily. Good luck and let me know if any other questions come up.

Thank you to everyone for all the recommends! I’ve decided to take the Rick Steves 12-Day Sicily Tour, which seems to have a nice balance of providing free exploration time. I have never experienced a land tour, but it is active and why not start my intro into Sicily with the Rick Steves experience! Arrivederci!