Starting to plan for next spring. Spouse says she's more interested in Italy than Spain. We'll probably spend three or four weeks, mostly in April, not in any hurry to see everything.
I'm thinking staying south will be the better option in spring, so Sicily sticks out in my mind. I've never been south of Rome, so its new to me. Thoughts; ideas?
Thanks,
We've been to Spain and Italy in April. The weather was just fine in both.
Other than seeing Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast, I prefer to stay north of Rome for the most part.
With your allotting 3-4 weeks to your trip, you could visit both. We were pleasantly surprised to find Spain so reasonably priced on everything.
We visited Sicily this past May for the whole month. It was great. Beautiful. April was colder than normal in 2022, but should be fine next year. We easily traveled by train.
Yes, I spent the entire month of April in Spain a few years ago. I loved it. In the north it was unseasonably cold (we also drove through snow between Jaez and Granada) but it was great to experience Semana Santa (Holy Thursday in Zaragosa was the highlight) and the April Faire in Sevilla. Right now, I'd say Poland and Spain are the two travel bargains in Europe.
Right now, I'm probably thinking of four options. Option one: spend the entire time on Sicily with a rental car to get around. Option two: Start in Rome, visit Naples, Pompeii, Sorento, Capri and the Amalfi Coast. Option three: Spend less time in the west, add Bari and ferry to the Dalmatian coast for part of the trip. Option four: Make a trip to Greece instead of Italy.
Love to travel,
What were your favorites in Sicily? Where did you fly into/out of?
You sound like a fast traveler, Travel Boss, a day or two here and there, especially with a car. In a month you could probably have a great trip seeing Sicily, the Amalfi coast and the Puglia region. The sea is cold in April so I wouldn’t recommend Greece or Croatia without being able to swim in their fabulous clear waters.
We are retired full time slow travelers who prefer about 3-4 nights in each town. After April in Malta we flew into Catania and took the train to Taormina which was our favorite city in Sicily. Other favorites were Ragusa, Cefalù, and Siracusa in that order. We left Sicily by overnight train from Palermo to Salerno which I do NOT recommend.
The Amalfi coast is spectacular and should be less busy in April. If you still have time to drive across the coast you could visit Matera, Bari, Alberobello and a few other beautiful lesser known Puglia towns. It’s all good in Italy!
Love to travel,
I am somewhat of a fast traveler, but not necessarily wanting to do that going forward. The biggest hindrance is my wife still wants to keep vacations in the three-week range. If it were up to me, I'd make them two months and slow down, spend more nights at each stop, along the way. If I can lay out a series of stops, I may be able to talk her into a longer trip.
My technique for deciding how long to stay at a particular destination is to first peruse the sights in the area, decide which are must-see sights for me, then plan enough time to see two bigger sights per day (and add quick stops like a fountain, or view, along the way). Some places are weeklong stays for many, but only a couple nights for me AND vice versa (much longer for me than the typical traveler).
I love history, notably 15th century or earlier. I probably won't be too interested in towns that were rebuilt in baroque style following their decimation from volcano eruptions or earthquakes. I'm hugely interested in anything from Carthaginian to Norman history in the area.
You have given me another thought, including Malta and Tunis as part of the trip. So much to see, such a limited life.
