Syracuse Catania AND Taormina in October?

Just booked our first trip to Sicily and will spend 7 nights in mid-November 2021. I realize not enough time, so looking to probably focus on the eastern part of the island and fly into Catania. Have some questions to help with planning

1)Thinking of spending around 3 nights in the Syracuse, Noto, Modica area. Which city/town is the best place to stay and explore from there? Planning to most likely do local buses to explore during the day

2) We'd like to spend 2 to 3 nights in the Mount Etna area and possibly stay in Taormina for part of it. Thinking of renting a car from Catania for this part of our trip. If not, anyone have a tour group they recommend for tours of Mount Etna.

3) We hate to miss Palermo, but realize with only a week you need to make choices. Will there be get similar food markets in Catania to those you find in Palermo.

4) We would not to spend a day sampling wines and wondering which region to target in the areas we plan to visit.

Thanks much for any comments you can provide!

We are ending our stay in Sicily in Taormina. We will be there for 3 nights. We are flying out of the airport in Catania, not until almost 10 pm. So my question is, stay in Taormina for the day, head to the airport later, get charged an extra day for the car. Or turn the car in early and do some sightseeing in Catania? If the latter, suggestions? I would prefer to check our bags early as to not worry about luggage storage. So we'd be sightseeing to and from the airport. Thanks!

Hi

I'm starting to plan a trip to Sicily and the Aeolian islands in early September (covid permitting of course) and I'd be grateful for some advice.

We're planning to fly into Catania Airport on an early morning flight from London, then head straight to Milazzo port to catch a ferry to Lipari and then stay as follows:

4 nights Lipari

3 nights Panerea

2 nights Taormina

Just wondering what's the best way to travel when we get to Catania? We need to get from the airport to Milazzo Port and then from Milazzo to Taormina, and finally from Taormina back to Catania airport to catch our mid-morning flight back home. Would we be best to hire a car for the whole duration and pay to park it for a week at Milazzo while we're in the Aeolian islands, or can we do everything easily by bus/public transport? And would we be missing out by not having a car to explore the area around Taormina?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

My husband and I plan to spend a few days in Sicily next month. We will arrive Catania 13 July. We prefer to finish the whole trip via public transport as parking seems to be difficult in some towns. Our itinerary is as below.

14-16 July Catania to Taormina (we will join a day trip to Etna on 15th)

16-17 July Taormina to Agrigento by bus (SAIS bus service but I think we will have to transfer in Catania?)

17-19 July Agrigento to Scopello. This is a problem as I can't find any info about taking public transport between Agrigento and Scopello? Should I cut Scopello out of this trip and leave more time to Agrigento and Palermo?

19-20 July Scopello-Palermo

Any ideas about this itinerary? The biggest problem is the travel between Agrigento and Scopello. Suggestions are welcome please!

Due to the unique current offerings airline wise we have 6 nights/7 days in Sicily as part of a broader trip. We fly into Catania midday day 1, and our departure is from Palermo at 8pm, offering a near full-day in Palermo on day 7 (with bags safely stored with our hotel)

My dilemma is allocating the 6th night.

So far we’ve settled on 2 nights in Ortigia, 2 in Taormina, 1 in Palermo. For our 6th night I cannot determine if we should devote 3 nights to Ortigia as our base to have more time for places such as Noto etc or place a 2nd night to Palermo to have 2 full nights between transfers.

My current thinking if 3/2/1 is arrive Catania middday day 1, head to Ortigia and spend afternoon/evening there.

Day 2 - visit Noto, Ragusa, Marzememi or so one (1-2 of these).

Day 3 - visit another couple of places

Day 4- drive to Taormina, staying there.

Day 5 - visit Etna or gorges etc

Day 6 - to Palermo, spending part of the day in Cefalu

Day 7 - Palermo till leave for our flight late in day.

Is this a wise itinerary or should we forego the 2nd day of exploring behind Syracuse in favor of 2 nights based in Palermo?

Hi, I’ve sorted out my Palermo stay, and thanks to help on TripAdvisor. Now I need to find the best stopover to visit Siracusa , Catania, Taormina staying in one place. I would like to do my sightseeing with some quality beach time in between visits. I don’t want more than two hotel stops in total so it’s a laid back trip. Thanks.

i am planning trip to Sicily . 21 Days. First let me say I like to drive and living in Texas I drive 100 miles most days. we fly into Rome Sept24, will drive to Casenza, stay overnight. The next day Cefalu two days, Palermo 3 days, Ragusa 3 days, Sirasua 3 days, Catania 2 days, Taormina 3 days, at the end 3 days in Rome. I have 3 days to fill. I was thinking maybe Messina or somewhere on the return trip. We have been to Amalfi, Sorrento but not Naples. Any suggestions? For those of you that don,t drive this may look crazy. We love seeing the countryside and I find driving a stick shift in Europe fun.

Hi! I’m planning on visiting Catania from the 23th of August, but i’m reading a lot of scary news about the fires surrounding Catania and the rest of Sicily.. is somebody there now who can tell me more about the current situation? Thank you so much in advance!

Hi! I'm planning on doing a long holiday in Italy from the end of September until November. I will be doing most of my transport via public transport, but biking/hiking or renting a car every now and then might be an option too.

What I'm currently thinking about:

- Enter sicily by train, hop off on the east coast. Visit Taormina, Catania, Siracusa, and possibly Ragusa as main sites. 5 days?

- Take the ferry from either Pozzallo or Augusta to Malta

- Spend about a week on Malta

- Take the ferry back, see (possibly Ragusa here) Valle dei Templi, and the north and west of sicily. About 10 days?

- Take the ferry from Palermo to Cagliari

- Spend about two weeks on Sardinia (not sure what places yet)

- take the ferry from Porto Torres to Barcelona

Is this a feasibily itinerary? The suggested staying times for these places seem to be all over the place (e.g. 5 days enough for Sicily, two weeks in Malta) so I'm wondering if I'm taking it easy enough or if I could include Amalfi for example. Is two weeks in Sicily enough if I go by public transport? I want to see the main sites and take some relaxed days off too. I don't need to spend days in every town exploring every alley.

I plan on staying in hostels and cheap hotel rooms mostly. I can also bring camping gear but I'm not entirely sure if it's worth it as I think a lot of campings will already be closed in October. I don't particularly have a set budget but I prefer to spend my cash on good food and perhaps some guides. I don't have a need for luxury hotels or driving a car everywhere.

Could any travelers familiar with covid testing near Catania historical city center or Catania airport share their resources with me? I haven’t made last 2 nights in Catania as of yet. Since, I’m still exploring options that would allow me to enjoy the city as well as be centrally located to bus/shuttle transport to airport and covid testing site. ThankYou so much!