Catania - Pozzallo - Avola? no car

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?

I am looking for ideas how to spend time- ideally in pozzallo or closeby- till I catch my ferry back to Malta at 9.30pm. By 10.30am I will need to check out from my B&B in Calatabiano (so I calculated a two-hour drive to pozzallo and then two hours waiting time to board ferry). That leaves us with 6 hours...

We are a ‘mature’ couple traveling to Italy with 11 nights open between Rome & Florence so decided to visit Sardegna in early September. Probably flying into Olbia & departing from Cagliari.

Enjoy white sandy beaches, crystal clear water (who doesn't?), swimming, drinking local wine & local food. Also realize that beaches in Sardegna are rocky.

Prefer to stay at hotels in town to walk to dinner and stroll around town at night. Will rent a car to drive to close beaches during the day, perhaps stay at a beach hotel for 2 or 3 nights if on a beautiful beach.

Any suggestions on itinerary - where to stay & for how many nights? Perhaps 3 locations with 11 nights? The more I read on this helpful forum, the more overwhelmed I become on where to stay.

San Teodoro, Orosei, Villasimius, Isola Carloforte? Departing from Cagliari; how many nights would you recommend staying there?

Will reserve rental car prior to arrival, as well as hotel 1st and last night. Should I make hotel reservations in advance for the rest of trip? September is a busy month and may be more so this year.

TYIA!

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!

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.

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!

Hi! My partner and I would like to plan a trip to Italy for 2 weeks in mid September - very close to a sandy beach (we will book an Airbnb).

Neither of us travelled to Italy before and we don't have a drivers license, so we would like to pick a location easily accessible from an airport (such as Palermo, Catania, Napoli, Pisa, Venice) - meaning a commute of 2h~ from the airport to the destination location would be ideal.

We are looking for an affordable, relaxing, laid back vacation away from touristy stuff, where we can enjoy authentic food, nice coffee, quaint towns and most importantly - clean, nice beaches where we could swim safely.

A place with food markets (supermarkets or open-air) close by would also be amazing! We love walking but we would also like to rent bikes to go grocery shopping or just to enjoy the area.

We are not interested in any tourist attractions, boat trips, kayaking, sightseeing any famous landmarks.

So far, we looked at the coastal areas of the province of Palermo and Catania - but it's overwhelming how many beaches are there - and if we pick without any knowledge or advice, we are afraid we might miss out on a gem of a location.

Thank you in advance for your tips! I am forever grateful for forums!

Hi all, we've booked our flight to Catania for August 2022 next year for an 8 night stay. As well as visiting the sights in the city itself, we'll be using it as a base to explore the rest of Sicily also via public transport. However, as yet, we've not booked our accommodation (budget hotel, B&B only - no hostels). So what would be the best area(s) in the city to base ourselves? And are there any that you would not particularly recommend? This is will our first visit here and we are a couple in our late 20's. Thanking you for your help.

Hello

Me and my friends (~8 people) are planning to visit Sicily from the last week of December until the first week of January.

We want to stay in a villa and not a hotel and because of the weather want to stay at the coast. Because of reasons we need to land at Catania so I searched around this region.

At the moment all the villas of interest are in the southern region of Sicily.

I have two questions:

Firstly, I would like to know a good area to spend new years. I read in earlier threads that Catania is reommended for the most lively time regarding new years eve.

Do you know how long public transport operates around this time? (we will most likely have a rental car but I guess on this day all want to have a drink) I have a hard time finding any information on public transport to be honest...

Also are private fireworks allowed ?

Maybe there is also a city nearer to the south you could recommend for new years eve ?

Secondly, I read in several threads that in the winter season some places aren't as busy so I just wanted to ask if the South region also has these problems (I'm talking about the Pozzallo and Santa Maria del Focallo area and maybe a little to the right and left of it since we have a car)

Thank you in advance and best regards,

Bastian

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!