Sicily in August

mavers

mavers

mavers

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Planning to go to Sicily with the girlfriend early August this year. Unfortunately as she's a teacher this is the only convenient time.

Anyhow we're thinking of flying to Palermo spend a few days there and pick up a rental car when we leave. On my list of destinations I have:
Trapani
Selinute
Agrigento
Syracuse
Then finally reaching Catania. Haven't decided whether we'll fly out from here, or drive back to Palermo.

Was wondering if any people have been, and have any recommendations or suggestions where to go or where not to bother with!

Thanks.
 
The main attraction maybe?

You know... That big thing in the middle? :p

Seriously though, Mount Etna needs to be gone up. You can get the cable car most of the way up if you want or you can park and walk up it. There aren't many places you can walk to the top of an active volcano. If it is currently erupting you can get some very nice views from hotels on the coast of the lava coming down as well. May be worth having a look see when booking hotels. We stayed on the southern coast (can't remember where, not too far from Catania and maybe beginning with T) and had stunning views of the Volcano. :)
 
My wife is Sicilian, so I've been over many times. It's a wonderful island that I'm slowly exploring. I'm happy to offer some tips - what are you hoping to see and do?

There's an amazing variety - great landscapes, fantastic food, so much culture and architecture (almost everybody's owned Sicily at some point in history) and in August baking hot weather, so great for the beach.

Two touristy places not on your list - Cefalu and Taormina (suspect this is where amp34 stayed). I love Etna, so I'd make time for it, as the volcano dominates much of Sicily.
 
Amp34 said:
The main attraction maybe?

You know... That big thing in the middle? :p

Seriously though, Mount Etna needs to be gone up. You can get the cable car most of the way up if you want or you can park and walk up it. There aren't many places you can walk to the top of an active volcano. If it is currently erupting you can get some very nice views from hotels on the coast of the lava coming down as well. May be worth having a look see when booking hotels. We stayed on the southern coast (can't remember where, not too far from Catania and maybe beginning with T) and had stunning views of the Volcano. :)
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This. We did Sicily... Etna is the only thing I can remember. Oh and a couple of vineyards.
 
Taormina is stunning, definitely worth 2 nights IMO.

And don't miss out on the Palermo catacombs, really spiritual and enlightening. Not. Nightmare fuel!!! :eek:
 
Thank you for all the comments. The trip advisor forum seemed to advise staying in one part of Sicily and I didn't want to spread myself too thinly. As I'm unlikely to visit again, I'm going to plan it around Etna and hopefully make a visit to Aeolian Islands. So instead of going south from Palermo, will probably try and go east and then south.

Amp34, did you manage to make it to the south east part? Contemplating spending some time in Syracuse.

Tocasa, I think we'll try and visit Cefalu on the way back to Palermo. I suppose the most important aspect of the trip will be sight seeing, possibly a bit of hiking, some beach time and just enjoying the Sicilian cuisine. Went to to Sardinia two years ago, and drove around the coast, and it was the best trip I've ever been on. The beaches and the sight seeing were just amazing.
 
Dude you are so close to Taormina at Etna, it really is worth it, who knew a stone beach could be that good?!

At least one full day there!
 
mavers said:
Thank you for all the comments. The trip advisor forum seemed to advise staying in one part of Sicily and I didn't want to spread myself too thinly. As I'm unlikely to visit again, I'm going to plan it around Etna and hopefully make a visit to Aeolian Islands. So instead of going south from Palermo, will probably try and go east and then south.

Amp34, did you manage to make it to the south east part? Contemplating spending some time in Syracuse.

Tocasa, I think we'll try and visit Cefalu on the way back to Palermo. I suppose the most important aspect of the trip will be sight seeing, possibly a bit of hiking, some beach time and just enjoying the Sicilian cuisine. Went to to Sardinia two years ago, and drove around the coast, and it was the best trip I've ever been on. The beaches and the sight seeing were just amazing.
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Don't underestimate how big Sicily is, or rather how slow the roads can be. We've spent a few hours in a car to get less than half way across the island. Also, driving in Sicily is quite an experience - ok for a confident driver, but scary to start with.

I'd really recommend Cefalu - if you like hiking then take a walk around the old castle area above the town for stunning views. Hot in the summer, although we survived it last year. Cooling down with ice cream (gelato) in town afterwards is divine.

The south-east is the corner I've explored most. Syracuse has a large archaeological park if that's your thing and an old town (Ortygia) island with lots of little streets to get lost in. Further south still are the Baroque towns (Noto, Ragusa...) featured in the Montalbano detective TV series recently on BBC4. There's also some brilliant walking - in the summer I'd recommend Cava Grande del Cassibile, a canyon with Etna views at the top and amazing swimming at the bottom.

There are so many wonderful places - enjoy!
 
Tried to do some planning last night and identified the key elements of the trip. We don't want to spread ourselves too thinly, so am happy to cut a place or two if this itinerary is too heavy.

Arrive in Palermo early in the morning. Spend 2/3 nights here.
Cefalu. Either spend a day trip here, or spend a night here. Hire a car
Then head to Syracuse. Spend 1/2 nights here.
Drive around Baroque towns. Noto, Ispica, Modica, Ragusa. 2 nights should be enough.
Arrive at Taormina (or another location close by with a good beach). Drop the car off here, and spend 3-5 nights here. Make a day trip to Etna.
Then on the final day leave from Catania airport.

What are the thoughts on Taormina as a base for the last part of the holiday? Will definitely make a trip to Cava Grande del Cassibile.
Also how are the beaches in the south east bit?

I'm open to suggestions to the order, this just seemed the best way to use the car. I know I've excluded Aeolian islands, I think we'll end up wasting a lot of time going there and back. Also Catania has been taken off the itinerary as I feel we'll be spreading ourselves too thinly.
 
mavers - sounds like a good plan to me, that will be an amazing trip. Personally I wouldn't spend so long in Taormina, it's very touristy, although for good reason as it is a beautiful spot. We've walked up to the village above, Castelmola, although not in the August heat. There are lots of towns with (stony) beaches along that coastline to choose from if you just want the beach. It's all pretty busy and built up though.

Personally instead I'd look to spend more time around Etna e.g a day up the cable car - it's a different world there, and a day or more in the surrounding area. There's the Gole dell'Alcantara, plus some of the small towns e.g. Randazzo - not that there's much there, but it's a different taste of Sicily. I'm not sure if the round Etna train is still running, that was fun with great views but it's 11 years (gulp) since I last used it.

Beaches in the south east - some are sand, unlike Taormina. Vendicari nature reserve has some lovely swimming spots if you walk a bit and combines well with the Baroque towns. I may be biased, but I very much like this corner of the island. A little less visited, but well worth spending time here.
 
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Nitefly said:
Taormina is stunning, definitely worth 2 nights IMO.

And don't miss out on the Palermo catacombs, really spiritual and enlightening. Not. Nightmare fuel!!! :eek:
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That is freaky! And yes, Taormina is where we stayed for most of our stay.

mavers said:
Thank you for all the comments. The trip advisor forum seemed to advise staying in one part of Sicily and I didn't want to spread myself too thinly. As I'm unlikely to visit again, I'm going to plan it around Etna and hopefully make a visit to Aeolian Islands. So instead of going south from Palermo, will probably try and go east and then south.

Amp34, did you manage to make it to the south east part? Contemplating spending some time in Syracuse.

Tocasa, I think we'll try and visit Cefalu on the way back to Palermo. I suppose the most important aspect of the trip will be sight seeing, possibly a bit of hiking, some beach time and just enjoying the Sicilian cuisine. Went to to Sardinia two years ago, and drove around the coast, and it was the best trip I've ever been on. The beaches and the sight seeing were just amazing.
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TBH we were on a field trip so spend most of our time outside Taormina so I'm not sure where we went most days. We did however get to the north coast one of the days and it was only an hour or so drive from Taormina.

I recommend instead of all 5 days in Taormina how about popping up for two days to Etna. There are various hotels/hostels very close (we stayed at the Residence Serra la Nave although it's just a basic hostel so maybe not the best for a holiday), but it is near the cable car that gets you most of the way up if you don't want to walk (and it is a pretty long walk, 1500 vertical metres to 3200m). There are loads of other nice places to go for a wander on Etna as well that are really empty and very desolate (Scoria and other volcanics all over the place).

I'd love to go back again and do the ruins and other areas I didn't get to go to on the trip. Including Vulcano, the island to the north of Sicily, which coincidentally (well not...) is just one big volcano.
 
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