Things to do in Sicilly

jacko

Hi,

I'm heading off to sicilly for 4 days at the end of this month. Has anyone thats been there got any suggestions of where/what to do.
I'm intending to spend a while around Mt Etne, maybe spend a day climbing it. just wondering is it worth stayinf in or around Palermo.

cheers

catbear

Syracuse is very historic, the greek stuff is really interesting. Lovely relaxed feeling to it and about the only town in Sicily where we didn't feel we were going to get knocked down.
Noto is supposed to be beautiful, we couldn't get parking and gave up, looked beautiful driving through.
Etna is clouded over most of the year, I was there last year and I'm like hill walking but Etna didn't look that interesting. Anyway I think the bus drops you up at a good height.
The greek/roman theatre in teormina is beautiful but really thronged with tourists, go early I guess.
The ruins at Agrigento are awesome, my favorite part of my week but they are a good drive away from Catania.

conno16

palermo wouldn't be for me
too busy, stinky

i'd recommend cefalu, taormina, siracusa and agrigento
pick maybe two of those for the four days
ideally sicily can be done properly in 18 - 21 days IMO

catbear

ideally sicily can be done properly in 18 - 21 days IMO

Ideally you should be driving an armed tank, I thought Irish driving was bad.

They have this quaint road rule where whoever beeps furiously first has right of way! A bit nerve racking in congested areas.

jacko

sounds like it will be a fun experience driving out there then.

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

conno16

catbear wrote: »

Ideally you should be driving an armed tank, I thought Irish driving was bad.

They have this quaint road rule where whoever beeps furiously first has right of way! A bit nerve racking in congested areas.

complete exaggeration in my experience.
its a little more colourful than driving in ireland, and can be heated at times in palermo if ur totally clueless
other than that, its a car, you're on a road - do as you always do

catbear

Maybe you're just used to it but I know mainland Italians who think Sicilian driving is nuts.
Irish driving is tame in comparison to Sicily, I'd describe it as a mix of driving with flare and reckless abandon.

Owen

Driving in Sicily is fine. I did it for a week, but avoid Palermo like the plague. It's just another big busy city, and there's so much more to do in other places. Get to Taormina, and go to Erice - it's a medieval city up on the side of a mountain accessed by cable car, go from there across the top of the island to Palermo, and spend an afternoon there, head from there to Taormina which is just gorgeous and full of history/beaches/coast roads. Go to Mt Etna then for a day trip, and pop down to Agrigento to see some of the best beaches anywhere and some of the older ruins and temples.

Here's my travel blog entry for my trip around Sicily :
Blog Entry for Sicily

conno16

couldn't disagree with any of the above
all good suggestions

hard to squeeze in over a few days though
as i said, give the island 2+ weeks and you'll have it blitzed
a marvellous spot
some great drives through the countryside as well when making it down to agrigento etc

patneve2

Avoid Palermo like the plague? Palermo is definitely one of the most historically rich Sicilian cities. Where in the world can you find Norman and Arab architecture standing side by side? Palermo is amazing because it is an ALIVE city, take a walk through the Ballaro' market and you will be amazed. Loved the place. Cities to avoid in Sicily are Augusta and Gela, two industrial **** holes.
So in my opinion cities/places you whould try and see in Sicily are:
1. Palermo
2. Catania
3. Trapani
4. Marsala
5. Selinunte archeological site (breathtaking)
6. Cefalu'

Regarding the sea-side anywhere you are on the coast, you're never too far from a nice beach. Bathing is grand until about mid-november.

Edit: try and make it inland, very scenic drives

Owen

I stand by what I said. Palermo's a dump. A noisy, polluted mess and well worth avoiding. There are much more historic and picturesque areas you can spend your time in, rather than just visiting another generic European city.

If I had my time back, I'd do Trapani/Erice for a day, and pop over to Favignana for a day on the Ferry. Then Taormina for 3 days to unwind and relax, Etna for one of those days, Villa Castella de Romanas to see one of the largest mosaics ever uncovered (Beware Garmin's SatNav location for this is incorrect and leads you into someone's house), Agrigento for at least 2 days also, and then maybe at the end hit Palermo if you really want to see it and have enough time. But only if you have enough time, there's too much else to do on the island which is more valuable in terms of memories as a tourist.

patneve2

PaintDoctor wrote: »

I stand by what I said. Palermo's a dump. A noisy, polluted mess and well worth avoiding. There are much more historic and picturesque areas you can spend your time in, rather than just visiting another generic European city.

If I had my time back, I'd do Trapani/Erice for a day, and pop over to Favignana for a day on the Ferry. Then Taormina for 3 days to unwind and relax, Etna for one of those days, Villa Castella de Romanas to see one of the largest mosaics ever uncovered (Beware Garmin's SatNav location for this is incorrect and leads you into someone's house), Agrigento for at least 2 days also, and then maybe at the end hit Palermo if you really want to see it and have enough time. But only if you have enough time, there's too much else to do on the island which is more valuable in terms of memories as a tourist.

I really don't want to heat up this debate, theoretically I should just be giving travel advice to the OP but I have to reply to someone that says that Palermo is a generic european city. Someone who says that Palermo is 'another generic european city' has no idea what they're talking about. Reasons:

1. 2700 years of history (yeah, generic european city)
2. Inhabited by Phoenicians, Greeks (magna grecia), Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, Kingdom of two sicilies and finally became part of Italy back in the 19th century (yeah, generic european city)
3. Only place in Western Europe (excluding wonderful Andalusia and other parts of Spain) where you can find strong arab influences in buildings and general architecture.(yeah, generic european city)
4. Architecture: cmon, you walk down a street and you find buildings with extremely strong spanish influences, muslim influences (as stated before), a blend on norman and arabesque architecture etc etc (read up on the net)
5. Palermo is the symbol of Sicily. Walk through Ballaro'/Vucciria/Capo markets and you will be amazed by the colours, the products on sale and the people. The noise, the dirt, everything...Palermo resembles Sicily!!
6. Parks: Loads of beautiful parks and botanical gardens, the flora found in the city is amazing, anything can grow, from trees found in ireland to date palms.
7. Cathedral of Palermo :0 absolutely breathtaking...still have the photos

Seriously, this list could go on forever and I don't want to bore you any longer. Tip: don't judge a city by its noise and it's filth. Palermo is noise, Palermo is filth, Palermo is one of the biggest cradles of culture in Europe!!! The traces can still be found to this day! Palermo is Sicily.

marymc

Go see the mummies. I went to see them in Palermo, but they're all over the place. National Geographic did a special on them last year spring, and I went to see them in summer. Creep AND amazing.

Etna is fantastic. Especially when it's smoking.
Agrigento and Syracusa are lovely too - Syracusa is gorgeous for walking around.

But mummies mainly. That's the fun one.

jacko

Hi,

just got back from my trip to Sicily. Did a fair bit of travelling so just going to give a brief recap of what i saw there:

Cefalu - Nice seaside town in north of island with beach and nice narrow streets. Didn't spend too much time here but if you're in the area its worth a visit.

Taormina - spent a day and a night there, Really nice village. Very popular with tourists, I can imagine it would be very busy at peak times. Biggest tourist attraction there is the Greek theatre whcih still holds concerts. If you're planning a trip there find out if there's a concert on, I's say it would be pretty awesome to sea a performance.

Catania - Didn't spend too much time in Catania, there's probably loads to do there but we didn't really look into it. Its a pretty big city.

Mt. Etna - climbed as far as you can. Its ok, nothing spectacular but still its good to be able to say you visited it.

Syracuse - Nice place - the archaelogical park is definitely worth a visit,and probably the main reason for visiting. The Ortigia area is only ok, lots of narrow streets, nice for a stroll around I guess.

Agrigento - Really impressive ruins in The Valley of the Temples. Dont really think there's a whole lot else in Agrigento and it is kind of out of the way of the rest of the attractions in Sicilly but the temples alone are worth the trip.

All in all, have to say its a good place. Driving was a bit mental at times, if you're renting a car, get the smallest one they have available, you'd have no hope of avoiding a few scrapes with any kind of a big car. Also the Sicilian drivers dont seem to mind giving or getting the odd bang or scrape. Luckily we got arounf intact.

muldoocs

To anyone going again - Dont miss the Aeolian Islands - pure magic