Sicily/Aoelian islands

RustySpoon

Looking for advice from anyone who has been to sicliy on which town to stay in, i'm undecided between the east or west coast or spending time on the islands. Will be stayting a week and budget is not really an issue.

I am looking for a bit of relax time/scenery and some tourist activities.
Going to be flying in from Milan to either of the airports depending on where i will be staying.

• Is renting a car a good idea? Is there much to see if driving round the island?
• west coast or east coast?
• Is spending a few days on one of the aoelian islands worth it?
• If so which one?
• Taormina yeah or nay?

after this will be moving on to Positano and Rome. Is Capri worth a visit?

Grazie

RustySpoon

Bump! - any info appreciated.

growler

been to sicily many times but have always stayed ini or around Syracusa / Catania region, and would highly recommend it. The scenery is fantastic, the beaches are excellent, Etna is certainly worth a visit, Toarmina is a really nice spot to spend a night, but its expensive for Sicily , lots of designer shops etc. and no beach to speak of.

If I were to go again ( which I will hopefully this year) I would definately rent a car and just travel around the coast, although I believe the interior to be worth going to also, they do drive like maniacs on acid though, so be prepared to wave your hands a lot in expressive ways to convey your displeasure at having been run over etc.

A lot of the cities are pretty crap, Catania is a dump really, but Syracusa has a lovely old town, lots of history, roman / greek architecture etc. Palermo is the most touristy spot, with pseudo-mafiosa posing for photos.

Not the biggest party island either, the average Sicilian seems to think that a party shoud involve eating lots of ice cream and not getting blindingly drunk :eek:

The food is amazing, never stop eating while there, you'll regret it when you get back, look for the small family run places, even better if they have no menu, just take whatever they have that day. Not much english spoken there though.

Can't comment on the islands, too busy with Sicily to ever make it across.

hope that helps.

Unshelved

Have stayed in Lipari - the largest of the Aeolian Islands. Very beautiful, a bit expensive and quite quiet - excellent seafood and an interesting archaeological museum. You can take daytrips to the other Aeolian islands, Stromboli (to see the volcano) and Vulcano (for mudbaths - very smelly) from there. We stayed in the Poseidon Hotel (www.hotelposeidonlipari.com) which was reasonable enough. Nightlife is virtually non-existent besides bars and restaurants.

In fact, there wasn't a lot of nightlife in a lot of places we visited in Sicily - Taormina, Giardini-Naxos, Cefalu. We didn't really mind - the excellent food and wine was enough for us. The most lively town is Catania - which looks a bit gloomy because of all that grey stone - but the people are friendly and it's good for bars and clubs that stay open late (everywhere else we visited seemed to be shut by 11pm). Taormina is beautiful and highly recommended. Cefalu has a gorgeous beach, nice old town (filmed in "Cinema Paradiso") and is a good base for visiting Palermo.

We didn't bother with hiring a car and travelled everywhere by train (and ferry to Lipari). If it's a relaxing holiday you're after then I'd definitley recommend it.