Sicily in May 2008

Baggio

Folks,
...hoping to go to sicily in may in new year...any recomendations?..the do's and dont's for out there hotel wise and area wise,..,.and what about who to fly with? money expectations etc?.......any advise greatly appreciated....

ciao' amigos...Baggio................

Baggio

"bump"

Baggio

come on folks give me a dig out here,.,,need to hear from anyone been there or going there....anyone?


Baggio...

uberwolf

spent a fortnight there in July.

Circumnavigated the country, anti clockwise. Flew in and out with Ryanair. Trapani on the way in, Palermo via stansted on the way home.

Trapani had little enough to recommend it. We walked into the city centre one evening and turned on our heel - didn't like the vibe at all. Erice is a little village reachable by cable car from Trapani (and road, but cable is cooler). It was a nice spot for a day - seemed to have one very nice hotel on a cliff side, with a fantastic vista.

From there we went to the south coast (Agrigento), had a look at the oldest remaining greek temples in the world. Extraordinary stuff, but like Trapani, nothing what so ever to recommend about the place after dark - dead. We did stay in a town just outside agrigento though. Guidebooks savage the town itself, so I'd expect no better.

From there we spent a night in Ragusa. Nice town, we hardly stopped for breath though.

Visited an amazing roman villa, with the best preserved mosaic flooring in the world in the vicinity of Ragusa.

Spent 2 nights in Syracuse. If you're staying there, pay the premium to stay on the old Island. That is where you will spend nearly all your time anyway, and the rest of the town is dingy. It did have (at the cost of repeating myself) an amazing Greek Theatre, and Roman amphitheater. The old town is very nice as well.

Up the coast is Taormina, probably your best bet for a base if it's just a week you're staying there. The most touristy place we visited, and better for it tbh. Sicily is a fairly poor place, it's glory is in it's past not it's present. I'd split my time between Taormina and Syracuse if I were doing it again.

Taormina had trips running to Syracuse, Mt. Etna, the villa place mentioned and others. If you're really lazy!

From Taormina we drove to Mondello, just west of Palermo. The so called Riveria of Sicily - where the Gliteratti of Palermo hang out at the weekend. More examples of the neglect here though, and nothing to recommend it.

Palermo was cool, a lot to see, but you wouldn't spend a week there, you'd consider a long weekend there though - maybe another trip if I have you convinced to stay east.

Baggio

uber..foood for thought alright thanx for that bud....

not sure where we'll go,...but the "touristy spot" yu mention would seem a logical choice.....so ill look at that./..am hoping to be in Rome for long weekend end of febuary....so sicily is just somewhere else i always wanted to go....so hopefully will turn out good

thanx for the words....ciao amigo.....Baggio.....

dogmatix

Was in that area in May 2000 - fly from Gatwick to Catania with BA. Mt Etna is a must to visit if there is no volcanic activity at the moment - if so you can go right up to the craters on the summit.

If you have the time a few days visit to the Aeolian islands to the north are also worth considering - they are only a few hours by Hydrofoil. Lipari is a beautiful island, Vulcano stinks of sulphur and you can then take a hike up the top of Stromboli and view a real live active volcano doing it's stuff.

Of course if you don't like volcano's then ignore all of the above...