Sicily or Sardinia?

kraggy

Hi,

My gf and I might be in a position to go away for a 1 week holiday and we're looking at Sicily and Sardinia.

Any thoughts on either? Better still, anyone been to both?

Any not-to-be-missed highlights?

And how do Sicily/Sardinia compare to Ireland in terms of cost e.g.

pint/bottle of beer
casual meal in a basic restaurant
car hire
cigarettes
bottle of water

We're thinking of camping to minimise costs. Or are there hostels or any cheap places to stay in such as hostels?

Thanks,

K.

kraggy

Bump

kraggy

Anyone even know if Sicily is expensive, or how does it compare to Ireland?

Mods: Would've edited my last post but it wouldn't let me as the time had expired so sorry for having to post another post.

Last time I'll ask anything about Sicily. Just surprised that nobody on here has any info as of yet.

Irishrossoblu

Sardegna is the place to go. Its more polished than Sicily, but not too much. Its a great Island, with the best water in Italy, and the food is great. Wine is great too, and cheese. You could go north, Alghero/Sassari or you could go south to Cagliari. Still good weather at this time. The people are also lovely.

Sicily is an undiscovered jem, but could be a bridge too far if you dont speak the language etc, and its out of season now. The locals are not a friendly as the Sardi. The food and wine are good, but different to Sardegna. Price wise, I think Sicily could be slightly cheaper. I have family in Sardegna and speak the language so I see it from a different angle, but would still reccomend Sardegna.

Prices in both places

Beer bottle - €4
Wine - €10
Cigs - €4
Car hire - No idea
Meal - €20 a head
Water - 50c

cooper90

went to AcitrezzaAddress:<img style="display: none;" class="tsch-whlchr" alt="Station is accessible" title="Station is accessible" width="16" height="16">‎ is sicily 2 months ago and had a great time. Just turn you brain off and eat like a king. Food was very cheep if you wnated, get a pizza buy the hourbor for 2.50 and eat it looking at the sun set and beers can be found for a euro or 2 euro in the bars. I higly recomned it.

Beruthiel

kraggy wrote: »

Anyone even know if Sicily is expensive, or how does it compare to Ireland?

We stayed on the west part of the island near Segesta 2 years ago.
We were out in the boonies and found local restaurants to be dead cheap.

kraggy

Thanks a million guys, great information.

Still considering both. In short, what we're looking for and what I always wanted to see in these islands was to be able to have a dip on turquoise water with big rocky sea stacks in the back ground. Besides that, just to enjoy the food and have a few quiet beers in the evening. A bit of history and a bit of countryside would also be nice. I like big historical structures and scenic views etc.

So what parts of each island would have the above? I really tried looking for tourist maps and to find out which areas are good but it's hard to filter all the crap and find out the basics

i.e. how to divide our time over a 7 day visit and where to spend each day.

Thanks guys,

K.

totallytrees

Just sent you a PM there, never been to Sardinia but can give you some info on Sicily as I was there for a week earlier this year. I agree its hard to find the info you are lookin for - myself and my bf were after the same trip as you by the sounds of it.

Catania is cheap enough. Sicily as a whole has a reputation for being expensive but in caparison with other areas of Sicily, Catania is very affordable for dinner and drinks. There is a good student culture here so lots of pubs that spill out onto piazzas and such. You can do tours of Mount Etna from here also if you were into that.

Taormina is a pretty expensive place, although I think some cheaper local places can be found if you poke them out, we just didn't try very hard. Taormina itself is absolutely beautiful. Google a few pics of Mezzaro or Isolla Bella beach, these both are in Taormina. It is a stunning place but quite small. There is one big main street, with some quaint side streets and piazzas off it, a lovely Greek Theatre, the beaches, and that's pretty much Taormina. The food and drink here is pretty dear, about the same as dear Irish restaurants e.g. €20-25 for a main course. This place absolutely floods with tourists so this is the reason - I think I read it is the dearest place to visit in Sicily but it is up to you if it is worth seeing. The one major thing I didnt like about Taormina was how jammers it was with tourists. I really wasn't expecting it. I had a Rough Guide book which suggested not to go in July or August where the place is packed so this is why we went end of May and it was STILL absolutely packed. With the streets so small it was pretty annoying. Cruise ships actually dock here and leave passengers out for day trips so this is the main cause. I found it uncomfortable and head wrecking. It was mostly american pensioners walking at snails pace taking pics of every crack in the pavement. You can get a bus or rent a motorbike to take a trip to places where the Godfather films were made, we would have done this only we had no drivers licence.

Siracusa is a great little city, went here for 1 day, it is only 1 hour south from Catania and is worth the trip. Far less tourists and had a really great vibe about it and good things to see (famous for catacombs if you are interested).

Hope that helps, if you've any other q's, drop me a PM.

kraggy

totallytrees wrote: »

Just sent you a PM there, never been to Sardinia but can give you some info on Sicily as I was there for a week earlier this year. I agree its hard to find the info you are lookin for - myself and my bf were after the same trip as you by the sounds of it.

Catania is cheap enough. Sicily as a whole has a reputation for being expensive but in caparison with other areas of Sicily, Catania is very affordable for dinner and drinks. There is a good student culture here so lots of pubs that spill out onto piazzas and such. You can do tours of Mount Etna from here also if you were into that.

Taormina is a pretty expensive place, although I think some cheaper local places can be found if you poke them out, we just didn't try very hard. Taormina itself is absolutely beautiful. Google a few pics of Mezzaro or Isolla Bella beach, these both are in Taormina. It is a stunning place but quite small. There is one big main street, with some quaint side streets and piazzas off it, a lovely Greek Theatre, the beaches, and that's pretty much Taormina. The food and drink here is pretty dear, about the same as dear Irish restaurants e.g. €20-25 for a main course. This place absolutely floods with tourists so this is the reason - I think I read it is the dearest place to visit in Sicily but it is up to you if it is worth seeing. The one major thing I didnt like about Taormina was how jammers it was with tourists. I really wasn't expecting it. I had a Rough Guide book which suggested not to go in July or August where the place is packed so this is why we went end of May and it was STILL absolutely packed. With the streets so small it was pretty annoying. Cruise ships actually dock here and leave passengers out for day trips so this is the main cause. I found it uncomfortable and head wrecking. It was mostly american pensioners walking at snails pace taking pics of every crack in the pavement. You can get a bus or rent a motorbike to take a trip to places where the Godfather films were made, we would have done this only we had no drivers licence.

Siracusa is a great little city, went here for 1 day, it is only 1 hour south from Catania and is worth the trip. Far less tourists and had a really great vibe about it and good things to see (famous for catacombs if you are interested).

Hope that helps, if you've any other q's, drop me a PM.

Thanks very much for that Totallytrees. Great help altogether! Now I at least have some clue as to where to go.

Are the nice beaches located in one particular area of the island or are they scattered around the whole island?

Also, I know some prices of drink, meal, cigarettes etc are given above, but is it possible to do Sicily on the cheap, particularly regarding eating? We would be quite happy to eat in VERY casual places or even grab something and eat it outside, in order to save money. We intend on camping too to save on accommodation costs.

Could you get, say, a filling basic bite to eat for a fiver? Or is that too optimisitic?

Also, could you buy beers in a shop and save money that way? If so, how much would a beer be from a shop/supermarket?

Thanks again for your post!

K.

totallytrees

Yeah you can definitely do food on the cheap but some places will be harder than others (ie. Taormina, as this tries to be a high end place, fancy designer shops etc). There is a guy on the tripadvisor Taormina, Sicily forums called Vegabonda - I browsed it a good bit before we went but didn't pay much attention to the restaurants and wish I had've cos he had some good "off the main strip" recommendations that are sure to be way cheaper.

There are loads of places where you can grab a panini to take away for about 3.50euro. In Catanaia, they have arancini for breakfast, they come in variations but i had the rice, tomato and cheese one, all held in a triangular shaped breadcrumb -they are only about 2euro and SO filling. They sell them off hot counters, along with mini pizza slices and stuff like that so a cheap lunch isn't hard to find there.

we stayed in a great hostel in catania for really cheap - http://www.ccly-hostel.com/

There are some islands off the north east coast of Messina that you might like too - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeolian_Islands

Not sure how much beers are from a supermarket but you can get local beer like Peroni for about 2euro in a bar in Catania, will differ in other cities. To be honest I think stay away from Taormina if you're on a budget. I heard the south coast is great too, esp for camping and stuff. I still have my rough guide so ill have a sniff later and let you know if it mentions anything on camping.

totallytrees

just to let you know, the rough guide suggested this website for camping info: http://www.camping.it/. they say you may not save a considerable amount if you choose to camp, as they can be quite luxurious places with pool and other facilities of the likes.

saywhatyousee

supermarkets are very cheap in italy
660ml bottle of heineken was 90c
a good bootle of wine is between 3-6 euro
local brew beer is even cheaper
i spend 100 euro in the supermarket on food
(mainly for breakfast)
and we had to throw stuff out at the end of the week