Few days in Sicily…

[Kath544]

Hello all, I am considering taking my husband away for a few days in Sicily for his 40th birthday in June - without the kids! 🙌🙌🙌
He loves Italy (and the godfather!) hence the idea, but don’t know very much about it so any ideas/recommendations/where to stay would be so welcome. Budget reasonable (ish) but not excessive! Thank you in advance xx

I've got no suggestions sorry but it does sound like a fabulous holiday.

Sicily is on my list but manly because I'm a huge Montalbano fan.

My main tip would be don't try to drive anywhere - I speak from bitter experience...

It's a big island so what you do will probaby depend on which airport you arrive at - if you fly into Palermo you could spend one or two nights there in a lovely hotel followed by Cefalu or Mondello for the beach. If you arrive to Catania you could stay in Taormina or Syracuse. Visit Savoca on a daytrip and have a drink at Bar Vitelli, just like Vito Corleone!

It’s a big island so if you’ve only got a few days it’s worth just basing yourself in one place. You’ll either fly to Catania or Palermo.

If you fly to Palermo you could easily just stay in Palermo itself as there’s loads to to - I’d recommend the hotel Palazzo Santamarina as it’s right in the historical city centre. Wander round the city, go to the markets, cathedral etc. Food and drink is cheap. You can get day trips easily to eg Valley of the Temples which is definitely worth visiting.

If you go to Catania, you might want to stay in somewhere else, like one of the pretty coastal towns. I personally didn’t like Catania much, and wouldn’t stay there. But plenty of nice places nearby Taormina.

If you had a week or so you could do a bit of both - city and a smaller coastal town. But if it’s just for a long weekend I’d fly to Palermo and maybe do a day trip from there. Palermo would give you more of the mafia history etc that your DH will be interested in - the coastal towns although very pretty to me are more chill out, beach, nice food.

If you fly into Catania, then you could stay in Syracuse (in the old town) which is a very pretty town. My favourite part of the island was the SE corner, where all the earthquake-hit towns are - they were all completely rebuilt, and are stunning. Noto was fantastic. Modena a great place to stay in that area - the whole town is built around cave dwellings, so you could stay somewhere quite unique. Also some great sites to visit round there - Cava d'Ispica, the necropolis and the massive canyon.

We had no problems with driving at all, but didn't go into the cities in the car.

I would avoid Taormina. It's pretty, but just heaving with tourists, as it's where all the day trippers go and all the cruise ships dock.

If you want a city, then probably fly to Palermo and stay there, but if you want a mix of history and geography (as it were), I'd go east.