Palermo or Catania?

[squashyhat]

DH and I are looking to do a short break in Sicily in June. Would we be best to base ourselves in Palermo or Catania? We will be relying on public transport and can fly to either from our local airport. We like things like walking tours (not too strenuous), some beach/park relaxation time, and lots of lovely Italian food.

How long are you away? We flew into Palermo 2 nights / cefslu 4 nights / Taormina 4 nights / Syracuse 4 nights flew out of Catania. All by train. Great holjday. All places lovely but our favourite was Syracuse. Taormina and Cefalu v crowded but was august

It would only be a short break so 4-5 nights

Either Palermo / cefalu or Catania / Syracuse or Taormina then. Both options are lovely so no wrong choice.

I loved Taormina and you can get a bus direct from the airport (every 30 mins I think) for about 7 euros. The Greek theatre is amazing - the view from the cafe at the top of the hill was outstanding! Though the views are stunning everywhere. We got the bus up to Castelmola and the Bar Turrisi - which has um, interesting decor 😲Cable car down to the beach at Mazzaro. Godfather tour to Forza D'Agro and Savoca. Our apartment (La Terrazza del Teatro Greco) had a lovely view to Etna and the sea. We didn't bother going nearer to Etna. Lots of lovely places to eat and drink. Ortigia is also lovely but more of faff to get to for a short break. Cefalu is on my list.

You can't go wrong with either OP. I love them both! Personally, i wouldn't stay IN either city - if you go to Catania probably the nicest place to stay is Syracuse, although there isn't a good beach there (there are nice ones nearby though and you can take a boat to them). You could also go to Taormina, although this is busy/touristy. It's a lovely town though. For Palermo, there's Cefalu, although that's actually quite far from the city if you want to visit. There are trains and buses though, so perfectly possible. We stayed in Mondello (a small beach town just north) and took the bus into Palermo and it was very easy.

Catania is better if relying on public transport. Taormina is a must to visit, take cable car up Etna and go down to Syracuse if you can too

Thanks everyone. Lots to consider

Would about Cefalu in August it’s RAMMED standing room only on the tiny beach. We had a pool luckily

We went to Cefalù by train from Palermo and it was very easy. Some of the hotels have their own section of the beach (the one we stayed at did) so you are basically guaranteed space/loungers.

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Catania for Taormina and Syracuse - we much preferred them to Palermo

Why the nasty comment? Might help other readers planning similar trips. How unpleasant you seem.

Was going to give you more info but won’t now!

I did a lot of research on both areas and we had a brilliant trip. 😀😀

Catania is good if using public transport, the trains to Syracuse and Taormina were very good. From Catania you can get the ferry out to Stromboli and others, that was the highlight of my trip last August.

We are going to Giardini Naxos to an Apt with a pool v close to the beach. Taormina so expensive for a family of four. Ie 2 adults. 2 teens .
We are a quick bus ride from Taormina so can go there of an evening. Then as we love Theme Parks we are ending our holiday staying at Etna land for 2 nights .can't wait to go!!!

For that length of stay then Catania 100%. Taormina is lovely, and you can do a day trip by train to Etna via the circoetnea railway (we did a day out from Catania and went to Randazzo and back IIRC). If you are able to get there via public transport, Noto is beautiful too, and Ragusa, but that might be tricky without a hire car.

Sicily is BIG and transport can be slow especially inland, so don't try to pack in too much. Fabulous island to visit though!