Sicily for a week

Travel, Wine Tourism, and Restaurants Forum
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I’m going to be heading to Sicily in August for a week. I know its not the ideal time, but its what I have to work with. I’ll be travelling with a 4 year old as well which should make things interesting. I know there are some people who have been to Sicily numerous times, so here goes:

  1. What Etna wineries are “special” visits? I’ll probably only have 1-1.5 days to focus on wines, so ideally a few that are somewhat close together are preferred. The people are as much a part of the visits for me as the wines. Love Calabretta, Terre Nere, but don’t have a huge amount of experience with the wines.

  2. Other places around Sicily that would be fun for the family and not totally overrun by tourists? We’re probably going to try to pick 3 places to stay 2-3 nights each at.

  3. Hotel recs? Price not a major factor (as long as somewhat reasonable)…

Thanks in advance!!!

Daniel

2

Two current threads on this on the wine-pages forum, if you don’t get enough input here.

3

Thanks, found a few of those threads, very helpful.

Would a trip of Palermo - Catania - Taormina/Etna - Syracuse be too much?
Any recommendations for hotels/agroturismo that is a bit off the beaten path but still close to this route?

4

I enjoyed Cefalu on the north coast on the Tyrrhenian sea. It is a beautiful city with an interesting history (Greek, Arab, Normans). There are some Greek ruins on the top of the hill overlooking the City. Probably a bit of a push for a 4 year old to hike to the top. The rest of the City is generally easy to get around (as far as old European cities go). There is also a nice beach area.

I was there in late September/early October. The city is quite popular so it could be packed with tourists in August.

The film Cinema Paradiso was filmed in Cefalu.

5

Just outside Palermo http://www.kafarahotel.it/

Nice place yet it’s a quick drive into Palermo.

Catania was a shit hole. I’d drop staying there if it were me.

6

Have you considered the Aeolian Islands – some of my favorite places? A great relaxing stop was Panarea http://www.hotelraya.it/

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Thanks for the recs all. Is it possible to stay at one hotel to see both the Etna region as well as Syracuse, or would it be better to switch hotels?

I did consider the Aeolian Islands, just not sure I can fit everything in on a 7 day vacation!

8

It’s less than two hours to Syracuse.

When we stayed in Palermo we day tripped to Agrigeto, trapini and erice on the west side. Erice is a cool place, not much happening in Trapini except my wife’s family.

We like driving. BTW stay on the main roads. Secondary roads in Sicily are goat trails, made for some great stories but slightly unnerving at times.

BTW you MUST drive with your car locked at ALL times. They’ll open your trunk or car door and steal your luggage while you’re at a stop light or sign. Crazy but true, they tried it on me but I was forewarned by my buddy and sure enough. That was in Catania which is a rough place but Palermo can be an issue too.

BTW we really enjoyed Sicily.

9

Stopped in Messina. Would not recommend it. Dirty, port city. The cannoli’s were good, but that was about it. I hope you can explore other parts of Italy because it is a magical country.

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+1

The car ferry to the mainland is fun but we blasted right through Messina.

Broken record: youtube has all the rick steves Sicily footage, just search. He pretty much covers the big attractions.