Sicily in late Oct/early Nov

[stephenson]

BTW - looks like Grimaldi runs overnight ferry from Salerno (can't find a ferry from Citivecchia to Catania) ... ferry leaves 9:30 pm and gets into Catania before noon - rooms were 100-150E ... so, would get up on a Monday morning and train to Salerno and get to the ferry terminal somehow ... anyone done this?

Thanks!

 

[rodi]

You can fly into Catania or Palermo. The transfer then can be several points in Europe - not just Rome. We've transfered, in the past, in Brussels on one trip, and Rome on another.

There's a ferry that runs from Naples to Catania - it's an overnight ferry - but the cabins have showers and nice beds. Nothing like waking up to see the sunrise over the straits of Messina casting an orange glow on Mt. Etna.

 

[stephenson]

Rodi,

The only ferries to Catania showing on the major sites are now from Salerno - the Grimaldi line looks to be the only one serving Catania. Departs only from Salerno.

Perhaps this has changed since you were last there?

We are definitely gonna try and make the ferry work.

Going to Rome first - six nights and then to Catania, Ragusa, Taormina.

 

[rodi]

I sit corrected - it's no longer offered. That's a bummer. It was a very nice ferry.

 

[Sunset]

Taormina was very lovely.
We were on a cruise, so taxi'd to it from Messina and only spent 3 hours there.
In that time we saw the Greek/Roman theater, and the Gardens, plus walked along the edge of town overlooking the Mediterranean.

I could easily go back and spend 2 days there.

 

[Bamaman]

We have been flying Norwegian Air Shuttle in the last three years non-stop out of Orlando to Gatwick. They have a connecting flight into Cantania. Easyjet also flies Gatwick to Cantania cheap.
What's strange is so many airlines only fly seasonally into Sicily. For Atlanta to be the world's largest airport, they are not the best airport for us to fly out of due to a lack of budget international airlines--too expensive.

 

[brett]

We used autoeurope in Sicily. They arranged a car through Eueropcar. We did a one way rental. Everything was perfect.

We have used autoeurope in Italy at least three other times. Always for one way rentals. Never an issue. We once had a problem with our UK rental-autoeurope's customer service folks resolved the problem immediately. They also operate (both from Maine) under the Kemwel banner.

We flew into Catania from Malta. We took the airport bus to Taormina, stayed there for a few days and then picked up the car.

We were thinking of going by land to mainland Italy. We snagged a last minute cruise from Rome so that was our destination. It was much easier to simply fly from Palermo to Rome and much less expensive. The Vueling flight was $45 each.

We both enjoyed Sicily very much. We were there in October. Consider visiting some of the islands off the coast of Sicily.

We did have some rain towards the end of October but only for a day or so. No surprise.

 

[stephenson]

OK - got resv into and out of FCO, hotels in Marina di Ragusa and Taormina (End of Oct through first week Nov) ... no crowds.

Driving the itinerary at this point is my desire to take an overnight ferry through Straits of Messina to Catania - only departure point is Salerno and only time is 2130. Works OK as can depart Rome via train to Salerno in plenty of time. The issue is that there are NO departures on 28 Oct (Sunday) ... so, have to shorten trip to Rome by a day to leave on either 27 Oct (Saturday), and be in Catania a day earlier than our friends - OR, depart from Salerno on 29 Oct (Monday) and arrive in Catania a day late. Any thoughts?

Next option relates to returning from Sicily to Rome ... we depart from FCO on 8 Nov, so I have made reservations for 7-8 Nov at the Hilton Airport hotel (thanks to some advice on E-R) which connects to FCO - way easier with our 0955 flight to Newark. BUT, we have two options on returning to Rome - train or plane. Both couples really like seeing the countryside and love training. The train from Catania/Taormina is an intercity so it is quite a bit slower and we'll be stopping a lot - there is an option to take IC 722 to Naples and hop a Frecciarossa (faster) but it is only for the last bit - most of the time is still Sicily to Naples. So ... question: just stay on the slower train - way easier not to jump in Naples and have to learn how to get to the fast train in 15 minutes? And, then ... is it worth it to go 1st on the IC?

Thanks!

 

[brett]

Our experience it that the trains in Italy are very good. Not so in Sicily.

We picked up a rental in Taornina, toured for two weeks, dropped it in Cefelu. Took the train to Miazzo, then the ferry to the Lipari Island for a few days. Back to Miazzo, then the train to Palermo (we bypassed Palermo on our renal trip on purpose).

Trains in Sicily all seem to run very late. DO NOT count on the schedule being the schedule. We were one hour late going, two plus hours late coming back. Strictly a milk run. Not that much to see on either trip. The rental car was by a wide margin the best for sightseeing. We used the train only as a point to point convenience.

A few days before leaving Sicily we picked up a deal on a last minute cruise from Rome to Barcelona. We decided against the ferry/train to the mainland. Cost, and time. It was much easier for us to grab an inexpensive flight from Palermo to Rome FCO.

Sicily is wonderful. Enjoy!

 

[stephenson]

Thanks, Brett ...

We were planning on renting a car once we all got to Catania.

On leaving we were gonna drop the car in Catania or Taormina and grab the train to Rome ... as long as we make it by 0900 the next morning we are OK - we know it is long, but wanted some local connection.

 

[rodi]

I've done the train to other parts of Italy several times... Twice as overnight.... If you're a good sleeper it's a neat thing. One time the AC was broken in our couchette 4plex (us and the kids)... so we had to leave the window open... and it was LOUD.... so that was a pretty awful experience. Despite that we did it again a few years later and had a really nice trip from Riposto/Giarre to Milan. AC worked and we got good sleep. I did wake up briefly at sunrise... somewhere on the Tuscan coast.

The trains are local - but it was the same train the entire way to Milan. Same with the previous trip - one train, all the way to Florence from Messina.

It's pretty cool how they load the train onto the ferry... But that adds time to the overall journey... a lot of time (2 hours?)...

There are some flights in/out of Marsala/Trapani... I think Ryan Air and Air Meridian fly out of that small airport... Otherwise you need to look at Catania or Palermo airports.

Hopefully you'll explore Ragusa, Siracusa and Modica when you are staying down south at Marina di Ragusa. Marina di Ragusa is a fun little beach resort town... but Ragusa, Modica, and Siracusa all have amazing baroque buildings... and the greek ruins outside Ortygia in Siracusa are amazing. Taormina is a magical place. Our first trip to Sicily we rented an apartment about 2 blocks off of Corso Umberto... a great spot to do the evening passeggiata.

Can you tell - I love Sicily. Have a great time!

 

[rodi]

On leaving we were gonna drop the car in Catania or Taormina and grab the train to Rome ... as long as we make it by 0900 the next morning we are OK - we know it is long, but wanted some local connection.

Just noticed this. Taormina doesn't have a train station... Although there is one down the hill at Giardino di Naxos. You can taxi to Giardino di Naxos pretty cheaply. Or get a bus to Messina. Taormina is well served by buses... the bus depot is about a block north of the north end of Corso Umberto (which is pedestrian only). I wouldn't want to deal with driving a car *in* Taormina... streets are narrow, windy, and often pedestrian only. But depending on where your hotel is... it might be nice if you plan to do day trips from there.

 

[rodi]

One more thing.... We were given the advice - and it was great advice... for a pleasant side trip. Take a taxi or bus up to Castelmola. It's a small little town just above and east of Taormina. Explore Castelmola then walk back to Taormina. There are lovely paths with beautiful plants/views. Heck of a climb up - but delightful coming down... hence the taxi or bus.

Castelmola: an excursion from Taormina | Italy Heaven

 

[brett]

Same for car rental. We took the bus down from Taormina to Giardino de Naxo (sp) to pick up the rental car.

We landed in Cantania (we had been there before) and bused directly from the airport to Taormina. We did not see any point in paying for a rental for three days while it was parked. Walked outside the terminal, saw the bus stop, and ten minutes later we were on our way. It is easy for us to do this since we only travel with carry on bags.

 

[explanade]

Same for car rental. We took the bus down from Taormina to Giardino de Naxo (sp) to pick up the rental car.

We landed in Cantania (we had been there before) and bused directly from the airport to Taormina. We did not see any point in paying for a rental for three days while it was parked. Walked outside the terminal, saw the bus stop, and ten minutes later we were on our way. It is easy for us to do this since we only travel with carry on bags.

Except Catania airport may have more car choices and if you want to return the car anywhere other than where you rented it from, it may cost more or there may be more limitations renting from a smaller office than one at the airport.

 

[brett]

Our experience is that it invariably costs more to rent at an airport location. We do though, often return at an airport location.

The big but is that we always rent a small, standard transmission car. We very much like the Fiat Panda. If you want an automatic or a specific vehicle it may indeed be more difficult to obtain at an off airport locations-depending on the agency. We travel light and we prefer a standard so this works for us.

Our custom in Europe is to only do one way rentals. We find that autoeurope is really good for this. Cannot remember a time in Italy where we had a drop off charge on a one way rental.. The one exception is Venice and that charge applied to anyone who dropped a car off in Venice vs at the rental depot near the airport.

Same for air. We very seldom do returns. Usually open jaw or one ways.

 

[explanade]

Yeah, I'm renting autos so maybe it's different with manuals.

 

[stephenson]

Reservations made for airlines, Rome hotel (on the way in) and Sicily hotels.

Sat down to make ferry reservations this morning (Grimaldi's MV Euroferry Egnazia) and stumbled on some pretty awful sounding reviews - some of the reviewers took a lot of time and effort to provide date and time stamped videos of the cabins and bathrooms, etc. Started rethinking ...anyone actually done this ferry line on this route?

We arrive Rome on 23 Oct and had planned to depart on 29 Oct via Salerno-Catania ferry (could not do this on 28th to arrive 29th due to Sunday restrictions). Other options include the train (12 hours - either stay on the more local, or have first hour on faster to Salerno and then switch to local - easier to just stay on local, I think), or fly from Rome to Catania (some have mentioned great experience on Vueling, but only one leaves at 7 am). How about bus tour with an overnight somewhere south of Rome that terminates in Sicily?

 

[tulak]

I flew Alitalia from Catania to Rome and it was fine.

I’d recommend using Google flights to see all non-stop flights from Rome to Catania. I suspect that you’ll see a lot more options available than just Vueling.

 

[tulak]

I took a look and there are Alitalia flights from Rome to Catania every couple of hours. There’s also some non-stop Ryanair flights.

The key with some of these airlines is to pay for the extras online when you book the ticket. We almost always pay extra for luggage and the ability to pick our seat.

The flight is short, so depending on your tolerances, you might be ok letting them pick your seat. But if you have to check luggage, definitely prepay when you make your reservation.

Have a good trip!

 

[stephenson]

Sorry - didn't mean to infer there were no other airlines ... . Any of those would be OK ... well, except for the Vueling requiring departure from downtown Rome at 5 am

Quick question re Rome ... looks like our current hotel (Rome Marriott Grand Hotel Flora (Via Vittorio Veneto, 191) - staying on points is OK for access, but not ideal. Point was just a convenience issue - we could stay pretty much anywhere. What are some other great options - we would way prefer to walk out the door and be short walk from everywhere - including food tours, the usual ancient sites, etc.

 

[brett]

We flew from Palermo to Rome for the same reasons as stated above. It was faster, cheaper, easier. We flew Vueling but I have no doubt there are other regional carriers on that route and to other places in Sicily-especially Catania.

 

[stephenson]

OK - sigh ... so, rewickering the schedule a bit.

We meet friends in Ragusa di Marina on 29 Oct ... we're in Rome:
Option 1 - Trenitalia is 11 hours to Catania (0730-1720) ... long time ... then still need to get to Ragusa. $90 First each
Option 2 - Airline with various departure times - arrive 1 1/2 hours later in Catania. $60-100

BTW - friends have about decided they would prefer to fly Catania to Rome on the way out vice the train ... about the same price ...plus we would arrive FCO and stay on site at the Hilton - easy walk.

Really wanted some train time ... gah ...are we missing much by NOT doing the train one direction or the other?

Opinions?

 

[brett]

Not,not if you are only going for point A to point B and not stopping in between.

After several weeks in Sicily we made the choice to fly from Palermo to Rome to board a cruise. So glad we did. Gave us more time in Sicily. We have been on trains in Italy many times. They are fine. In our case we just wanted to get to Rome. So glad we did this.

As an aside, you could look at an inexpensive flight from Catania to Malta. Spend a couple of days there and then fly to Rome. We have flown Air Malta a few times and have always been satisfied.

 

[stephenson]

Everyone has been great with info ... thank you, All!

Looking at various flight options ... looks like mid day options are only Ryanair and Alitalia ...Ryanair is incredibly cheap ($42 round trip!) and Alitalia is $97 round trip. We will probably get round trip tickets, and our friends who will already be in Sicily will get one ways ...one way about half, as well. Lots of goofy baggage gimmicks.

Anyone have recommendations between the two airlines?

Thanks!