We live in Catania, and the question we hear more than any other from guests planning their first trip to Sicily is the same one you probably typed into Google: where should I actually stay? The honest answer depends on a question nobody asks first — which Sicily are you visiting? Most people come for the east (Catania, Taormina, Syracuse, the Etna, the baroque towns of Val di Noto), a smaller share heads west (Palermo, Trapani, the Aegadian islands), and only a minority tries to do both in one trip. Your base decision should follow that choice, not the other way around. In this guide we’ll walk through the options area by area, give you a framework to compare them on measurable criteria, and tell you — honestly — which ones make poor bases so you don’t waste days driving. In short, the best part of Sicily to stay in is the eastern half, with Catania as the most efficient single base.
For an island-wide overview before drilling into individual base cities, see our complete Sicily travel guide.
First, decide which Sicily you’re visiting
The first big choice is east coast or west coast, and that usually maps onto picking Catania or Palermo as your primary base. Our comparing Catania and Palermo guide walks you through both city personalities, day-trip radius and budget ranges before you commit to either side of the island.
Still deciding between Sicily and Sardinia? See Sicily or Sardinia: which to choose for a 2026 cost, beach and base-city comparison before you lock in the area.
Where to base in February? Catania anchors the festival window (Sant’Agata in walking distance + Acireale 25 min) — see our Sicily in February month guide for full reasoning.
For October-specific accommodation strategy (apartment vs hotel in shoulder season, base-city logic for harvest events), see where to stay in Sicily in October. For the spring shoulder (almond blossom, Easter, Holy Week, Liberation Day), see our Sicily in March and Sicily in April guides.
Sicily is large. From Catania airport on the east coast to Trapani on the west it’s about 320 km by motorway, and from Messina in the north-east to Pozzallo in the south it’s another 200 km. Trying to cover the whole island in a week means you’ll spend roughly a third of your holiday behind a steering wheel. That’s why the first decision isn’t where to stay, it’s how much of Sicily you’re actually trying to see.
In our experience hosting travellers, there are three realistic shapes a Sicily trip can take, and each one points to a different kind of base.
- East Sicily only — Catania, Taormina, Mount Etna, Syracuse and Ortigia, the baroque towns of Val di Noto (Noto, Modica, Ragusa, Scicli), Vendicari beaches (covered in detail in our Sicily beach holiday guide). This is the most common first-time trip, and the one that fits comfortably into 5 to 7 days. A single base works beautifully here.
- West Sicily only — Palermo, Monreale, Cefalù, the temples of Segesta and Selinunte, Trapani, Erice, the Aegadian islands, San Vito Lo Capo beaches. Less common as a standalone trip, but a strong option for travellers who’ve already seen the east on a previous visit.
- Full island loop — both coasts in one trip. Requires 10 days minimum, ideally 12 to 14, and inevitably 2 or 3 bases. Not what we’d recommend for a first visit.
This guide is written primarily for the first group — people visiting East Sicily — because that’s the most common intent and also the area we know at street level. We’ll still cover Palermo and Cefalù honestly for West-leaning trips, but if your main interest is temples and the western beaches, the base logic flips and Palermo becomes the sensible answer.
One base or multiple? The honest answer
Most guides tell you to pick two or three bases, one per region. We disagree — at least for the typical 5-to-7-day East Sicily trip. Here’s the calculation nobody does out loud. Every time you change accommodation, you lose roughly two hours: check out, drive, find parking, check in, unpack. Do that twice in a week and you’ve burned almost half a day. Add the mental friction of packing and repacking, and the opportunity cost of not being able to leave a half-used bottle of wine or a pair of sandals in the room, and the multi-base model starts looking much less smart than the blog pictures suggest.
For an even broader frame on where to base in Italy, see our Italy honeymoon guide comparing 11 regions and making the case for Sicily as the unconventional honeymoon pick.
The alternative is to pick one good base and use day trips. A well-chosen base in East Sicily puts almost everything you’d want to see within 90 minutes by car. Etna, Taormina, Syracuse, Noto, Ragusa, the Vendicari nature reserve — all doable as day trips from the same bed. You leave in the morning, see a place, come back to familiar streets at night, sleep in the same room. It’s not only less stressful, it’s also cheaper — check-in fees, booking fees and the extra nights absorbed by transit days add up quickly.
When is a second base worth it? Three situations. First, if you’re staying 10 days or more and doing both coasts — then you’ll naturally want one east base and one west base. Second, if you specifically want to see Taormina by night (the lit-up Greek theatre is genuinely different from the daytime version) and don’t want to drive back to Catania at midnight, a single night in Taormina is a reasonable add-on. Third, if you’re travelling without a car and relying on trains, then you may need to change base simply because the rail network doesn’t radiate from a single hub the way a motorway does.
Otherwise, our recommendation is firm: pick one base, stay there, use day trips. For East Sicily that base is Catania, and the rest of this guide explains why on the numbers, not just because it’s where we live.
What makes a base actually good — our hub quality framework
Most articles describe bases with adjectives — “charming”, “lively”, “authentic”. None of these help you make a decision. A base is a logistical tool, and logistical tools should be compared on logistical criteria. After hosting a lot of guests and watching which ones had smooth trips and which ones wasted half their holiday in traffic, we’ve converged on seven criteria that actually matter.
- Airport distance. How long does it take from the plane door to your front door? An extra 60 minutes at each end of the trip is a lot.
- Train station quality. Can you actually reach other Sicilian cities without a car, at reasonable frequency and speed?
- Motorway access. Is there a proper A-road close by, or do you drive 30 minutes of winding provincial road before you can move?
- Walkable historic centre. Can you dump the car on arrival and never touch it until you want to do a day trip?
- Day-trip radius at 90 minutes. How many major sights are reachable on a return day trip without destroying your schedule?
- Food scene and everyday prices. Can you eat and drink well without paying tourist-trap prices?
- Mid-range accommodation availability. Is there real choice in the €80–€150 a night range, or only top-end resorts and hostels?
Here is how the main candidates compare on these criteria. We’ve been deliberately direct because hedging doesn’t help you decide.
| Criterion | Catania | Taormina | Syracuse | Cefalù | Palermo | Ragusa |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Airport distance | 15 min | 50 min | 55 min | 1h 10 (PMO) | 35 min (PMO) | 1h 30 |
| Train station quality | good | fair (hillside) | good | good (coastal line) | very good | limited |
| Motorway access | A18 + A19 | A18 | A18 | A20 | A19 + A29 | none direct |
| Walkable centre | yes (large) | yes (small) | yes (Ortigia) | yes (very small) | yes (large) | yes (medium) |
| Day trips in 90 min | 7+ major | 3 major | 5 major | 2 major | 4 major | 3 major |
| Food scene prices | low-medium | high | medium | medium-high | low-medium | medium |
| Mid-range accommodation | wide | limited | wide | limited | wide | limited |
Read the table and the answer almost writes itself. Catania is the only candidate that scores well on every single criterion. Syracuse is a strong second choice. Palermo is the equivalent winner if you flip the trip to West Sicily. Taormina, despite its reputation, is a poor base — it wins on atmosphere and loses on almost everything else that matters for day trips.
Sicily base candidates on the map
Before the area-by-area breakdown, here is the geography. We have pinned the 8 candidate bases discussed in this guide so you can see at a glance why we keep saying “East Sicily” and “West Sicily” as if they were different trips. Catania, Taormina, Syracuse, Ragusa Ibla and the Etna side of the island sit within a 90-minute radius of each other; Cefalù, Palermo and San Vito Lo Capo live on the far side of a two-and-a-half-hour drive. Agrigento, for completeness, is the one you visit on a day trip rather than sleep in. Click the map to load it (Google Maps cookies only load after you do).
Best area to stay in Sicily — area by area
Here’s the honest breakdown of each option, ranked by hub quality rather than by atmosphere or Instagram potential. Atmosphere matters, but you can visit a beautiful place without sleeping there.
Honeymooners often combine the area question with a full Sicily honeymoon itinerary — a single-base 10-day plan from Catania covering Taormina, Mount Etna, Ortigia and the Val di Noto baroque towns without changing hotels.
Catania — the base we recommend
Catania is the second-largest city in Sicily, and it’s built almost entirely in black lava stone and pale Sicilian baroque. It has the best-placed airport on the island (a 15-minute drive from the historic centre), a working train station with direct trains to Syracuse, Taormina and Messina, and direct motorway access to both the A18 going north towards Taormina and Messina and the A19 going west towards Enna and Palermo. From our door we can reach the Rifugio Sapienza on Mount Etna in 45 minutes, Taormina in 50, Ortigia in Syracuse in one hour, and Noto in 1h 15.
The city itself deserves at least two of your days. Piazza del Duomo with the Elephant fountain, the fish market in the morning, the baroque palazzi along via Etnea, Via Crociferi’s monastic street, and a generally excellent food scene built around locals rather than tourists. Prices for a mid-range hotel room or short-let apartment sit comfortably in the €70–€130 range, about half what you’d pay in Taormina for the same quality. Best for: single-base East Sicily trips, first-time visitors, families, travellers without a car. Downsides: the historic centre has traffic noise (pick accommodation one street back from the main arteries), and some areas around the station feel rough at night (they’re fine, just unremarkable). How long: 4 to 7 nights if it’s your single base for the entire trip. Where within Catania: the rectangle between via Etnea, piazza del Duomo, via Vittorio Emanuele and via dei Crociferi is the sweet spot — everything walkable, most restaurants within five minutes. Our detailed neighbourhood guide (in Italian — Google Translate handles it fine) goes deeper: i quartieri di Catania. For a full English-language breakdown of where to book, see our guide to the best neighbourhoods to stay in Catania.
Taormina — beautiful, but a poor base
Taormina is the postcard town. The Greek theatre with Etna behind it is genuinely one of the most striking views in Europe, Corso Umberto is a pleasant pedestrian walk, and Isola Bella below is a small pebble beach worth an hour. All of this you should see. Sleeping there is a different conversation.
Taormina sits on a cliff 200 metres above the coastal road, and getting in and out of it by car means either a steep switchback ascent with very limited parking at the top, or the cable car from Mazzarò beach below. Hotel rooms in July and August routinely hit €250–€450 a night for nothing special, restaurants have tourist menus in four languages and prices to match, and the day-trip radius is narrow — Syracuse is 1h 40 away, Noto is 2h, Ragusa is 2h 20. If you want to see the baroque towns you’ll spend a significant fraction of your holiday driving there and back. Best for: honeymooners who want one or two nights of the postcard, couples who don’t plan to leave the east coast. Downsides: expensive, limited as a base, parking nightmare, inflated food prices. How long: 1 to 2 nights at most, as a targeted add-on from another base. Our take: visit Taormina as a day trip from Catania (50 minutes each way, train or car) and sleep somewhere else. If you must stay one night, do it to see the theatre at sunset and the town after the day-trippers leave — but just one night. For the full day-trip plan see our guide (in Italian): Taormina in un giorno, or in English: things to do in Taormina. If you do decide to stay, our guide to where to stay in Taormina breaks down the five areas by budget, profile and logistics.
Syracuse and Ortigia — the solid alternative
If for some reason you don’t want to stay in Catania, Syracuse (and specifically the island of Ortigia, the historic centre) is the next best East Sicily base. Ortigia is an island connected to the mainland by two short bridges, entirely walkable, packed with honey-coloured baroque, the Piazza del Duomo is arguably the most beautiful square in the south of Italy, and the food scene is excellent. You can live without a car here if you want to.
The downside compared to Catania is that the geography slightly favours the south: Noto and Vendicari are close (30–40 minutes), but Etna is now 1h 20 away instead of 45 minutes, and Taormina is 1h 50. You haven’t lost access to anything, but day trips get longer. Prices are slightly higher than Catania but still reasonable, roughly €90–€160 for a mid-range room in Ortigia. Best for: travellers who prefer a smaller, more romantic base and are happy with slightly longer Etna/Taormina day trips. Downsides: Ortigia is small and crowded in peak season, hotel rooms tend to be more boutique and pricier per square metre. How long: 3 to 5 nights as primary base.
Cefalù — only if you’re doing the north coast
Cefalù is a beautiful coastal town an hour east of Palermo, with a Norman cathedral and a long crescent beach that is genuinely one of the best on the island. It also has a coastal train line that connects it to Palermo in 45 minutes. As a base for a north-coast trip it makes perfect sense. As a base for East Sicily it’s a bad idea: Taormina is 2h 45 away, Etna is 3 hours, Syracuse is 3h 30. You’d be driving every single day. Best for: travellers doing Palermo plus north coast plus beach. How long: 2 to 3 nights as part of a west-leaning trip.
Palermo — the right base for West Sicily
Palermo is a large, messy, wonderful city. The historic centre is vibrant and chaotic, the street food scene (arancine, panelle, sfincione, pane con la milza) is possibly the best in Sicily, the Cappella Palatina and Monreale cathedral contain some of the finest Byzantine-Norman mosaics in the world, and prices are low. If you’re doing a West Sicily trip, Palermo is the obvious base — it has the airport close by, direct motorway access to Trapani and the western temples, and the train line to Cefalù.
What it is not is a base for East Sicily. From Palermo to Catania is 2h 45 of motorway, to Taormina 3h 15, to Syracuse 3h. Nobody should drive that twice a day to see the east. If you’re torn between east and west and can only pick one base, look at what’s at the top of your must-see list and choose accordingly. Best for: West Sicily trips, street food lovers, travellers focused on Arab-Norman history and western temples. Downsides: traffic and noise in the historic centre, some rough edges. How long: 3 to 5 nights as West Sicily base.
San Vito Lo Capo — a beach-holiday base
San Vito sits on a promontory in the far north-west and has one of the best sand beaches in the country — a long crescent of fine pale sand with shallow water and the Monte Monaco promontory behind it. If beach is the reason you’re coming to Sicily and culture is secondary, this is a legitimate choice. It’s also completely impractical as a base for anything east of Palermo. Best for: a beach-first trip, couples looking for a resort week. How long: 4 to 7 nights if it’s the whole point of the trip.
Ragusa Ibla and the Val di Noto — charming but isolated
Ragusa Ibla, Modica and Scicli are three of the most beautiful baroque towns in Europe and the setting of the Montalbano TV series. Sleeping in Ragusa Ibla in particular, with its nights of empty honey-stone alleys, is unforgettable. But the Val di Noto sits in the south-east corner of the island, there’s no motorway, and getting anywhere takes time — Catania airport is 1h 30 away, Taormina 2h 30, even Syracuse is 1h 15. Also you really need a car; public transport here is thin. Best for: second-time visitors who already know the east-coast basics and want a slow-paced baroque week. Downsides: remote, car-dependent, limited mid-range accommodation. How long: 2 to 3 nights as an extension of a Catania or Syracuse base.
Agrigento — a day-trip, not a base
Agrigento exists on most itineraries because of the Valley of the Temples, one of the most important Greek archaeological sites in the world. You should absolutely visit it. You should not sleep there. The town itself is unremarkable, the temples can be visited in half a day, and the logistics — Agrigento is on the south coast, far from both Catania and Palermo, with no fast motorway — make it a poor hub for anything else. Visit it as a day trip from Palermo (2h drive) or as a break on a coast-to-coast transit day. How long: zero nights is the right answer.
Where NOT to stay (and why)
A few anti-recommendations, because the “all options are valid” framing that most guides give you actively wastes people’s holidays.
- Don’t stay in Palermo if you’re visiting only East Sicily. You’ll spend between 5 and 7 hours on the motorway every single day. People do this and regret it — we’ve met them.
- Don’t base yourself in Agrigento for a multi-region trip. Agrigento is a destination, not a hub. There’s nothing else within comfortable driving distance.
- Don’t split two nights per city for seven cities. The zig-zag model sounds comprehensive on paper. In practice you spend more time in lobbies and car parks than in museums.
- Don’t stay in a remote countryside villa if you don’t have a car. Sicilian public transport does not serve the countryside. An Airbnb in a pretty valley 20 km from Noto sounds romantic until you need to get a bottle of water at 8 pm.
- Don’t stay in Catania’s Corso Sicilia area right by the station if noise matters to you. It’s fine, safe and functional, but the main road is busy 24/7 — move two streets west into the old city.
- Don’t book a seafront room in Giardini Naxos expecting it to be Taormina. It’s fine for a cheap beach week, but the old town of Taormina is 200 metres uphill and there’s a cable car, not a direct walk.
Day trips from each base — realistic driving times
These are the numbers that should drive your decision. All times are one-way drive, not round trip, and they assume normal traffic — add 15 to 30 minutes in peak summer on the Catania–Taormina coastal road. They’re the real numbers we use when planning day trips for our guests, not the optimistic Google Maps numbers that assume an empty road at 3 am.
| From → To | Catania | Taormina | Syracuse | Cefalù | Palermo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount Etna (Rifugio Sapienza) | 45 min | 1h 15 | 1h 20 | 2h 45 | 2h 45 |
| Taormina | 50 min | — | 1h 50 | 2h 45 | 3h 15 |
| Syracuse (Ortigia) | 1h | 1h 50 | — | 3h 30 | 3h |
| Noto | 1h 15 | 2h | 35 min | 3h 45 | 3h 15 |
| Modica | 1h 40 | 2h 20 | 1h 10 | 4h 15 | 3h 45 |
| Ragusa Ibla | 1h 50 | 2h 30 | 1h 20 | 4h 20 | 3h 45 |
| Vendicari beaches | 1h 25 | 2h 10 | 45 min | 3h 55 | 3h 25 |
| Cefalù | 2h 45 | 2h 45 | 3h 30 | — | 50 min |
| Palermo | 2h 45 | 3h 15 | 3h | 50 min | — |
| Agrigento (temples) | 2h 15 | 3h | 2h 40 | 2h 15 | 2h |
Scan that table and the reason we insist on Catania becomes obvious. It’s the only base where the top seven East Sicily day trips are all under two hours each way, and five of them are under 90 minutes.
How long should you stay in each base?
If you’re traveling in shoulder season, factor a longer minimum stay (5-7 nights) into your base choice — the apartment-vs-hotel cost gap widens further off-peak, and the rainy-evening comfort of a kitchen-and-sofa setup matters more. Our Sicily in November and Sicily in December guides cover the where-to-stay logic specifically for late-autumn and Christmas-season trips, when a base-city apartment with kitchen and laundry beats a hotel.
Short version, for each candidate:
- Catania — 4 to 7 nights if it’s your single base (our default recommendation for a first trip to East Sicily). 3 nights if you’re combining it with a second base.
- Taormina — 1 to 2 nights maximum, as a deliberate add-on. Never a primary base for more than 2 nights.
- Syracuse / Ortigia — 3 to 5 nights as primary base, or 1 to 2 nights as add-on from Catania for people who want a change of scenery mid-trip.
- Cefalù — 2 nights, as part of a north coast or west-leaning trip.
- Palermo — 3 to 4 nights if West Sicily is your focus, zero if it’s not.
- San Vito Lo Capo — 4 to 7 nights, but only if beach is the entire point.
- Ragusa Ibla / Val di Noto — 2 to 3 nights, as a slow-paced extension of a Catania or Syracuse base.
Sample 7-day East Sicily itinerary from Catania
If you’re using Catania as your single base, here’s a tested week that hits everything most first-time visitors want to see, with no repeat driving and no multi-base moves. Mornings leave early, afternoons involve a siesta or late lunch, evenings stay local.
- Day 1 — Arrival and Catania old city. Land, drop bags, walk piazza del Duomo, the fish market (La Pescheria) if you arrive before noon, dinner on via Santa Filomena.
- Day 2 — Mount Etna and Aci Trezza. Morning drive up to Rifugio Sapienza (45 min), short hike around the craters. Afternoon at the Ciclopi sea-stacks in Aci Trezza, dinner back in Catania.
- Day 3 — Taormina. Drive or take the train from Catania Centrale to Taormina Giardini (30 min train + 15 min cable car). Greek theatre, Corso Umberto, optional climb to Castelmola. Back to Catania for dinner.
- Day 4 — Syracuse and Ortigia. One-hour drive south. Park on Ortigia, spend the day walking the island, Piazza del Duomo, the spring of Arethusa, seafood lunch. Optional afternoon at the Neapolis archaeological park.
- Day 5 — Noto, Vendicari and Marzamemi. 1h 15 drive. Baroque Noto in the morning, swim at Cala Mosche inside Vendicari nature reserve in the afternoon, fish dinner in Marzamemi.
- Day 6 — Val di Noto baroque loop. Modica (chocolate), Ragusa Ibla (Montalbano country), Scicli. Long day on the road but each stop is compact.
- Day 7 — Catania slow day and departure. Final market walk, a last granita, monastery of San Nicolò l’Arena, fly out in the afternoon.
If you want the full day-by-day breakdown with specific stops, driving details, parking advice and dinner suggestions, our detailed Italian itinerary goes section by section (Google Translate handles it well): Itinerario Sicilia orientale 7 giorni. The Etna half of the loop has its own deep guide: Etna da Catania, and the three days in the city proper are covered here: Catania in 3 giorni.
Getting to Sicily and moving around from your base
The two main airports are Catania (CTA) on the east coast and Palermo (PMO) on the west coast. Trapani (TPS) and Comiso (CIY) exist but are small, seasonal and primarily used by low-cost carriers. For East Sicily, always fly into Catania — it puts you 15 minutes from most decent bases and saves you a 2h 45 transit drive from Palermo. If Taormina is your first stop, our Catania airport to Taormina guide compares all five transfer options. For West Sicily, the opposite: fly into Palermo.
Trains in Sicily are limited but genuinely useful on a few key corridors: Catania to Syracuse (1h 15, frequent), Catania to Taormina-Giardini (30 min, frequent), Palermo to Cefalù (45 min, very frequent). The Catania–Palermo cross-island line exists but is slow and not competitive with a car. For anything involving Etna, Val di Noto, Vendicari or the countryside in general, you will want a car.
If you specifically want to visit Sicily without a car, your only two realistic base choices are Catania and Syracuse. Both let you do Taormina and each other by train, both have walkable historic centres, and between them you can cover maybe 60% of the East Sicily must-see list on public transport alone. Etna without a car requires joining a guided tour from the centre (easily arranged on arrival). Val di Noto without a car is very hard.
For where to base in winter — Etna ski day-trips, the Sant’Agata countdown in Catania and 35-50% off August prices — see our Sicily in January guide on Catania as a January base.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the best place to stay in Sicily for first-timers?
For a first visit, Catania is the best single base if you’re focused on East Sicily, and Palermo is the best base if you’re focused on West Sicily. Don’t try to split your first Sicily trip across more than two bases — the logistics eat your holiday.
Is it better to stay in Taormina or Catania?
Catania, for almost everyone. Taormina is beautiful but expensive, its parking is painful, and the day-trip reach is narrow — once you try to reach Syracuse or Noto from Taormina it becomes a two-hour drive. Visit Taormina as a day trip from Catania and sleep elsewhere.
Can I visit Sicily without a car?
Yes, if you stay in Catania or Syracuse and stick to the east coast. You can reach Taormina and Syracuse by train and do Etna on a guided tour. Val di Noto and the countryside require a car.
How many nights do I need in Sicily?
Five nights is the minimum for a worthwhile East Sicily trip. Seven nights is comfortable and covers everything. Ten nights lets you add west-coast sights or slow down.
What’s the best base for visiting Mount Etna?
Catania — it’s 45 minutes from the Rifugio Sapienza. Taormina is just over an hour, Syracuse is 1h 20.
Is Palermo or Catania a better base?
It depends which Sicily you’re visiting. Palermo is correct for West Sicily, Catania for East Sicily. They are almost three hours apart; using the wrong one means daily three-hour drives.
Where should I stay in Sicily with kids?
Catania works well for families: short transfer from the airport, walkable historic centre, plenty of casual food, and a sand beach (La Playa) 15 minutes by car. Avoid Taormina with young children (steep pedestrian town, expensive) and avoid remote countryside villas without a car.
The full audience-specific take with areas, when to go, and family-friendly day trips sits in our Sicily family holiday guide.
What’s the best area in Sicily for beaches?
San Vito Lo Capo in the north-west and Cefalù on the north coast are the island’s best sand beaches. On the east coast, the Vendicari nature reserve south of Noto is the standout. If beaches are your main priority, base yourself on the west coast.
Is it worth staying in more than one city?
Only for trips of 10 days or more that cover both coasts. For a standard 5-to-7-day East Sicily trip, one base (Catania) is better — less time lost to check-ins and repacking, more time spent seeing the sights.
What’s the best part of Sicily to stay?
The east. For most visitors — especially on a first trip or a 7-day itinerary — eastern Sicily gives you the best concentration of sights within a manageable radius: Mount Etna, Taormina, Syracuse, and the baroque towns of Val di Noto. Catania sits at the centre of it all, with Fontanarossa airport on your doorstep. If you are dividing your trip between east and west, keep Palermo as a separate base rather than trying to cover both coasts from a single central point.
What is the nicest part of Sicily?
It depends on what you are after. For dramatic clifftop scenery: Taormina. For baroque architecture: Noto and Ragusa Ibla. For ancient Greek history and maritime atmosphere: Ortigia in Syracuse. For a real, working Sicilian city with excellent food and easy logistics: Catania. Most first-time visitors find the south-east triangle — roughly Catania, Taormina and Noto — the most rewarding stretch, covering history, nature and food within a 90-minute driving radius.
If Catania is your base, see our guide to the things to do in Catania — the Baroque heart, Mount Etna, and honest tips from people who live here.
The information in this guide was correct at the time of writing. Data can change from season to season without notice: before you travel, always check the official channels and websites for updates. We review this guide periodically, but the official channels are always the authoritative source. We also cannot guarantee that the suggested routes or the attractions described are always reachable or accessible: roads, trails and sites may be closed, damaged, altered or unsafe. Assessing the practicability and safety of itineraries and attractions always remains your own responsibility.