Sicily

I visited Sicily with two girlfriends in September 2022 and we had an amazing time. The weather was really great, the food and wine was inexpensive, and driving around was easy. It was a perfect two night getaway.

The journey

We travelled with Easyjet and flew from Gatwick to Catania. We took an early flight so that we would have a full afternoon in Sicily. There is also an airport in Palermo however Catania was closer to where we were staying in Syracuse. Once we arrived at Catania we drove a hire car 45 minutes to Syracuse and parked in a large public car park on the edge of the town as parking in the centre is not possible as the streets are narrow with lots of permit only areas. This car park was only a ten minute walk to the centre.

Where we stayed

We looked at staying in the famously beautiful town of Taormina, however in the end chose Syracuse as the choice of affordable accommodation was better. We were really pleased with this choice as Syracuse is a very attractive town, it is fully walkable and can be fully explored in a day. There were good choices of restaurants and everything was very inexpensive compared to the UK. 

We stayed in an Airbnb with two bedrooms and a sofa bed so that we all had our own bed and didn’t have to share. The Airbnb – Suite Orange, Ortigia - was perfect for us as a group of adults but the stairs would be a nightmare with young children. 

How we spent our time

We went to Sicily for a relaxing sunny weekend away. So we spent the Friday and Saturday in Syracuse wandering around the shops, admiring the architecture, as well as eating and drinking. The pasta was incredible. On the Monday we left early morning and drove 1 hour 30 minutes to Taormina as we had heard so much about this town. Parking even on the outskirts was tricky but we eventually found a space in a public car park. We walked around the shops and had an early lunch overlooking the sea. It was lovely, and we were pleased to have visited, but it was not significantly more attractive than Syracuse. We then drove the 45 minutes back to the airport and were back at Gatwick by 7pm on the Sunday evening.