sicily - north south east or west coast?

B

briancbyrne

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Hi folks,

trying to organise a bit of a holiday and a few of us are looking at hiring a villa for a week.
Does anyone with any experience of the island have any opinions on which side of the island we should try base ourselves?
Interests would be beaching it, nice food and not really interested in much nightlife.

Appreciated

Brian
 
San Vito lo Capo is a lovely town with a great beach and plenty of restaurants. It's not far from Trapani airport.
 
Catania down south-east has plenty of beaches and the best weather.... but there are nicer areas of the island IMO. We did a 2 week driving trip around the island and loved the whole place. Late-night nightlife outside of Palermo is hard to come by. So luckily for you, there won't be many boozed up punters anywhere in Siciliy, although everyone eats out and drinks in cafes late.

Cefalu up on the north coast is really nice, but I don't recall it having much of beach. Maybe ther are some nearby I didn't come across. But it has amazing restaurants etc..... And the town itself is beautiful.

Taormina is also fantastic, although it can be over run with tourists at times... But for old world grandeur (Cannes style) it's hard to beat. It's got a 1960s movie glitz about it. The beach isn't brilliant (quite stony) but was always busy.

Up around the N-E and near Trapani airport, the place is different again. Not as many tourists and the place is much more rural. Not a sinner speaks English in that part of Sicily, as far as I could gather. So if, like us, you have only basic Italian, brush up on it before you go. Erice, overlooking trapani, is nice for a vist. But again, I'm not sure of the beach count in that area.
 
Taormina is fabuous but expensice. Stay down the road in Gardina Naxis and get a taxi or bus up there a few evenings. Masive price differnece in both places.
 
It seems you may be looking for a quieter holiday on the island so I'd recommend Sciacca/Erice. Not many tourists and good connections. The eastern side of Sicily is just begining to invest in tourism while the western side is faily overrun with it unfortunately, but still beautiful. Having said that the province of Ragusa is up & coming in farm holidays and villa rentals and well worth considering; beaches are fantastic too.

Have a wonderful time on this fantastic island!
 
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