Hi, we're contemplating taking our lightweight tent away and hiring a car in Sicily in the autumn - has anyone been? We went a couple of years ago to Sardinia and had a great time, though we used the buses and trains there.
Fudge59
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Siciliy is a beautiful place and certainly worth a visit. My mother is from just outside of Palermo, and have driven down with family several times. Never been camping there weather is nice well into October, but beware of the thunder storms later on into September and October, they are torrential. If you like beaches (mondello beach outside of palermo is one of the nicest in europe in my view), nice weather, great food and plenty of historical sites, (greek, roman, norman, moors, etc), it's a great place to be. If it were me I'd get out there in september, many places start to close down later in the year, Sicily is mainly a destination for Italians, so it's busy in august then calms down once the August holiday is over.
As for driving if you are in the slightest bit a nervous driver sicily is not the place for you, they drive like mad-men, and YOU WILL NEED EYES IN THE BACK AND SIDES OF YOUR HEAD. It is almost a competition on who can go the fastest and do the most stupid thing and some things often defy the laws of physics.
Just another point on driving, hire cars in Sicily are fairly expensive, or at least they were, the one and only time I flew there. Most of which seems to be because it is highly probable that if you drive through a big city in Sicily (palermo, catania, messina, or even a little village come to think of it), without having previous experience of their antics, you are likely to get a bit of a bump. On the occasion were I had a hire car because it was a company rate I was not able to take out the insurance damage waiver either, luckily I escaped bump free but only just, having taken evasive action on several occasions.
The buses in Sicily are pretty good though, and are reasonably priced also. Trains are okay but can be a bit ad-hoc except for the main route (palermo - messina - roma).
Quote: Originally posted by Fudge59 on 12/3/2007
Surprised to see this thread being bumped!
i 'searched' for advice (for a friend) about sicily .. being confident that this site would be the fount of all knowledge re all things camping .. and was surprised to find so little information. I suppose the site is called ukcampsite
Back in 1969 we used to sail to Syracusa in the yacht we were living on in Malta, so as to qualify for our duty free booze allowance.(Gin 4s 4d per bottle and brandy 28 shillings per gallon, when the pound was split into 240 pence. Cigarettes were 10 shillings and sixpence for a carton of 200.
The best advice was to lock up your deckchairs etc, as otherwise they would be round the next morning trying to sell them back to you.
Fascinating place though and well worth a visit.
------------- Voyageur
Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
Went to Sicily some years ago - not camping - stayed in a hotel then called the Saracen Sands at Capaci.
We loved it there. The people are warm and friendly but don't refer to them as Italians. They will very quickly correct you. Food and climate fab and lots to see and do.
Driving amongst Sicilians is manic but the best thing you can do is join in with them! You'll soon get used to the cut and thrust of their style of driving.It's actually quite good fun.
Hi Catnaps, we stayed in Alghero at La Mariposa which was a nice site, close to town and on a bus route from the airport, Alghero is lovely.
We also took buses and trains across to other places, camped in Palau (sorry, can't remember which site it was), but it was a great site right by the sea.
Also had a night in the youth hostel in Castelsardo, which was OK when empty (when we were there) but would have been very noisy due to the echoey concete floors when full.
Would recommend it, because we travelled on buses/trains we stayed at sites near towns, but there are a lot more sites if you have your own wheels. There wasn't much English spoken there, but we really enjoyed it.
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: Anyone been to Sicily?
