Sicily for First-Timers: Taormina or Palermo as Your Base?
Updated: Sep 30
Most people who call me about Sicily have already picked Taormina. They saw San Domenico Palace on The White Lotus, or a friend came home talking about the Greek theater with Etna smoking behind it. For a lot of first trips, Taormina is the right call. But Sicily is a big island, and the town you pick decides how much of your week you spend in a car. So the base is the first thing I settle with anyone I'm sending there.
Here's how I make that call.
Taormina or Palermo: which is better for a first trip to Sicily?
Taormina is better if you want a slower trip built around the sea, a great property and easy day trips. Palermo is better if you want a real city, serious food and more history than you can see in a week.
Taormina | Palermo | |
|---|---|---|
Nearest airport | Catania, about an hour by car | Palermo, about 35 minutes |
Nonstop from New York | Delta from JFK to Catania, seasonal | United from Newark to Palermo, seasonal |
Pace | Resort town, walkable, quiet at night outside summer | Loud, busy, a working city |
Best day trips | Mount Etna, Ortigia and Siracusa | Monreale, Cefalù, Segesta |
Where I'd book | San Domenico Palace, Grand Hotel Timeo | Villa Igiea |
Delta's JFK to Catania flight runs daily from spring into October. United's Newark to Palermo flight is a summer route. For my clients leaving from New York, that pair of flights shapes the whole itinerary. I'll get to why below.
Why do most first-timers choose Taormina?
Because it's the easiest version of Sicily to enjoy. The town sits on a ledge above the Ionian Sea, and you can walk all of it. Corso Umberto runs from one gate to the other, and the Teatro Antico is five minutes off it, with the best view on the island.
There's a cable car down to Mazzarò and Isola Bella if you want the water. Etna is close enough for a morning with a volcanologist guide and lunch at a winery on its slopes. And Ortigia, the old island center of Siracusa, is about an hour and a half south.
The catch is July and August. Corso Umberto fills with day-trippers from the cruise ships by late morning. My clients who go in peak summer do the town early and spend the middle of the day at the property.
Where should you stay in Taormina?
San Domenico Palace, a Four Seasons, is where I put most first-time clients. It's a 15th-century Dominican convent, and the cloister and gardens are real. The terraces look straight down the coast to Etna. As a Four Seasons Preferred Partner, I can add daily breakfast for two, a property credit, and an upgrade when one is available.
Belmond's Grand Hotel Timeo is the other one I book. It sits right beside the Greek theater, so you're closer to the town's best sight than anyone else. My Belmond Bellini Club access adds breakfast and a credit there as well. If a client wants to be on the water instead of above it, Belmond's Villa Sant'Andrea is down in Mazzarò.
Why would you choose Palermo instead?
Because it's the better city, and some travelers want a city. Palermo was ruled by Arabs and then Normans, and the buildings from that period are a UNESCO World Heritage site. The Cappella Palatina, inside the royal palace, is covered in gold mosaic floor to ceiling. The cathedral at Monreale is twenty minutes up the hill, and it's even bigger.
The food is the other reason. I send clients through the Ballarò market with a private guide for panelle, sfincione and arancine. In Palermo it's arancina, feminine. In Catania it's arancino. People there care about this more than you'd expect.
Palermo is not polished. The traffic is chaotic, and parts of the old center still look rough. Clients who love Rome's energy tend to love Palermo. Clients who want Portofino tend not to.
Where should you stay in Palermo?
I book Villa Igiea, a Rocco Forte property. It's an Art Nouveau villa on the water in Acquasanta, about ten minutes from the center. It has a garden, a pool and a sea view, and that matters in a city this intense. You spend the day in the old town and come back to quiet.
Can you do Taormina and Palermo on the same trip?
Yes, and on anything longer than a week, it's how I usually build it. I start with three nights in Palermo and follow with four in Taormina, with a private driver in between.
The drive straight across is about three hours. I rarely do it straight. We'll stop in Cefalù for lunch by the water, or go down through the middle of the island to see the Roman mosaics at Villa Romana del Casale.
Here's where the flights come in. From New York, I fly clients into Palermo on United out of Newark and home from Catania on Delta into JFK. There's no backtracking across the island on the last day, and no connection through Rome. On a week in Sicily, that saves most of a day.
When is the best time for a first trip to Sicily?
Late May through June, or September into early October. The sea is warm, Etna is clear more often than not, and the crowds are thinner than in August. Both nonstop flights from New York run in those windows, too.
In July and August, it's very hot inland and Taormina is at its most crowded. In winter, Palermo still works well, but a number of Taormina's best properties close for part of the season.
Let's figure out which Sicily is yours
If you're thinking about Sicily for 2027, book a call with me. Tell me how you like to spend a vacation day, and I'll tell you which base fits. I'll also tell you whether the trip should cover both.
Alex Ziselman is the owner of A2Z Travel Design, an affiliate of Gifted Travel Network, a Virtuoso member agency.
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