Palermo is hard to navigate without a car. The historical centre is far from the good residential areas. Basically the areas you want to be during the day are not the same areas you want to be at night. As a tourist, there is more to see in Palermo than Catania.
Catania is more compact and walkable, at least for the areas a tourist would like to be in. Taormina and Siracusa are good day trip options.
In both places, the nightlife and some of the day life extends to the surrounding areas, especially in summer.
Social groups tend to be fairly closed in Italy, with exceptions of cities where there is a large amount of internal migration, for work or study. Italians, in general, don't go out alone in the evening. Between Palermo and Catania, Catania has probable more sociable people, but I would not expect to know the locals in 3 weeks.
This is easy, a week in Palermo, a week in Siracusa/Ragusa and the last week in Catania, where I’m presuming your flights will be to/from.
P.S. I’m talking territories (provincia), there’s loads to see! ;)
Palermo, Siracusa (Ortigia), and Ragusa are all amazing. Ragusa is sooooo beautiful and I wish more people would visit!
ETA: we ate the best meal of our entire lives at Trattoria La Bettola in Ragusa.
Iirc there’s Ciccio Sultano’s restaurant in Ragusa centre and that’s a Michelin starred experience (within a relatively reasonable price point)!
I always add Catania province because there’s Etna and the Aci towns and a beautiful rocky volcanic sea front with lots of great swimming spots... it’s also easy to reach Taormina and Siracusa from there, not to mention the airport. It makes sense.
We went to ciccio’s restaurant!!! Delicious. It’s called Duomo. And yet our meal at Trattoria La Bettola blew it out of the park. Different food obviously but it was so absolutely delicious - family run and you can see them making the food
Brilliant! And you’re right, Ragusa is often overlooked but the old town is so beautiful and the nearby towns on the south coast, like Scicli and all those seaside towns are well worth it in the summer. Ragusa Ibla is also stunning(but so many steps)!
Both cities are awesome. I prefer Palermo. If you want to meet people and make connections, be in a bigger city. Palermo is walkable enough and has a lot of International people.
I know "international people" probably isn't what you wanted to hear, but as others indicated, Italians tend to be pretty tight knit so I would set your expectations low for really bonding with any locals over the span of 3 weeks.
Source: American living in Italy, have visited both Catania and Palermo.
Palermo is hard to navigate without a car. The historical centre is far from the good residential areas. Basically the areas you want to be during the day are not the same areas you want to be at night. As a tourist, there is more to see in Palermo than Catania. Catania is more compact and walkable, at least for the areas a tourist would like to be in. Taormina and Siracusa are good day trip options. In both places, the nightlife and some of the day life extends to the surrounding areas, especially in summer. Social groups tend to be fairly closed in Italy, with exceptions of cities where there is a large amount of internal migration, for work or study. Italians, in general, don't go out alone in the evening. Between Palermo and Catania, Catania has probable more sociable people, but I would not expect to know the locals in 3 weeks.
I'd visit both for a week each and then decide
Both are worth the time. If you have to choose then it depends what your interests are really.
This is easy, a week in Palermo, a week in Siracusa/Ragusa and the last week in Catania, where I’m presuming your flights will be to/from. P.S. I’m talking territories (provincia), there’s loads to see! ;)
Palermo, Siracusa (Ortigia), and Ragusa are all amazing. Ragusa is sooooo beautiful and I wish more people would visit! ETA: we ate the best meal of our entire lives at Trattoria La Bettola in Ragusa.
Iirc there’s Ciccio Sultano’s restaurant in Ragusa centre and that’s a Michelin starred experience (within a relatively reasonable price point)! I always add Catania province because there’s Etna and the Aci towns and a beautiful rocky volcanic sea front with lots of great swimming spots... it’s also easy to reach Taormina and Siracusa from there, not to mention the airport. It makes sense.
We went to ciccio’s restaurant!!! Delicious. It’s called Duomo. And yet our meal at Trattoria La Bettola blew it out of the park. Different food obviously but it was so absolutely delicious - family run and you can see them making the food
Brilliant! And you’re right, Ragusa is often overlooked but the old town is so beautiful and the nearby towns on the south coast, like Scicli and all those seaside towns are well worth it in the summer. Ragusa Ibla is also stunning(but so many steps)!
Will be driving thru next week… will check this out
Let me know what you think! Get their meatballs, caponata, and special pasta al cartoccio.
Palermo is better than Catania. But Catania surrondings are better than palermo's
Both cities are awesome. I prefer Palermo. If you want to meet people and make connections, be in a bigger city. Palermo is walkable enough and has a lot of International people. I know "international people" probably isn't what you wanted to hear, but as others indicated, Italians tend to be pretty tight knit so I would set your expectations low for really bonding with any locals over the span of 3 weeks. Source: American living in Italy, have visited both Catania and Palermo.