Sicily on our own

[mdmc]

We are cruising the Mediterranean next May. We have a stop in Sicily. I know nothing about Italy or the ports. Can we walk, or take a bus ( taxi ) and go into town. We really would just like to walk around and enjoy this beautiful city by ourselves? If so what is the best way to do it?  Thanks.         

[CruiserBruce]

There are 4 or 5 towns where ships dock in Sicily. Which are you docking at? Each one is covered in great detail if you look around the board.

[FreestyleNovice]

Let's do Messina, the most used port I think.

 

Messina is not a beautiful city compared to other Italian cities. You can walk straight into Messina across the main cruise dock, get a coffee, a gelato and do some shopping but most of your fellow cruisers will go on tours further out to Taormina, mount Etna, Castelmola, etc.

[Hlitner]

I am going to guess that the OP is a novice, in terms of Europe.  Without knowing the actual port (Sicily has a few) simple means we all must speculate!  But if the port is Messina, we do not generally suggest that folks spend their day in that location.  Nothing wrong with Messina, but it is really not a popular tourist destination.  The center of town is within walking distance of the pier, and probably the best known site is the famous clock-tower.

 

From Messina, we generally recommend that first-time visitor plan on going to Taormina.  While it can be done on your own (using train to taxi, or just hiring car/driver), for folks without a lot of European travel experience we think it is well-advised to book either a cruise line excursion (that includes time in Taormina) or join with a few others on a private tour (this is best done by using the Cruise Critic Roll Call board for the specific cruise).

 

Hank

[edinburgher]

18 hours ago, mdmc said:

We have a stop in Sicily.

Not at all beautiful  Messina aside, could it be Palermo, Syracuse , Giardini Naxos or Catania?

 

mdmc, can you enlighten us?

Edited August 15 by edinburgher

[mdmc]

Thank you all for the info. Yes I am first time in Europe and yes we do dock in Messina (sorry). We thought we might be able to do it on our own but noe I think I will look at excursions with the ship 

[Vineyard View]

As suggested here, our first visit in Messina we went to Taormina. We thoroughly enjoyed our time there! Have a lovely first time in Europe! 

Edited August 20 by Vineyard View

[edinburgher]

20 minutes ago, mdmc said:

Thank you all for the info. Yes I am first time in Europe and yes we do dock in Messina (sorry). We thought we might be able to do it on our own but noe I think I will look at excursions with the ship 

Messina   Hmmmmm. Not a great deal to see or do there, probably an hour or so max of your day.  The striking/mechanical clock tower is actually quite famouus and quite rightly so. Lots of online info about it, but hardly worth staying in town all day for. 

 

As I assume you have not searched for any past threads about Messina, you could choose which to read from these, but I have also added past threads for Taormina as that is usually(but not always)  the #1 choice for first time visitors.

 

Messina

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/search/?q=messina&quick=1&type=forums_topic&nodes=464

 

Taormina

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/search/?q=taormina&quick=1&type=forums_topic&nodes=464

 

 

 

Edited August 20 by edinburgher

[edinburgher]

33 minutes ago, mdmc said:

We thought we might be able to do it on our own but noe I think I will look at excursions with the ship 

Note that it isn't always essential to have a shorex just because you want to venture out of town.As an example, Taormina can be visited without a shorex, in part one of the reasons I linked to past threads.

 

And do look for an active  Roll Call for your sailing as it is where you and your fellow passengers can exchange info, advice and ideas, and  as a first time visitor to Europe you may find this helpful.  It is also where you would find fellow passengers who have booked private small group  tours and who are looking for folks like yourselves to join them.

Edited August 20 by edinburgher

[mdmc]

10 hours ago, edinburgher said:

Note that it isn't always essential to have a shorex just because you want to venture out of town.As an example, Taormina can be visited without a shorex, in part one of the reasons I linked to past threads.

 

And do look for an active  Roll Call for your sailing as it is where you and your fellow passengers can exchange info, advice and ideas, and  as a first time visitor to Europe you may find this helpful.  It is also where you would find fellow passengers who have booked private small group  tours and who are looking for folks like yourselves to join them.

Thank you so much. I will do that 

[edinburgher]

12 hours ago, mdmc said:

Thank you so much. I will do that 

And should you have any future questions, not being rude, only trying to help, can I suggest that you give more info so that members  know what your question really is and can reply with relevant info.😉

Edited August 21 by edinburgher

[mdmc]

On 8/21/2024 at 8:38 AM, edinburgher said:

And should you have any future questions, not being rude, only trying to help, can I suggest that you give more info so that members  know what your question really is and can reply with relevant info.😉

 

[mdmc]

Sorry. As I said I am not familiar with Europe and did not realize there was more than one port. We just booked this cruise and I was trying to get as much information as I can. 

[edinburgher]

15 hours ago, mdmc said:

Sorry. As I said I am not familiar with Europe and did not realize there was more than one port. We just booked this cruise and I was trying to get as much information as I can. 

Not being familiar with Europe should not mean you do not know the names of your port calls.

 

Before booking, when looking at itineraries to help you decide which would be of most interest to you, you should have been able to see the names of the ports on the itinerary, and next to those names, if it is a tender port, there should have been a little anchor or the words "tender".  Also after booking, included in your booking confirmation there is also usually a note of the itinerary.  Should you not have this and you are still uncertain  of the names of some of your ports,  go to the website of your cruiseline and look at the itinerary for your ship and date.

 

Unless you are planning on taking only shorex everywhere, you will need to be a little proactive by doing some reasearch of your own to get you started on finding what your options could be depending on your personal interests.  Any questions you might still have can be asked on the boards.

 

You can find much of the info you are looking for online by doing some or all of the following.

 

Look at which shorex are being offered even should you not want to actually book one as they give an indication of the highlights of the area and what might be possible within your port timings.. 

 

The usual local "Tourist Information (name of town or city)" websites,

Tripadvisor, Frommer's, Fodors, YouTube, Rick Steves and anything else which appears when you  google"Tourist Information (name of city or town)" or similar.

 

Guidebooks.. if you can borrow from a local library so much the better.

 

Join your Roll Call as this is where you and your fellow passengers can exchange info, ideas and suggestions. It is also where you can look for others who might want to join any small group private tour you have arranged, or where others who have arranged such tours will post if they are looking for fellow passengers such as yourselves to make up numbers.

 

And read past threads as they can be an excellent source of info.  Easiest way to do this is to learn how to use the quick and simple SEARCH tool. You can do this on the appropriate geographical Ports boards for all your port calls.  Only knowing you are visiting Messina, you could choose from these.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/search/?q=messina&quick=1&type=forums_topic&nodes=464

 

 

 

I expect you are looking forward to your first cruise to some of Europe and port planning can be an enjoyable part of the trip as you are tailoring your day to your personal interests..

Edited August 23 by edinburgher

[Scottishclover]

We are big DIYers and almost always do our own thing in ports. However, I would highly recommend going further afield than Messina. We did a “In the Footsteps of the Godfathers” tour and it took you up into the mountain villages to the film locations of the various Godfather films. Our daughters had never seen the films, but it didn’t matter as the scenery was jaw dropping and you were away from the tourist crowds. I would recommend it wholeheartedly. On our return, we had a walk around Messina but it was nothing special. It was nice in the area around the cathedral but otherwise it wasn’t picturesque or atmospheric. Definitely try to take a tour here.