Is it safe to drive in Sicily?

I just did this trip in reverse, in April-May 2014. My VERY detailed trip report is here: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/sicily-palermo-caltanisetta-siracusa-taormina

As you will see, I didn't do the driving. But my friend who did, didn't find it particularly difficult, although it is different from driving in the US. At no time did we consider it "unsafe."

Don't forget to get an IDP for each driver or potential driver (I had one, just in case).

Thank you :) I'll look it up

It has not looked difficult out the window of our tour bus :) You can find similar discussions if you search above for "driving Sicily." See also general driving tips at http://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/transportation/driving-europe-tips.

I drove (solo traveler) in April/May this year and it was pretty easy. Palermo and Catania are not particularly difficult, just very slow because of traffic. The interurban roads were all in good condition and mostly scenic. I did not go to Taormina but I drove in other "hill towns." The historic centers can be more challenging - narrow streets with sharp corners. I just went slowly. Are you okay with a manual transmission? They are generally much cheaper to drive than automatics. I'd also recommend the smallest car you can manage with, for ease of parking as well as in those narrow streets.

I rented a car for one day, to get daughter and me from Agrigento to Ortygia stopping at the Villa Romana del Casale. This was my first driving experience in Europe, and it was very easy. I drive a stick shift at home so did not worry about getting one there - though as I sat in this unfamiliar car, parallel parked facing up a hill in Agrigento, my daughter said I swore never to do this again! But in fact it was no problem.

However, looking at your itinerary, I'm not sure you need a car in Taormina [never been there] or Syracuse - unless you are doing day trips out of those towns. We spent 5 days in Syracuse with no car and had a great time. You might want to hold off on the rental till the end of your Syracuse stay and then use it to get to Agrigento and on to Palermo.

Have a great trip! And enjoy the driving!

Helloo!!
Thank you so much for your help! sadly i only know how to drive an auto! :(

You can rent an automatic - it will be more expensive and probably a larger car too. But they are available, especially if you rent from a larger company and/or a larger site (major city, airport).

I drove friends around Sicily for 2 1/2 weeks a few years ago. We picked up the car when leaving Syracusa, where you really don't need one. (In hindsight, I would have stayed fewer days in Syracusa anyway.) Hopefully GPS has improved because Sicily was not well mapped then. It frequently sent me through one car wide passages and once instructed "Turn right, now" which would have been straight into the ocean! But the good part is that Sicily has friendly, helpful people, many beautiful winding country roads, and not as much traffic as many parts of mainland Italy. I don't think you can see some of the best of it without a car, but try not to rent something too large.

Unless you have steel nerves, I would avoid driving in Palermo. You can probably do fine getting to the airport, even though there are often five lanes of cars in the three official painted lanes. Downtown Palermo is something else. I got in there by accident, and survived to tell the story, but I wouldn't recommend it!!

I've been told by Sicilian friends to use a Tomtom for directions rather than Garmin. For some reason Tomtom does better in Sicily. You can get a portable one, and suction cup it to the windshield. Load the maps of Sicily in the U.S. before you leave, and the verbal instructions will be in English. We did this for driving in both France and Spain and it worked beautifully.

Re your trip and car rental. I would take the train from Catania to Syracuse, and train to Taormina, train to Palermo , rent the
car on the 'outskirts' for the drive to Agrigento, return the car in Palermo and enjoy Palermo, Taormina, and Syracuse without a car. I think it would be fun to drive the West side of Sicily, but after being in Catania, Taormina, Palermo and Syracuse, don't think I'd particularly like driving those places or parking there.

We used a tour company in Taormina that drove us for day-trips out of Taormina to Catania and Syracuse and other places. We rented an apartment in Taormina and saved the $$ on hotels, and spent it on the luxury of the tour/driver for the East side.

Used: legendofsicily.com They rent apartments and some even have free parking.

If, however you want to drive, why not?

Just did almost this exact same trip, with the exception of adding Piazza Armerina between Syracuse and Agrigento and dropping our rental at the airport in Palermo and taking the bus into the city. Returned to the US on October 21.

We rented from Hertz and had a Hertz Neverlost GPS. Glad we had it although it sometimes took a bit to find a satellite connection first thing in the morning, was 14 months out of date, could not find our agriturismo in Piazza Armerina and occasionally was confused in large towns. But, it was needed.

Some general observations: the autostradas are fine. There are tolls between Catania and Taormina. We were a bit nonplussed, when we got off in Taormina, to find all toll booths to be unmanned. Took me a few seconds to realize you could throw a 2 euro coin in the hopper and get change.

Although we had a pin and chip card for self serve gas stations, every gas station we went to had broken machines and we ended up using cash.

A lot of people drive fast on the autostrada but many also drive slow.

Most of the stories you have likely read are true: streets in towns can be very narrow. Scooters are everywhere and while most car drivers observe lanes, scooters make their own. They are aggressive (this from a person who learned to drive in NYC), but more important, fearless.

When planning routes into towns and cities, I used Google Earth to "drive" routes, especially eyeballing vital intersections.

We found it useful for one person to drive and one person to be the designated navigator. As opposed to here in the US, there are many rotaries (traffic circles), so have an understanding of how they work.

Most rentals have manual transmissions. I've been driving a stick for years so it wasn't a problem. Italy is not the place to learn.

This was a different type of vacation for us: we always take trains. But to see more of Sicily, we felt we needed to drive and though it was sometimes a bit "crazy" (again, this from someone who drove into the South Bronx for 36 years), we were glad we did. I'd make sure all your hotels, B and Bs, etc have arrangements for parking. We didn't use our car in Taormina, Syracuse (Ortygia), or Agrigento. a car allowed us to get to Selinunte, Segesta, and Piazza Armerina. Taking the bus into Palermo, and back to the airport was a good idea. Palermo is nutty.

Some more thoughts, now that I think of them.

Yes, it it safe. Sometimes a bit different, sometimes a bit disconcerting, but absolutely safe.

If you do a general Google search, you will find some good web postings about how to use gas pumps in Italy. As opposed to here in the US, where each individual pump has a card reader, multiple pumps often work from a central location at the center of a multi-pump island. Most of these central pump pay stations have places for you to pay with euros. Worthwhile reading, if for nothing else, to familiarize yourself with the different grades of gas available. Our rental used diesel: know what your car uses.

The scariest road we were on was the winding road from Trapani (by the way, one of the nicest places we stayed at) to the hilltop town of Erice. The cable car from Trapani to Erice was out of service because of high winds. But the views are spectacular for the passenger: the drive to to busy navigating the narrow, winding road.

Let me clarify what I said about Palermo, a really worthwhile place to visit. Most guidebooks will tell you how bad the traffic is there, and from what we observed, they are correct. It was absolutely a good decision to drop our rental at the airport and take the bus. The bus stops right outside the terminal (if you search online, you will find info), and makes multiple stops until the final stop at the train station in Palermo. Total time was about 55 minutes and as I said, absolutely worth it.

All is all, we did about 600 miles worth of driving in three weeks. For all the aggressive and fearless driving, we saw only one accident: it happened in Trapani behind us when a drive from a side road attempted to cross a main road. As a general rule, there are many, many (many) less traffic lights and stop signs in Sicily than at home, forcing drivers to be aggressive.

Contrary to what some of said, we found road signs for villages, towns, and directions, easy to use and readily available. They are smaller than at home, but there. Once you get the hang of how they work, they are fine.

OH! wow!!!!

THANK YOU SO SO MUCH FOR YOUR DETAILED TRIP advises !!
I'm very grateful,

Now i'm back from my trip to Sicily!! we ended up renting a car from Euro car in Catania. From there we drove to Taormina (super narrow street), Savoca (The god father town), Syracuse, Noto, Agrigento and we gave the car back in Palermo.

We did not drive in Catania, we pick up the car after our trip. The City is really too busy. Plus there was no insurance for euro car in Catania.

The Highway is amazing, it was easy to drive and navigate. I ended up using Google map from my Iphone.
I did not rent a GPS. I bought a local sim card with data package.

The Sicilian are very nice, food were amazing and cheap. I want to go back!
The best Sicilian Seafood pasta I ever has was in Catania call "Al Gabbiano Societa' Cooperativa"

thank you,
Diana

Thanks for coming back! I'm really pleased you had a great time.