10 days in Sicily on our own. Recommendations?

what was wrong with the suggestions when you asked this 10 days ago? https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/please-recommend-a-trip-to-sicily-and-amalfi-coast-flying-into-sicily-and-leaving-from-naples

We have decided not to go to Amalfi Coast at all and fly directly into Sicily.

We will be going to Sicily in September so this is not based on personal experience on the ground but we decided to focus on Palermo for three days before heading south and east in a rental car to visit Cefalu, Agrigento, the Baroque cities/towns, the Southeastern coast and Ortigia. In my opinion, solely based on planning for our upcoming trip, you would be wise to pick either the West Coast or the East Coast of Sicily to concentrate on given the amount of time you have to spend. Enjoy your trip.

I’ve not stayed in AirBnbs but have gone twice to Sicily for two weeks at a time and highly recommend stays in Palermo & Ortigia (Syracuse) with visits to Agrigento, Cefalu and the Baroque cities of Ragusa and Noto. We liked Taormina less although for one or two nights you might enjoy it (VERY touristy).
The only place we felt underperformed was Trapani. Otherwise we love Sicily and still have much more to explore and revisit!

We just returned from 9 nights in Sicily. We stayed 3 in Taormina, 3 in Ortigia and 3 in Palermo. Unlike other posters, we very much enjoyed Taormina. I don't think it will be that touristy in March, it was not in April. We didn't stay in Airbnb's however in Palermo we stayed at Butera 28, which was apartments in a Palazzo, which we liked very much.

Of those 3 places Palermo had the most things to see indoors, Ie Opera theatre tour, more churches, etc. If I were to add a night anywhere it would probably be there, particularly if you are worried about rain etc. But we liked all 3 places.

Hi there, welcome to the Forum. The Search bar above is a great place to start, not to mention all the RS videos and descriptions of Sicily. The more you can tell us about your interests, plans, rent a car or not, how active you are, eras of history that may be of interest, foodies or not, the more detailed responses you will get! Here are a lot of trip reports on Sicily, hope that helps....

https://search.ricksteves.com/?utf8=%E2%9C%93&query=Sicily+trip+report&button=

We spent two fabulous weeks in Sicily in early October of 2023. Gorgeous weather, very warm, which of course influences the choice of travel experiences. A highlight for us was a 4 night stay in tiny Scopello, with hiking on the Zíngaro nature trail and swimming in the sea. The cathedrals in Palermo are over the top gorgeous too!
Surprisingly, in retrospect, we would have been ok with giving Mount Etna a miss. All personal preference I guess.
Driving in Sicily was surprisingly challenging for us Midwesterners. The roads are well maintained however due to the terrain it takes quite a bit of focus to deal with constant switchbacks, etc. whenever not on a major highway. And close to the cities traffic becomes crazy times ten!! So the day trips I planned took longer and were more stressful than ideal.
That said, all in all we loved Sicily and hope to return… in October:-)

Thanks all great advice!