4-day one way car rental in Sicily

Just note that 2 nights is not 3 days
It is 1 full day plus whatever time on arrival and departure days

We always book thru AutoEurope.com
See what they offer
Take note of open/closed times at rental agencies most closed on Sunday, closed mid day during the week and at noon or so on Saturday

Thanks, ChristineH!

I had checked out the website you mention - are they basically a broker for other (local) car rentals? Rates are better than on e.g. Booking.com but rental car pickup at Palermo station seemed limited.

We arrive in Palermo Monday morning, in Taormina sometime Tuesday (day 1). We stay nights Tuesday to Wednesday, and Wednesday to Thursday, and leave Sicily on the night train Thursday night - thus spanning 3 weekdays, with two of them basically full days. But how and where to wrap it up Thursday evening perplexes me even after I did my research.
Thank you!

As I read this you are only spending 3 nights in Sicily, and you need to be in Taormina at least one night, which is the middle night of the three. Having done a two week tour of Sicily earlier this year, it seems unrealistic and unpleasant in the extreme to dash all over the island in that very short time to see Monreale and Agrigento, worthwhile as they are. Palermo is a wonderful city, but trying to see in a couple hours from the train station after coming off an overnight train and then do the worst possible thing you could do in Palermo, which is drive there, you will hate it and you would have been better off not going at all. Then a rushed visit to Monreale and a long drive to Agrigento. You won’t have time or energy to see the temples that same day, so that would be the next morning? Doing that and driving to Taormina will take a full day. Then you’ve got the next day to do whatever in Taormina area, that’s fine, and another full day after that before having to get the midnight train in Messina (ouch!). What I would do with such limited time is make the most of the northeast corner of Sicily. Get off the train in Messina, rent your car there (although you could well do what I suggest with buses and maybe a day tour or two), and go to Taormina. It’s not my favorite town in Sicily, small and touristy, but it is lovely and a good base, and you have a reason to need to be there anyway. Spend your 3 nights there, and use your days to see Taormina, Mt. Etna, and perhaps a day trip to Catania which, while not as rich in places to visit as Palermo, is a somewhat underrated city that has plenty of appeal. Perhaps you can catch your train in Catania rather than Messina, which is pretty close to Taormina as you know but has nothing of interest to see as it was flattened by an earthquake in 1908.

AutoEurope is a US based consolidator with excellent service and often the best rates
I would never book a car with Booking.com

You can try AutoEurope.eu or kemwel.com
Same company

If you keep the car in Taormina be sure to figure out where you will park

ETA
If you are searching for a car using a time that agencies are closed you won’t get results

I agree with slate-you are trying to squeeze in too much
Doubt you will get any sleep on that overnight train to Palermo

I wish you luck but I don't think you're at all realistic about this itinerary.

1 Yes, there are rental offices near the train station but I haven't heard of most of them before. There is a Sixt office near the harbor which isn't far that I have used and would recommend.
2 There are various luggage storage options. They can be random businesses that are tied into a franchise or network but some are independent. I have used various services and never had a problem
3 Is your plan to be able to sleep on the night train? Maybe google folks' experiences trying to sleep and see how it compares to your expectations.

I'm not trying to be rude, but this itinerary is like something from the Amazing Race. It is IMO a fundamentally bad idea.

This is kind of a crazy super rushed trip. How can you squeeze all of that in such a short time?
Yes there is a luggage storage (Deposito Bagagli) at the Palermo Centrale station managed by Kibag. There are also various luggage storage service companies that utilize local shops or hotels, such as Baggy Lockers, Luggage Hero, Radical Storage, Stow Your Bags, Nanny Bag, etc.
There are car rental offices downtown Palermo, but not exactly at the station. There is Avis-Budget, EuropCar, Enterprise-Locauto-National, near the Notarbartolo train station, there is Hertz near the Teatro Politeama Garibaldi, there is Sixt near the Cruise Port.
Just going to any of the above rental from the station and the rental pick up process will likely take you almost one hour. Then you have to drive to the Duomo of Monreale. That's at least 30 minutes in street traffic, and driving in Palermo requires the skills of a NYC taxi driver. Good luck finding parking near the Duomo of Monreale. If you do, try here. If you have luggage in the trunk you are taking a risk to leave it unattended, but maybe better than elsewhere since they have personnel there. However a more sensible option is to go to Monreale by bus or taxi, while your luggage is still at the station, then pick up the car after you are done. The only issue is time, as you don't seem to have a notion of how long it takes to visit a city like Palermo. You intend to go to Agrigento and get there I presume before it's dark. The drive from Palermo to Agrigento is about 2.5 hours and it is not on a freeway. You can take the freeway via Caltanissetta, but it's 50 km longer at least.
Once in Agrigento, I presume the next day you want to see something, maybe the Valley of the Temples, that's a half day endeavor, after which you need to drive to Taormina, which is over 200 km (130 miles), nearly all freeway, so you should make it in 2.5 hours. In Taormina traffic is restricted in the city, so you need to find accommodations out of the city or park at a parking lot outside the walls. There are multistory parking lots at Porta Pasquale and Porta Catania (I usually parked at the latter).
There is Avis-Budget in Taormina, if you plan to return the car there, otherwise you can return the car in Messina, which has all the major rentals except for Sixt, which is only present at Catania airport.

I found the best car rental rates, for the two of us, through AutoEurope.eu from the Palermo airport.
Adding full coverage insurance and 2 drivers, Budget was the best rate for us.
Be sure to contact your hotel and ask for help with where to park the car. Some hotels have valet parking, etc.
Have a great time with your family.

hey hey christina.o.1109
welcome aboard the forum
like so many "newbies" traveling to italy, everyone in a hurry to get here there and everywhere thinking the car will be better in more ways than one. you are overplanning too much with short times. don't forget you will need to get an IDP (aaa.com/IDP) which is mandatory for both drivers before getting to italy. take pictures of car before leaving rental area so no unexpected fees when returning. read all about laws/rules/ZTL zones, parking, driving and small roads hardly to drive through
check-in times to hotels is 3-4pm and check-out times 10-11am, like Chris mentions please read reviews about train travels at night.
totally agree with Chris without being rude, my own opinion, will be an absolute nightmare/crazy rushed trip.
june is high high season & HOT, so crowded everywhere in big cities you plan on being in, you can read some posts here mentioning how horrible it is with the crowds. this night train will take 11+ hours with so many stops along the way to roma termini, no sleeping, bumpy ride, not my cup of tea to travel like this to save $$$, no way.
what day & time is your flight out of FCO back to USA/CANADA?? good luck
aloha

Hi All,
thanks so much for taking the time to share your experiences and opinions. I have been reading in this forum for a while, and decided to post because there's a lot of good advice. And you have all given me some good information and valid concerns.

Let me clarify that I am not a "newbie" to Italy, just haven't been in Sicily. I have been to Italy 5 times if you don't count 10+ trips to the Italian Alps - I am actually from Europe, and have travelled nearly exclusively by train (or as a kid, also in the family car), including overnight. We are also not the type of travelers who typically travel in a rush. I actually always tell others who go to a country the first time to take their time - see less, experience more. We went to Lake Como in 2016 with a then 9-year old; we came by train from my home country where we were visiting my very elderly mom. We visited the local Tourist office and asked a grumpy attendant for a map and some things to do with a kid. She started rattling one day-visit options until I stopped her and said we'd be staying 8 days in one spot. That elicited the biggest smile and a lot of friendly information. We had planned to go back in 2020 for 11 days but the pandemic happened.

I totally agree that Palermo deserves more than a glimpse and we will be driving a lot the first 2 days in Sicily.
But our trip as a whole is framed by my son's school trip itinerary - he's going with his Latin teacher who has lived several years in Italy and is also an archeologist. We have to meet the group in the vicinity of Taormina on a specific night to pick up our son (otherwise he'd gotta fly back home with the group) and unless we want to cut our stay in Rome way too short, and spend less than 3 days on Amalfi coast (with Salerno as a base thanks to its good ferry connections ), we just don't have more days in Sicily. We are returning from there to Rome to meet up with colleagues/friends at a university there, then have some more unscheduled Rome time, before taking an inner-European flight to visit family for close to a week (staying in one place!).
Night trains aren't for everyone, I agree. My Italian colleagues thought it a viable option. I'd rather travel by night than spend precious hours of a vacation day commuting to and from airports. I see the train/ sleeper car as an adventure - maybe we won't do it again. I can report back : )

Seeing Agrigento is kind of a bucket list thing for me - even though it will be rushed. But we are staying the night there in walking distance from the temples at an agrotourism B&B, so at least it will an immersive experience. I don't think we have enough time to take the bus to Agrigento... Thus, rental car it has to be...
Driving in Palermo to get on the cross island road is certainly not ideal, but the time we might get stuck in traffic won't be longer than the time it would take to commute to the airport to get a rental car there. Please let me know if you think otherwise - that's why I posted - I value the opinion of those who have been there. Would you rather go to the airport (30-45 minutes commute?) to avoid Palermo traffic?

Maybe we should skip Monreale, especially since the main church closes midday, and I do share some concerns about luggage safety in the car. It would give us more time for a morning stroll in Palermo to just get a glimpse of it - we do hope to come back here, and the rest of Sicily, with much more time to spend. But who knows when that may be. I never thought we couldn't return to Lake Como as planned for the reasons we couldn't...

For those of you who have been to Monreale: Would you recommend to skip it for a less rushed day? Or is it absolutely a must-see that one shouldn't miss no matter what? I am very aware that there will be other fabulous site on Sicily we will not see (e.g. Noto)...

Many thanks!!

I hear you, but no. Just no. Sorry, but your plan is just awful. Don’t do it. See Palermo, Agrigento and Momreale another time when you have reasonable time to do it. See the bit of Sicily you have time for, around Taormina.