Advice on our 11 day Sicily Vacation in September 2020

kgiurdanella - For your 11 days Sicily tour, you can actually have two bases in Sicily without the hassle of relocating often. You can choose Palermo as a base for such places like Monreale, Cefalu, Agrigento, Segesta, Selinunte and Catania or Siracusa for Taormina, Noto, Modica, and Ragusa.

I have always found having a car affords some additional mobility and flexibility, unless you are staying in larger cities. You could rent a car part of the trip but not all of it to visit the small towns in Sicily. Palermo has good public transport and Catania as well. Book a hotel where you can park it if need be, even if there is an extra charge for it.

https://www.autoeurope.com/car-rental-sicily/

Eleven nights gives you just ten full days, which is not enough time to cover Sicily comprehensively. I think you're trying to go to too many places and won't have enough time to really enjoy them. The first thing I'd drop is the day-trip to the Aeolian Islands. You really don't have enough time for mainland Sicily, and a day-trip would give you very few hours actually in the islands. That day is critically needed for other places on your list.

Palermo is a large city with aggressive drivers and not a lot of traffic signals. Believe me, you don't want to drive there. A car will be helpful for much of the rest of the trip because it will allow you to move around faster. To use public transportation you'd need to cut back your target list or add more days. Sicily can be seen by public transportation (mostly), but my 17-18 days wasn't long enough.

I disagree with RJean about the advisability of trying to see Sicily from just two bases. You can take a look at ViaMichelin.com's driving-time estimates, but keep in mind that they do not allow for any stops, traffic problems, getting lost, looking for parking, etc.

Rick issued his first guide book to Sicily this year. Get hold of a copy and dig into the sightseeing possibilities. I note that you have not mentioned the Baroque cities in the southeast (Ragusa, Noto, Modica and Scicli). It's a shame to get to Siracusa and not see any of them. However, I don't see how you can add that area without cutting something else.

I don't suppose you have any flexibility as to the timing of your trip, but Sicily will probably be extremely hot during the time you're there. A rental car will at least allow you to avoid standing at outdoor bus stops when it's time to travel to another town.

Thank you both for your advice! acraven - I have a copy of Rick's Sicily book - I've been going through it. My itinerary is not far off from some of his itinerary recommendations for the same amount of time. Thanks for the thoughts on the Aeolian Islands - I actually got the idea of a day trip from Taormina to the Aeolian Islands from Rick's book too, but definitely something to keep in mind. Right now, I'm thinking I'll spend 2 nights in Palermo, 2 nights in Cefalu, 2 nights in Taormina, 2 nights in Ortigia, and 3 nights in Catania. More moving than I'd like but that seems to work to hit all the sights I'd like to see and renting when we leave Palermo. I realize I don't have much in the Southeast or the Temple, but they're not high on my list of to do's compared to some of the other items I have so I'm okay missing them this trip. I have a little time so I'm still working to refine the details before booking my hotel. Thanks again so much for the advice!

I am one who disagrees with all Rick's itineraries because he shortchange the most interesting destinations.

I am puzzled about your allocation of 3 nights to Catania. It has an attractive historic area, but it's a place most visitors either skip totally or spend one night in because they are flying in or out of the city. In addition, Catania and Taormina are only about 40 miles apart, so you are spending almost half your nights in that one tiny area, plus incurring the time-cost of a hotel change.

Cefalu is also about 40 miles from Palermo; I wouldn't want to stay in both on a short trip like this. In addition, I'd need a lot more time in Palermo than in Cefalu.

My itinerary is not far off from some of his itinerary recommendations for the same amount of time.

I think you were smart to start with a Rick Steves itinerary and work from it. Perhaps I think that because it's the same thing I do :-)

In doing so, I have to remind myself that, on the tours, they have the transportation and logistics worked out and coordinated to maximize tour time. It would be very hard to replicate that pace on my own. And they usually see half the things I would want to see. So I typically at least double the number of nights on a RS itinerary when planning my own.

I spent a similar amount of time in Sicily and only visited the East and Southeast, with a car so I wasn't beholden to public transport times. My bases were Giardini Naxos (for Taormina, Castelmola and Mt Etna), Ragusa, visiting Noto and Modica on the way to a base in Ortigia, with 2 nights (1 full day) in Catania before flying out.

Hi

We were in Sicily in 2018 and spent two weeks -- Mt. Etna, Siracusa, Modica, Agrigento and Palermo. We went into Catania (from Mt. Etna) one day to go to the Museo Dello Sbarco in Sicilia 1943, which I highly recommend. I'm not sure I'd want to spend more time there though, sadly.

We loved our three days in Ortigia, Modica not so much.

In Palermo we took a walking tour called Addio Pizzo which is about the Sicilian resistance to the Mafia. If you're interested in the Mafia, this tour will give you a great perspective. It was a fabulous tour.

Enjoy!

DD

Two good bases would be Palermo and Siracusa/Ortigia. You have not included Sicily’s most memorable antiquity, Agrigento and the Valley of the Temples. But you have so little time for large island with so many outstanding sites.

Thanks everyone for the feedback. We are departing out of Catania, which is why is makes sense for us to stay there for a couple of night and we want to return our car before returning to the airport (we have a very early flight the day we leave), so a couple of nights in Catania seem to make sense. We also have some extended family there, so we're working out connecting with them for a short time. But, we have decided to adjust it to 2 nights in Catania and 3 nights in Taormina. I've given it a lot of thought and plan to move a little bit more than originally planned to make sure we can hit all our sights. I'm sure Palermo has a lot to offer, but our interests can only sustain so much history so we generally do not enjoy a full itinerary of museums and historical sights.

CW Social - definitely agree about taking RS as an outline and then adjusting more / less to suit our needs and also account for our own travel (versus traveling with a group). It's worked out well for us in the past!

Thanks Deidre for the suggestions - I'll check those out.

From many places in eastern Sicily, including Taormina, you can get direct buses to Catania airport. You can also drive there and drop off the car on the way to the plane. So, unless you have a very early flight, I wouldn't stay in Catania just because of its airport. (I didn't get to Catania, so I can't comment on seeing it for itself).

I was there in April-May 2014 and had a similar length of time as you will. If you want a long read with lots of details, here's my trip report: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/sicily-palermo-caltanisetta-siracusa-taormina