Best way to get to Palermo Sicily

We've done this by buying a roundtrip ticket from the US to Rome, then flying a budget airline from Rome to Catania, spending a week in Sicily & ending up in Palermo, then flying another budget airline from Palermo back to Rome. We toured Sicily by rental car, stayed mostly at B&B's, and it worked out great. I avoid long ferry rides - such as Naples to Palermo - because I'm prone to get seasick. But that probably is cheaper than plane or train (although maybe not by much).

You need the Lonely Planet "Sicily" book. What is cheapest depends entirely on the airfares for your dates. What is easiest would be to fly into Sicily, either Palermo or Catania, probably from Rome, possibly from Naples. There are also overnight ferries from Naples, and both day and night trains from both Rome and Naples. For cheap airlines see: whichbudget.com For trains see: seat61.com, trenitalia.it and bahn.de For ferries see: http://www.directferries.co.uk/ and http://www.traghettiweb.it/en/tw_index.php

Thanks Cathy, I'll get the book. I was checking flights from NC to Palermo and then return home from Rome. Seems like alot of folks enjoyed the ferry from Naples to Palermo so I thought that might be a better price option.

Probably not easiest... but both times we've been to Sicily we figured out where in Europe it was cheapest to fly from our home (one time Brussels, one time Munich) and then took one of the intra-European airlines from that city. This gave us the bonus of experiencing another European city while we were at it. We've flown into both Palermo and Catania. I've used Skyscanner.com for help.