Catania or Taormina?

Where would you have already been on the tour?

Personally I would go to the Baroque towns where I don’t think the tour goes. We had two nights in Ragusa with a car and wished we had three nights.

Is this the Rick Steves tour? If you didn’t spend any extra time in Palermo at the start of your tour, I would go back to Palermo. The RS tour sees almost none of Palermo and it’s really a fantastic city.

I would not extend any time in Catania - the RS tour sees a bit of it and it’s not the best place on Sicily.

If you have not yet made exit arrangements from Sicily and can fly out of Palermo then I like NWValerie's suggestion of returning to Palermo and exploring that area further! Palermo has lots to see and do and there are many daytrips you can do from there. Consider Mondello, Castellammare del Golfo, Borgo Parrini near Partinico, Scopello, the cave sanctuary of Santa Rosalia, Caccamo, Castelbuono and many more. I assume you will already have visited Monreale, Segesta and Erice which are all top sites to explore. If you exit from Catania, then stay on that side. Visit some of the Baroque towns. I would opt for Scicli, Modica or Ragusa. Or explore Catania and maybe some of the smaller towns around Etna or wineries.

I assume you are going to the RS Tour “Best of Sicily” tour. I’ve never been on it, but looking at the itinerary published in this website it appears that the tour does not spend enough time in Palermo (Northwest Sicily) and devotes no time at all to the Baroque towns of Southeastern Sicily (Noto, Modica, Ragusa Ibla).

Since you have a car and you are in Catania I would opt to go to the latter, which is not far from Catania (a little over 1.5 hours drive, and even less for Noto).

I would consider going back to Palermo only if you fly out of Palermo because from Catania it is not a short drive (almost 3 hours if you find traffic near Palermo), moreover having a rental car while in Palermo would be an expensive hassle, as you won’t get to use it at all. If your flight back is out of Palermo, then I would drive back to Palermo and return the car as soon as I get to the city. However if your flight back is out of Catania, then I would go to the aforementioned Baroque towns and maybe spend the last night closer to the Catania airport, unless your flight is later, in the afternoon.

We loved Taormina when we did a non-RS Sicily trip. We flew into Palermo and out of Catania. We stayed at Mazzaro's Sea Palace and while a big spluge, was incredible.

We did the RS Sicily tour. I was not a fan of Catania. I did not feel there was much to see in Catania. I really did like Toarmina, although it is a tourist town. We did a few days pretour in Palermo, which I really liked. My son recently returned from an independent trip to Sicily. He did not have a car so he was more limited in his choices than you would be since you'll have a car. He really did like Ragusa, although he mentioned that you should be prepared to climb a lot of hills. He also raved about his airbnb host, who he stated picked them up and dropped them off at the train station, provided pasteries and was generally very helpful. Let me know if you want the name of the airbnb, and I'll contact my son for the name of the airbnb.

Are you flying out of Catania? Or Palermo? If you are flying out of Catania, think about going to Modica, Ragusa, or Siracusa. I loved our stay in Agrigento on our last trip. We stayed at Villa Athena - it's the only hotel in the Park. I would try a different place rather than go back to Taormina.