excursions from catania

I believe the RS tour hits the big sights (Agrigento, Romano Villa del Casale, Ortigia, Mt. Etna, and Taormina) in the area. There are some things to see in Catania, you could also return to one of the above that you felt needed more time (2 nights in Ortigia seems like very little). If you are looking at organized tours, I can't really give any advice, most would be going to the places you have been. Maybe from Syracuse, you could find something heading to the Southeast corner of the island, to the Baroque towns of Ragusa, Modica, and Noto. To visit those towns on your own would best be done by car, but you could get buses and limited trains to work.

Aside from that, if I was stuck in Catania and had some days, I would look at flying to Malta and check that out.

It appears the tour doesn't take you to any of the Baroque villages in the southeast. All of Ragusa, Noto, Modica and Scicli are worthwhile, but I think Ragusa has the most to see. You might end up using a mixture of trains and buses to get to those towns from Siracusa; it is doable by public transportation, though a car would make things a lot more efficient. I consider this area one of the best destinations on the island.

Viator has a few tour listings that might be helpful if you can base in Siracusa after your tour ends. There's train service from Catania to Siracusa, and I imagine also bus service. I don't know which would be faster.

There are also tours available from Catania. Though it's farther from the area I'm promoting, Viator lists a few tours heading to places like Noto and Ragusa. (Many of the Catania-based tours go to places you will already have seen on your tour.)

Viator is a third-party website. It would be smart to try to book directly with the company running the tour, rather than with Viator. The latter takes a substantial cut of the bookings it handles, so either you or the tour company will come out ahead if you book directly. You can find the name of the tour company in the "Additional Info" section of each tour listing on the Viator website; you may need to click something like "See 2 More" to find that information. Alternatively, you can try Googling a bit of the descriptive text from the tour listing.

I've heard good things about the coastal town of Acireale, which isn't far from Catania and has train service. If you don't have much extra time after the tour ends, a rail trip to Acireale would be a good option, I think.

Thank you for the suggestions. Jerry