Hi. I am being told on anohter forum that there is a train or bus that takes about 4 hours but the only one I can find after seraching on Trainline, OMio and Rome to Rio is a 3:31-9:08 pm arrival (unless I want a 12 hour bus). I was so excited for this Sicily trip but now I am just confused and can't even come up with an itinerary for 19 nights bc public transportation is very confusing. Appreciate any help
Posted by
Boise, ID, USA
2309 posts
Agreed. Public transportation in Sicily can be very confusing. I've spent a total of five weeks on the island, all by public transportation, and haven't yet seen it all. In the U.S., a trip of 155 miles by car would take a bit more than three hours, but you must adjust your expectations for Sicily, and you're trying to cross the entire island at once.
On a cursory look, the best I can find is the train from 15:30-21:08 with a change in Caltanisseta. In a trip of 19 nights, do you really need to take such a long journey at once? It's 2 hours from Palermo to Agrigento, for example, by train or bus. Why not spend some time there and then continue to Ragusa (just under four hours by train).
I found this on Trenitalia, the Italian train company. For correct information, It is recommended over any of the sites you mentioned. I once knew of a good site for buses in Sicily. I'll try to see if I can find that one.
Posted by
Boise, ID, USA
2309 posts
I continued to puzzle over this. I didn't look at exact schedules, but it appears that bus from Palermo to Catania is two and a half hours and bus from Catania to Ragusa is an hour and 45 minutes, so maybe that's where someone got the four-hour bus ride thought.
Do you have Rick Steves' Sicily guidebook? It might offer some good insight on transportation.
Posted by
OP
32 posts
Hi. I do have his guidebook and Ragusa is mentioned if you have a car.
I am being told I need to look on the specific bus line sight but who knows what the schedule will be next year? I have always been able to rely on Omio or Trainline but they aren't showing local bus schedules. Neither is google maps.
Hi. I am playing around with itinerary but transportation schedules are fuzzy at best. Thinking as follows
5 nights Palermo with day trips to Agrigento and half day Monreale
3 nights Ragusa (Noto and another day trip here?) assuming i can get to Ragusa!!
5 nights Ortigia
1 night Milazzo-or do I need this? Can I get to Ortigia to Milazzo for ferry directly?
4 or 5 nights Lipari
final night Cefalu and fly out of Palermo
How does this look? Trying to figure out if I need a night in Milazzo or if I can go from Ortygia to Milazzo and get a ferry same day. Will stay near port in Lipari. We also need an automatic which is $$ and difficult to find.
Appreciate your help. I usually plan all our trips but finding bus schedules is impossible in Sicily.
Posted by
Lake District, England
8132 posts
From Rome 2 Rio-
Catania to Ragusa is operated by https://www.etnatrasporti.it/
and Palermo to Catania by https://www.saisautolinee.it/en
Both routes at least hourly
Posted by
Lake District, England
8132 posts
Palermo to Agrigento is run by 2 different companies- https://www.camilleriargentoelattuca.it/orari-palermo-agrigento/ and https://www.cuffaro.info/orari-autobus-palermo-agrigento.html
also by train most hours, taking 2:54- see trenitalia- https://www.lefrecce.it/Channels.Website.WEB/#/search-results?handoff=true
Palermo to Monreale- frequent bus #389- https://www.amat.pa.it/percorsi-e-orari/