Itinerary help 2 weeks in Sicily

Check out the "itinerary' section in this tour for inspiration

https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/italy/sicily

Two weeks is tight, especially when you will be depending on public transportation. You won't be able to hit all the highlights, because they're scattered all over the island. I think the tour itinerary gives inadequate time in Palermo and Siracusa and skips the Baroque towns in the southeast--among my favorite Sicilian places. Remember that the tour has dedicated transportation and some pre-booked meals, which you will not have. Don't expect to cover ground as fast as the tour does.

Get Rick's new guide book to Sicily to help you decide what you're willing to skip. I skipped all the Greek sites outside the major cities because they don't much interest me, and I had 2-1/2 weeks.

Be careful about planning to travel on a Sunday or holiday. There are very few inter-city buses on the road on those days, and there aren't all that many trains in Sicily.

Another suggestion for you would be to take a look at a posting on the Forum 8 months ago. "My trip to Sicily-In Zoe's memory..." An excellent example for spending 2+ weeks in Sicily using bus transportation. Priscilla did an outstanding trip report! We hope to duplicate this next fall, but plan to spend up to a month. This will be our second trip to Sicily.

If you are considering guidebooks, I would also recommend RS Sicily and Lonely Planet.

My sister-in-law and I spent two weeks in Sicily this past April, using only public transportation. However, we splurged twice on private day tours/transfers to get us (1) from Trapani to Palermo by way of the Trapani Salt Flats and Selinunte, and (2) from Agrigento to Siracusa by way of Villa Romana, Piazza Armerina, & Caltagirone. If you don't want to splurge twice, if you could swing a private transfer from Agrigento to Siracusa, you could do a counter-clockwise circuit of the island more easily than navigating the bus system through the center of the island - though it can clearly be done that way. Otherwise, you might want to see Agrigento as a long day trip from Palermo (the train from Palermo to Agrigento is about 2.5 hours each way). Seeing the Greek temple sites was a priority for us. I also join the chorus of folks who highly recommend the new RS "Sicily" guide.

Here's my trip report, which details how we did use public transportation through much of the island:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/sicily-trip-report-april-2019-2-weeks-2-sisters-part-1-trapani-erice

One more thought: Strongly suggest flying in to Palermo (or Trapani) and out of Catania - or the other way around, so that you don't have to backtrack. We flew in Trapani; used it for day trips to Erice and Segesta, then at the end flew out of Catania (which is less than an hour by taxi or shuttle bus from Siracusa/Ortigia). Since you are only there for two weeks, flying "open jaw" would save you a day if you don't have to go back to the city where you first began.

@Jane, Thanks for chiming in on this thread. I meant to add your Sicily trip report as well. As we are looking at our revisit trip for next year, we will consider using a private driver and bus transportation along the way. Always great to have a recommendation. Appreciate the reminder! You were so helpful with our Venice trip last year. Grazie.

Thanks Janis!
It’s good to hear that you found my Sicily trip report helpful in planning your return trip to beautiful Sicilia!

Timjfitz,
As the others have mentioned, I also definitely recommend flying into Palermo and out of Catania, or vice versa, to avoid backtracking.

As mentioned on my trip report, I relied on Zoe’s trip reports, and also found the Lonely Planet Guidebook very helpful, especially for the public transportation information.

This was my itinerary: Milan > Palermo (day trips to Cefalù & Monreale) > Trapani (day trips to Segesta, Erice and Favignana) > Agrigento > Piazza Armerina > Siracusa (Ortigia) > Milazzo (overnight) > Lipari > Acireale (day trip to Taormina) > Milan > Home.

I’d be happy to answer any specific questions that may come up during your trip planning.

Enjoy!

Thank you everyone for the great advice. I really appreciate this forum and all the help it has provided me.

We don’t drive on our trips so we focus on best ways to use public transport.

We had a good day trip by public bus from Syracuse to Noto.

There is good train service between Palermo and Cefalu.

Trapani makes an interesting base as you can easily get the ferry to Egadi islands (short trip), take the cable car to Erice and take very interesting train ride down the west coast to Marsala or further to Marzallo del Vallo. The last city is quite nice and is completely ignored in TheRS guide book

We hired a driver to take us from Agrigento to Palermo but that was in order to make a stop at Villa Romana del Casale. But there is a train between those cities.

The busses and trains ran on time.

Spend ample time in Palermo where you don’t need a car. We took a city bus to Monreale and on reflection should have splurged for a cab. Palermo was much more charming than we expected. Catania not so much.

Thank you everyone for your replies it was extremely helpful having your guidance. This is our itinerary we have planned please tell me if it makes sense using trained and buses. Flying into Palermo spending 3 full days touring there then spending a day trip to Cefalù and then spending a day trip to Monreale. From Palermo we plan on going to Ragusa for two nights transferring to Syracuse for 3 nights then Taormina for 2 nights. Flying home from Catonia. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated

That looks like a not-too-hectic schedule. I'd try to get information on train/bus service to Noto, Modica and Scicli from Ragusa and Siracusa. You won't have time for all of them, but you might be able to fit in at least one.

I believe the transfer from Palermo to Ragusa will be rather time-consuming. The AST bus appears to take just over 4 hours but is faster than taking the train.