July trip in Sicily help requested for family of 5

Momo13, various posters here have often said that visiting Sicily for less than 2 weeks is a mistake, the island is so lovely, so large and with such a diversity of wonderful sites and experiences. If all you have is 4 nights, I would consider lengthening your stay in Greece or another country, and planning for a future trip to Sicily when you have time to give it justice. Given all the places you mention, which are not necessarily the most outstanding sites, you would likely need to spend almost all 3-4 days driving from one area to another, as opposed to really enjoying any of them.

Larry is right. If you have a car you can probably manage to see a good portion of the island in as little as 10-12 days, but I would consider it a total waste of airfare to make it all the way there for 4 days only. Increase your days or scratch Sicily is my advice.

Thank you for taking the time to reply.
My husband and I have been taking my 3 children to Europe every other year for the last 12 summers. Our time is very limited.
I am ok with not seeing everything. I am asking experts what they would do with four nights, assuming entry into Palermo and key amount of time will be with Valley of the Temples. I do not have our exit set in stone yet.
I would love to know if anybody feels strongly about one region versus another.
Thanks.

Many of these locations have antiquities, temples, theaters, etc. With only four days do western part. Fly in and out of Palermo. There are beaches for the kids in Scopello, Marinella di Selinunte,
On western side of Sicily
Palermo-visit Monreale
Segesta- beautiful temple set in gorgeous location, theater set above
Erice- near Segesta and Trapani- hilltop medieval village
Selinunte- large antiquities site ,near the water
Agrigento- spend one night.
For more than four days add:
Central Sicily- Piazza Armerina- Roman mosaics
On the Eastern side of Sicily-
Siracusa with Ortigia Is.- Greek theater
Noto, Ragusa, Modica- Baroque towns
Taormina- Greek theater

With a car you could stay in a coastal town like Castellammare del Golfo, then drive to the single temple at Segesta in about 20-30 minutes, maybe an hour to the much larger Selinunte with several temples in about 1.5 hours. You could also visit coastal towns Erice, Trapani.

Here's another option. Fly into the Palermo airport, rent a car and drive to Scopello -- a small, lovely seaside town about 40 minutes from the airport. Spend 2 nights here, visit Erice, the Zingaro Nature Reserve, and maybe the beautiful beach at San Vito lo Capo. Relax and enjoy beautiful Sicily.

On day 3, drive to Agrigento and stay in one of the nearby beach towns (possibly Porto Empedocle, although I've never been there). According to Rome2Rio, this is a 2.5 hour drive from Scopello if you go through Palermo and through the interior of Sicily. A slightly longer but possibly more scenic trip would be from Scopello to Trapani and then following the coastal road through Marsala, etc. Full disclosure: I've not done either drive; we traveled the opposite direction (Agrigento to Trapani), had a driver, and were recovering from colds, so we slept the whole way!

Depending on what time you leave Scopello and how often you stop along the way, you should be in the Agrigento area by early afternoon. The Valley of the Temples is unshaded and would be brutally hot on a July afternoon, so you might want to spend the day at the Turkish Steps, on the sea near Porto Empedocle. (Google this.)

On day 4, visit the Valley of the Temples early in the morning, allowing 2-3 hours. Drive to either the Palermo or Catania airport, dropping off your rental car (if you choose Catania, make sure you can rent in Palermo and drop in Catania). Both airports are about 2-3 hours from Agrigento, so if you haven't purchased your ongoing flights yet, you can base your decision depending on which airport gives you better flight options. Take a shuttle into the city and spend your final night there (you don't want a car in either Palermo or Catania!).

In the morning, shuttle back to the airport and fly to Greece.

Thank you all so much!
You've been very helpful, and thanks also to those who posted in the Greece thread to me.
We added a night in Sicily, deleted Crete, and flying out of PMO into Santorini (and then to Naxos from there).
We found an open jaw and our best option to get a direct flight into Santorini.
We will start out for one night in Taormina (East end of Sicily), then head to Agrigento, staying at the Villa Athena (how could you not once you see those pics??) and then we need to head north since we fly out of Palermo.
Anybody have a recommendation on what you would see in or around Palermo, with comfortable lodgings and a rental car within an hour of PMO airport? Our flight departs at 8:15pm so we have most of that day.
I'm thinking something within a very cool (safe) town would be special (just curious about the car situation).
Thanks again!

Five nights in Sicily causes me pain, but I'll try to be helpful.

Do not attempt to drive in Palermo; that way lies madness. I wouldn't want to drive in Catania, either, but that might be a survivable experience. (Believe me, even crossing the street as a pedestrian in Palermo is challenging.)

The basilica in Monreale just outside Palermo is absolutely one of Sicily's top sights. It is fabulous. Palermo itself is known for its two great food markets (I think enjoyably for just about any traveler), the archaeological museum, and many beautiful churches and private chapels. I suggest looking at TripAdvisor's Things To Do list to see what sounds intriguing. I just don't know how easy it would be to ditch the car somewhere and get into Palermo for sightseeing. Well, you could leave it in Monreale, but those buses don't run terribly frequently.

Other thoughts:

The former fishing village, now very touristy beach town of Cefalu, on the rail line east of Palermo, is cute. It's not a huge favorite of mine, but many others (including Rick Steves) really like it.

I think your route to Agrigento takes you through the interior. If you're near Piazza Armerina, I think you'd enjoy a stop at the Villa Romana del Casale, which has wonderful Roman mosaics.

Regarding where to stay at the end of your visit, it depends on whether you want to visit Palermo itself or if you'd rather find a scenic seaside village.

If you want to see Palermo, it's generally advised not to drive in the city. You could drop off your car at the Palermo airport (which is about 40 minutes from the city center) and take one of the frequent shuttles into Palermo, and then back to the airport when you leave.

If you'd rather relax by the sea, you could drive to Scopello (also about 40 minutes from Palermo airport, in the opposite direction from the city). From here you could explore Erice and the Zingaro nature reserve.