Thanks in advance for help! We are a group of 4 traveling to Sicily in September. Our main concern is the trip from Agrigento to Ortigia. Is it too much to do that with a stop at the Villa Romana del Casale all in one day? We have 2 days in flex around those days. We hate 1 night stands but is there enough to do in Piazza Armerina for 2 nights? We will have had our fill of ancient sites so don't need to visit more of those. We were thinking maybe staying a little out of town with a pool and maybe take some short country drives. Probably not all the way to Ragusa. Or does it make more sense to one night it and add a night in Ortegia? Is 3 nights too long there assuming we mostly like to wander and eat? Has anyone taken the train along that east coast? If we dump the car is it reasonable to train from Ortigia to Taormina and then to catch our afternoon flight out of Catania? Here's where we are so far:
4 nights Palermo, including cooking class, Cefalu and Monreale sidetrips
2 nights Agrigento
2 nights TBD, maybe Piazza Armerina or?
2 nights Ortigia
2 nights Taormina
Flight out of Catania
Posted by
WA State
3961 posts
Hi Ann Marie,
We planned a similar itinerary in 2020, but had to cancel due to Pandemic. We had planned to hire a driver from Agrigento to Ortigia with a stop in Piazza Armerina. This would have been a second visit to Sicily. We planned to stay a month & take public transportation. Our first visit was in Eastern Sicily following a Southern Italy Tour. Our favorite town was Ortigia. We spent 5 nights and also did a day trip to Noto, Ragusa & Modica. Our first tour ended in Taormina. We took the train to Ortigia. We ended in Catania. It was our plan to spend our last night there in 2020 & fly out in the am.
This trip report was helpful for us: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/sicily-trip-report-april-2019-2-weeks-2-sisters-part-1-trapani-erice
Edited Our other forum friend I recommend:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/my-trip-to-sicily-in-zoe-s-memory/
Posted by
Washington DC
28379 posts
I hate for you to miss Ragusa, Noto, Modica and Scicli. Do you really need 2 nights in Agrigento? (I am totally uninterested in classical sights, so I haven't been over that way at all.) I only passed through Piazza Armerina, but it did look attractive, and I'm a big fan of seeing the interiors of islands, because not many tourists go there.
I believe we do have a few posters who've done more than drive through Piazza Armerina. I'm hoping they'll be able to help you.
In addition to trains, there are also buses from Tarormina to Catania. Theoretically, it wouldn't be terribly risky to spend that last night in Taormina, but I wouldn't do it. I'm risk-averse when I have a flight looming.
Posted by
494 posts
If you decide to visit Villa Romana del Casale I would advise arriving as early as possible. We were there for the opening bell and had the whole place to ourselves for about two hours. Then people started showing up and it got busy. The elevated walkways over the mosaics got very crowded. P.Armerina was unremarkable. You might also look at Morgantina nearby. But you may be saturated by then.
Brad