Planning a trip to Sicily

Parkbooker,, I am planning a similar trip later this spring, with my sister. I have done months of research to find how to manage this with mostly public transportation. It's certainly harder to do than in much of mainland Italy! Take a look at trenitalia.com, of course, for train schedules. However, much of Sicily is not served by trains, so you will need to look up bus schedules. I uses rome2rio.com to find what companies run different routes, then go to those companies' own websites. Some of the best help is on this forum, particularly posts by acraven, Priscilla, and Zoe, among others. I suggest you do a lot of "searching" on this forum for Sicily posts, and you may find some of your questions answered. Also: the Rick Steves brand new guide to Sicily will be available (we hope!) in late April or May of this year, and it will likely have a lot of good information on how to plan such a trip. I also posted my likely itinerary just last week, and got some good feedback on it. Link is here: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/advice-critique-of-our-sicily-itinerary-please

We spent three weeks in Sicily this past October, not hot at all. We had some rain storms but they were preferable to heat.
We had a car except for Ortigia and Taormina and covered most of Sicily. You will love it!
For day trips, look at Sicily Life. They are based in Taormina but cover the whole island.

A site I used to look at bus schedules in the Catania area is: www.interbus.it. I’m not certain if it covers the entire island. I’m not even certain if it has a English version.

I spent 3.5 weeks in Sicily last Spring and traveled solely by public transportation (mostly buses), so it can certainly be done.

Keep in mind that it will take longer, to get from point A to point B, as most buses make several stops along the way.

I found the Lonely Planet Sicily guidebook very helpful. It gives transportation details at the end of each chapter under the category: "Getting There & Away"

There are several bus companies that service most major cities and towns of Sicily. I found the buses to be reliable and comfortable.

Here are our late friend Zoe's trip reports which may give you some inspiration:

• Palermo
• Erice and Trapani
• Piazza Armerina, Villa Romana del Casale, Caltagirone
• Siracusa
• Lipari
• Catania
• Driving in Sicilia with friends
• Acireale

I actually based my trip on Zoe's trip reports and this was my route:

Flew to Milan > flew easyjet to Palermo (day trip to Cefalù, and afternoon to Monreale) > Trapani (separate day trips to Segesta, Erice & Favignana) > Agrigento ( Valley of the Temples) > Piazza Armerina (Villa Romana del Casale) > Siracusa (stayed in Ortigia, and took day trip to Noto) > Milazzo > ferry to Lipari > Acireale (day trip to Taormina > Flew easyjet back to Milan > Home.

BTW, I highly recommend all the accommodations recommended by Zoe.

Here's one more of Zoe's reports: Sicily by public transportation

How long will your trip be?

Hope this helps!

Sicilia is beautiful, have a wonderful trip!

Three years ago we went to Sicily in June and only used public transportation. It was a great trip. I think November could be too late as Sicily has flash flooding . Rick Steve's forum was so helpful but I then found Vagabonda on Tripadvisor's Travel Forum (under the More tab) with her 117,000 postings and she really made my trip . Her knowledge and kindness in sharing it is amazing down to the smallest details.

The best way to travel in Sicily via public transportation is by bus. There are several different companies, depending on your departure point and arrival point. I would suggest using rome2rio.com to obtain information on the appropriate bus company to use. One point about rome2rio...I haven't found the actual schedules listed there to always be accurate, so it is best to go directly to the bus company's website. One caveat about bus schedules in Sicily; they can be very limited on Sundays so it's best to avoid travel on that day as much as possible.

A few years ago we used Roberto Sapone as a driver in central Sicily. He also will act as a tour guide. We were quite pleased with his service. Here is a link: http://centralsicily.blogspot.com/p/why-central-sicily.html

Good luck and buon viaggio! Sicily is wonderful.

I was in Sicily (Palermo) last year in mid-October and the temperature was perfect with highs in the 60s - mid-70s. There was one day of heavy rain, but otherwise it was sunny most days. It was never too hot or too cold.

I was just in Sicily in December and the weather was beautiful!! Its easy to get around by bus- there are trains but they dont run as often as they do in Italy- when you exit Catania Airport there are ticket booths for buses that go all over Sicily- we used Interbus most often- clean, Comfortable, and reasonably priced. I use a site recommended to me by a poster on this forum called www.loco2.com - its easy to use/ I also use www.rome2rio.com and you can check www.Trenitalia.com as well - but buses seem the way to go.

Ortigia is very walkable- there is a Archimedes exhibit that was interesting- the Beautiful Cathedral of course- and stunning sea views- The Fountain of Diana- Greek Theatre- Siracusa’s Ear of Dionysius- so much to see!
Catania has a cute little train for 5 euro per person that will take you around the City- you get on across from Piazza Duomo- its a nice way to see parts of the City. The Cathedrals there are also amazing- a grand blvd for shopping- a port nearby- so much to see and do and explore!
As far as a tour guide- I did a tour with a guide named Alessio at :
info@sicilygrandtour.com
He is AMAZING!!! He is very personable, knows alot about the history of Sicily- will pick you up at your hotel- The highlight of our whole trip was the time we spent with him!!! You can contact him via email.

Happy Travels✨💫