Planning Our Second Italian Vacation, This Time to Sicily!

Are you going again in summer? if so, I would make one of the towns Cefalu as the beach is so nice. And yes, connections by bus and train are easy. J

Yes, next early June.

Sicily does not have the train system northern Italy has. There are no fast trains and limited service. There are buses that often are better but again it depends where you want to go. There is no efficient way to use public transportation on the southern coast. We ended up renting a car for 5 days when we left Siracusa and returning it at the Palermo airport. That worked well for us. We were in Sicily for 16 days and used public transportation the rest of the time.

As far as three cities to base yourselves, my choices would be Ortigia (old town of Siracusa), one of the baroque towns (we stayed in Ragusa), and Palermo. You can day trip to Cefalu which first poster recommended from Palermo.

Are you using a guidebook? The Rick Steves Sicily guidebook includes a fair amount of information for those using public transportation, and also day trips from the larger cities.

https://store.ricksteves.com/shop/p/sicily-guidebook

You should start watching the Youtube vloggers Luca and Sara at Leave Everything and Wander. They just moved there and they are practically a chamber of commerce for the area, and might also respond to emails.

Last April we did Sicily with only 9 nights. We based in Taormina, Siracusa ( stayed on Ortigia) and Palermo. We travelled by train from Taormina to Siracusa and bus to Palermo. We had less time than you, but did daytrip with a bus from Taormina up to another town, and I think you could easily bus ( or maybe train) from Siracusa to Noto and Ragusa.
From Palermo there are also several daytrips, Monreale, ( bus) Cefalu ( train). I think you can go to Agrigento, but it might be a long hot day from Palermo.
There are a few spots that don't seem to connect easily. I had thought we could maybe do Siracusa to Ragusa to Palermo, but that would have meant quite a bit of back tracking.
In April we found Taormina quite reasonable in terms of prices and crowds, but I believe June may be higher season.

Public transportation is not especially tourist friendly in Sicily. Train lines are limited and can comparatively rough compared to mainland Europe. Busses are the primary people mover and have good coverage if limited schedules. Crossing from east to west is where this gets hairy, particularly since perhaps the island’s top two sights in Villa Romana and Valley of the Temples are in between. This is why I’d always suggest getting a car for part of the trip. It gets very difficult to connect these places efficiently or day trip to them. Throw in the fact that you’re traveling as a family, with all of the concerns of luggage and comfort, and this becomes a no brainer in my eyes. The good news is the autostrada is great here and connects these places well.

Siracusa (Ortigia) and Palermo are kind your lynchpin destinations, both great places in the own right with day trip possibilities via public bus. They’re also easy to reach from the respective airports (Palermo/Catania.) So, if you’re staying in both for like 3-4 nights you would only need a car for the days in between. The interior of Sicily is pretty sleepy, but a night or two between seeing Agrigento/Valley of the Temples and Piazza Armerina/Villa Romana makes sense. Day tripping from one to the other is doable. But given the small size and sleepy nature of the towns here, this is one time that one-night stays make sense. I keep coming back to these two ancient sites because imo they simply cannot be passed up, and should be a priority.

Cefalu is a nice add on for a couple nights when it’s in season. Lovely little town with great beaches. The hike up to La Rocca is memorable. If you’re driving up from the south, it’s a simple detour from the swift autostrada. If you’re heading to Palermo after, you can ditch the car here too. The Palermo-Cefalu train line is legit and frequent. This also makes the town an easy day trip from Palermo.

With two weeks, and limiting yourself to public transport, I would say high on your list is Palermo and then Syracuse/Ortigia. In between, you could do Catania or someplace nearby for Mt. Etna, maybe Cefalu, but it is not that far from Palermo. Taormina is often mentioned, but that place has suffered greatly with tourism driven by a TV show and Instagram wannabees.

There are other places in central Sicily and the Southern coast (the Villa Romana del Casale and the Valley of the Temples, but those are best reached by car.

Also consider that to get there you might need to fly through Rome, so a night or two at beginning or end might be needed.

We also (though our trip was longer) flew to Naples after Syracuse, from Catania, before taking a train to Rome. Visited Pompeii and Herculaneum, plus pizza in Naples, stayed in Sorrento.

Two weeks without a car will alow you to see a lot, but it won't be enough for the full island at a non-hectic pace. As already noted, having a car for part of the trip would allow for much more efficient movement around the island. I had 17 or 18 days without a car, and I didn't go to Segesta, Selininte or Agrigento. I traveled solo and didn't have to wrangle a family.

I'm not sure there are any inter-city buses running on Sundays, so that's a day to plan very carefully.