Planning trip to Sicily need some help please

Ragusa is an easy place to stay with a car. There is a free parking lot at the base of the old town. Our hotel picked us up from the lot and brought us and our luggage up to the property. From Ortigia, it's easy to stop in Noto and Modica on the way to Ragusa.

From Ragusa, it's easy to day trip down to the beach town of Marina di Ragusa.

The obvious ones would be:

• Ragusa/Modica area, well preserved Baroque towns, rugged area, chocolate.

• The Agrigento Area, mainly for the Greek temples. We stayed in a small house with a pool outside of San Leone and the beaches nearby are great.

• Piazza Armerina, nice older town with several churches, a Norman fort, good restaurants, and not at all overly touristy. Many people go through there, but do not stay, the attraction is outside of town and the fantastic mosaics at Villa Romana del Casale. The Morgantina Greek site is also nearby, that and the museum are worth a couple hours.

Caltagirone might be worth a stop, it is a center for ceramics, has a nice Cathedral.

We didn't make it further west along the South coast, but there are other beach stops certainly.

Catania is a wonderful town on the east side of Sicily if you can fit it into your drive trip.

Sicily’s top antiquarian site is the Valley of the Temples at Agrigento. Stay near the temples NOT up in the less than nice town/city. We enjoyed staying at Colleverde Park Hotel with views of the temples.
In order to see the mosaics at Villa Romana del Casale you can stay overnight there or stop en route from Agrigento and then continue on to the Baroque towns of Noto, Ragusa and Modica.
We rented a car and drove all over Sicily for two plus weeks. Just do not assume that other drivers with stop at stop signs, obey traffic signs, etc. Drive defensively and all will be fine. Our favorite place was Ortigia where we spent a week and our least favorite was Taormina where we won’t ever return.

aammiran, here is the itinerary for the RSE tour of Sicily which should give a few ideas: sicily tour

On our trip we flew in and out of Catania, drove clockwise around the island and stayed in Ortigia, Agrigento, Marsala, Erice, Monreale, Cefalù, and Taormina.

On our 2018 trip to Sicily we had a rental car. We took busses twice; once from Monreale into Palermo and once from the naval facility at Sigonella to Catania. We didn’t drive in the larger cities. With Monreale, I looked up the bus stop location in Palermo where we’d need to catch the bus back to Monreale ahead of time. Glad I did since it wasn’t well marked.

My observations on driving: You need to be aggressive. If you’re nice and try to let one person merge, there’s a chance a few others will take advantage of your kindness. Lane markings, if there are any, are suggestions, meaning some will drive in two lanes, or 3 cars will drive in 2 lanes. Once off the autostrada, roads are poorly marked. Have a good GPS. I also downloaded Sicily maps for offline use. I don’t recall seeing many road signs once off the autostrada so didn’t really know if I was on the right road. There are island-wide speed limits, so look them up before going over. Speed limit signs were pretty much non-existent except by exits. Stay at or below the limit to avoid getting a ticket by speed camera. If you’re headed to a small town, but not spending the night there, look up public parking lots and plug them into your GPS. That can save you some time. Avoid the ZTL (no driving) areas. I thought they were very well marked. Streets in some places can be very narrow, so you want the smallest car that meets your needs. We opted for the full coverage, zero deductible insurance option for piece of mind.

We stayed at hotels with free parking, looked them up before going over, and had them plugged into the GPS, and bookmarked on Google maps. In Agrigento we stayed at B&B Villa San Marco. A little hard to find unless you look it up ahead of time. The view of the Valley of the Temples is amazing and you can walk to the temples via a path through the garden. There’s another path that leads to the Temple di Efesto (Vulcan) that sits off from the other temples. Coming back from it, we stumbled into the Kolymbetra gardens. in short, from that B&B we didn’t pay to see the temples or the gardens as we never saw a ticket booth from where we entered them. The B&B also had a dinner special that we took advantage of so we didn’t have to drive up into town at night.

We didn’t have any damage to the rental car and did not receive any tickets (camera or otherwise). If you want to know the hotels/B&Bs we stayed at, send a PM.

We didn’t have any damage to the rental car and did not receive any tickets.

Just a quick note - Italian tickets aren't generally given by officers after a stop. They are automatic systems which rely on cameras, some visible, others less so. They record a photo of the driver, the car with visible number plate and the photos showing the speed or other offence. These are sent to the registered owner - in this case the rental company - who either pays the fine (very unusual) or replies with the name of the driver, at their registered address. The ticket is then sent to the driver, and in Italy that often takes a year.

The first hint is when 40€ or 50€ is charged to the card which paid for the rental - the rental company's charge for informing the police of the driver. Again, not an instant procedure.

So coming home with no tickets isn't the same as getting no tickets.

I'm not saying that you earned any tickets, just outlining the procedure for other drivers.

You said you liked walking thru old small towns so I am going to suggest a stop for two nights in Mazara del Vallo. ( It could also be done as a daytrip from Trapani but two nights gives you a day to see the town itself and a day to explore nearby Selinunte.). I have recommended it several times on this forum because I was so impressed with it. It is a smaller fishing town and it has a heavy Tunisian influence and a great mixture of Christian, Arab and Jewish influence, very picturesque. There is an old casbah area in the historic center, full of narrow alleyways that all have beautiful tile murals depicting the history and heritage of the town. All great to explore. A small museum in the historic area houses the Dancing Satyr which was pulled from the sea by fishermen not too long ago. Mazara del Vallo also makes a great base for visiting the beautiful seaside ruins of Selinunte. So scenic. Although the ruins in Agrigento get more attention, the Selinunte archeological site is also excellent and much less crowded. Another little coastal town which is on my travel radar but I have not been there yet is Sciacca. See if that appeals to you. Since you will be in Trapani and San Vito lo Capo you mighty want to visit Marsala for wineries or the salt pans or the Scopello Nature Reserve. Erice is beautiful and if you haven't had your fill of ruins Segesta is nearby. Travelling by public transportation is doable. In September of 2019 I did a 22 day trip around the island using trains, busses and a private driver from Agrigento to Ortigia that was recommended here on the forum. I, personally, would not attempt driving in Sicily but for sure a car gives you more freedom to explore.

There is an American couple that lives in Sicily and they produce lots of short excellent videos about the local towns and life in Sicily. Their website is youmeandsicily.com and it has links to their videos which you might find helpful in identifying smaller places you might want to visit. I think they have videos on both Mazara del Vallo and on Sciacca. Also, several years ago on this forum, when I was preparing for my second Sicily trip, folks recommended that I watch the travelogue documentary titled Sicily Unpacked which follows a British art historian and an Italian chef on their travels around Sicily. Very good. It was there that I first learned about Mazara del Vallo. I knew I wanted to visit the major must see sites but always like to include smaller lesser known destinations which I actually prefer. Since you said you also like churches, take a look at Tindari. The views from the church are spectacular! There is also an archeological site right there. I took a train from Messina to Oliveri, (a very small beach town) stayed a night at an Air BnB in Oliveri and the next day the BnB owner drove us up to the sanctuary and returned to pick us up several hours later. Then we hopped a train to Cefalu. All very easy. If you have Instagram, look at photos taken at Tindari. While in Palermo you should also visit the cave at the Sanctuary of Sta Rosalia on Mt. Pellegrino. DM me if you need more info.

Thank you everyone for your advice, and suggestions, I will definitely look up the areas you suggested and might reach out again.
I wanted to add Amalfi coast right after but I'm sure next summer will be really overcrowded. Thinking I might do that off season.

In 2014 we were on a Southern Italy tour that ended in Taormina. We visited Mt Etna as well.
We extended our stay following the tour. We spent 5 nights in Ortigia and hired a driver to visit the baroque towns of Noto, Ragusa and Modica. We also spent our last night in Catania. In 2020 we were going to follow this itinerary-https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/my-trip-to-sicily-in-zoe-s-memory/
Due to the lockdown we had to cancel. We had planned a months stay. Perhaps Priscilla’s
itinerary will be helpful in your planning.

We have been to Sicily twice in the couple of years before Covid. You can do well without car in Ortigia. There is not only plenty to see there, but good frequent bus service to Noto and other nearby towns. In Trapani, there is good train service down the west Coast. And convenient ferry service. There is good train service from Palermo to Cefalu. Do not drive in Palermo (which is otherwise quite safe) and take cab back and forth to Monreale. You would need a car or a driver to get you to Agrigento. Have fun!