Public transportation in Sicily

I'm sure you can do that. I took a couple of trips from Catania into the interior. One was to Piazza Armerina, where I picked up a taxi to the Villa Romana del Casale since I hadn't caught an early-enough bus from Catania to make the bus connection. The other trip was to Enna. Somewhere along the way I made a short stop in Caltagirone. That was all by bus.

There's a rail line between Catania and Palermo that cuts through the center of the island. It doesn't seem to have much traffic now, and it looks as if they may be doing some work on the eastern section, because the only non-coastal rail option I see for tomorrow is a 4:51 PM departure from Catania by bus (changing at the airport) that allows you to switch to the train at Dittaino.

I always try to visit the interior of islands when I travel, because 90% of the other tourists stick to the coast. Sicily might be a bit of an exception because of the importance of the Villa Romana.

This is critical: There are few if any inter-city buses on the road on Sundays (probably also true of holidays). Be very careful to plan your side trips for Monday-Saturday. And it's smart not to plan to return on the last bus of the day. I wasn't left stranded in Sicily, but I once caught a bus I didn't know existed, which made it clear I didn't have totally accurate schedule information.

If anything, online information about bus schedules seems better now than it was in 2015 when I took my trip, but it's just not as solid as train schedules. My philosophy is that I don't really believe a bus exists until I see it on the schedule posted at the departure bus station, and even then I harbor a slight doubt.

When looking at schedules, pay careful attention to the codes attached to each departure and the footnotes. That's where you'll see that the bus you're planning to take only runs once a week, and not on the day you're planning to take it. I've seen footnotes referring to "school days" (in Italian, of course), which makes me really, really nervous, because I have no idea when the Italian kids are out of school. In my experience--and not limited to Italy--bus-station staff and bus drivers are among the least likely folks to speak English, so I usually communicate in writing when I try to confirm a particular departure time is accurate. I often see the ticket-seller visibly relax when presented with my cryptic note. A piece of paper is easier to deal with than a stranger they know is unlikely to speak their language well enough to communicate well.

i went to sicily in 2021 and traveled all over the island by train and bus for about a month. i started in palermo, spent 6 days there. went to cefalu, monreale and agrigento by bus and/or train. next stop was trapani. took the bus on day trips to erice and segesta and the train to mazara del vallo. from trapani went to enna by bus via palermo. day trip by bus to piazza armarina followed. next stop was siracusa. took the bus from enna via catania. from syracusa did ragusa, noto, scicli, and modica by train. one place per day. bus to catania for a few days. day trips via bus and train to caltagirone, acirerale and randazzo. last stop was messina and did a day trip to milazzo and then via hydrofoil to vulcano. i left the island on train to napoli. it is doable if you have the time. heed acraven's advice which I will not repeat. i had some anxious moments not knowing where a particular bus stop was. i made sure to talk to official tourist offices and ask for the latest bus schedule. don't rely solely on a site like rome2 rio. The people in these offices were wonderful. unlike what many say the trains were always reliable though sometimes slow. some had charm of their own like the narrow gauge railcars to mazara del vallo, the line to the vale de noto cities, and the circumetnea. it was an amazing trip right after covid. sites were almost empty and the art, history, and the people of the island left an indelible mark. sicily is like no other. hope this helps and enjoy your trip!

Rome2Rio is not to be trusted. At the most, use it to find the name of the bus company heading where you want to go, then go to that company's website for schedule information. Tourist offices can often be helpful.

If you get off a bus in a small town that doesn't have a bus station, try to find out from the driver (who probably won't speak English) whether you just need to cross the street to pick up the return bus or need to go somewhere else.

There are a multitude of bus companies and some specialize more one region or another. And even where several leave from same area , the tickets may be sold in different Tabacco shops.

If you look at a rail map of Sicily you’ll see why people travel north and east

Thanks for all the good info everyone. I'm still formulating a plan but feel like the public transportation may be more of a challenge -- not the actual rides, but the planning and figuring out schedules. I'll rely on the Tourist Offices & hotel desk staff and keep my notebook handy for the local bus staff. The 3 websites I was planning to use are trenitalia.com, seat61.com and italotreno.it. After reading your feedback, I'll consider staying longer in Palermo, Syracusa/Ortigia and maybe Catania and taking day trips from there. I'm reconsidering my plan to stay in Cefalu for a few nights, and just taking a day trip there from Palermo. Is Trapani a day trip from Palermo? I'm thinking to travel from Palermo down to Agrigento and train/bus along the south coast then up to Syracuse, then fly back to Rome from Catania. Someone mentioned a day trip from Palermo to Agrigento??? Did I understand that correctly?

I may land up making my hotel reservations on the fly more than I usually do -- for the in-between days along the south coast. I know there are risks with that but, heh -- it wouldn't be an adventure without some unknowns, right??

We took buses and trains last April.
Prestia e Commande bus from airport into Palermo.
Local city buses around Palermo…not all tabacchi or bars sell tickets, so buy a few when you plan to use buses, and then you’ll have them when you need them.
Train to Cefalu and back to Palermo.
Same with Agrigento and back.
City bus to the ruins in A. and back to the station.
City bus to Monreale and back.
Pre-booked InterBus long distance coach to Siracusa and back to Palermo after 5 days in S.
Train to Noto from S., returned to S. by bus.
Bus back to Palermo airport.
All of it couldn’t have been easier.
Use the bus to get across from West to East.
Trains are long and involve bus transfers, and they are renewing the tracks for the foreseeable future.
InterBus was great…took 3+ hours with a comfort stop halfway at Service area.
Avoid Sunday travel as there are less options, especially buses.

Thanks SJ --- do I understand that you based in Palermo with bus day trips to Cefalu, Agrigento and Monreal? Then you based in Syracuse and day trips from there, then back by bus to Palermo? So you only stayed overnights in Palermo and Syracuse. What about Catania? I have 23 days from start to finish and would have to account for travel days, so staying in just a few major cities and taking day trips sounds appealing. Did you get to see any of the interior this way? Your advise to stick with buses would certainly make decisions about bus vs train easier and it sounds like that worked for you. What source did you use for the bus information and tickets?

What do others think of this plan?
Thanks a million!

Hi,
Yes, we just stayed our nights in Palermo and Ortigia only, making day trips to the other places.
My friend I travel with could only join me for 10 days.
The day we had planned a day trip to Catania, Mt. Etna started erupting, so we got the train to Noto instead.

We took trains to Cefalu and Agrigento from Palermo, and a city bus up to Monreale from Palermo.
The coach/bus across the island was with InterBus, I booked tickets on line before leaving Canada.

https://www.interbus.it/

For trains, there is a central route from roughly Palermo to Catania, though last I knew, they are redoing sections of the line, so those sections are replaced by bus. Not sure the scope and schedule of that work. Otherwise there are a number of bus lines, to both Catania and Syracuse from Palermo. Cefalu can easily be done by train from Palermo.

i suggested taking the bus or train to agrigento. took the bus from palermo but returned on the train. once you get to agrigento you will have to take a local bus to the temples. regarding the interior I mentioned enna. i suppose the interior sites i visited would include caltagirone, piazza armarina, and segesta. my bases were palermo-6 days, trapani-3 days, enna-2 days, siracusa-5 days, and messina-2 days. including travel days I was in sicily for 27 days total.

Yes, I’ll go back and map out your previous helpful reply. Lots of places I’m unfamiliar with so I will do more research. My trip is coming together now — the day trip idea is very appealing. Many thanks. ☺️

Traveling via public transportation in Sicily is definitely doable.
However, as others have mentioned, it takes more time to get places because you’re at the mercy of the train & bus schedules.

I spent around 26 days visiting Sicily back in 2018 and this was my itinerary:
Flew to Milan then after a couple of days flew to Palermo (via easyjet) - day trip to Cefalu via train, afternoon trip to Monreale via public bus >> bus to Trapani with separate day trips to Erice (public bus & funicular), Segesta by bus, and ferry to Favignana >> bus to Agrigento >> 2 buses to Piazza Armerina >> 2 buses to Syracuse ( stayed in Ortigia) - day trip to Noto via bus >> train to Milazzo >> ferry to Lipari >> train to Acireale >> taxi to Catania Airport > flew back to Milan > flew home.

Here’s my trip report which includes more detailed information.

I used the Lonely Planet guidebook, when planning my trip, but now Rick Steves has a Sicily guidebook too.

Enjoy your trip!

Thanks for all the helpful information, everyone. Priscilla --- I read your other notes -- thanks for those. Sorry for your friend Zoe. I'm wondering how you managed the trip from Noto up to Lipari & back to Catania --- seems like a very long journey. I really like boat trips, ferries, etc , so a visit to one of the Aeolian Islands is appealing. For now, I plan to stay a few days longer than planned in Palermo and do day trips from there. Then bus or train across to Syracuse and stay a few days in Ortigia with day trips to Noto and Ragusa and maybe Scicli from there. Then up to Catania for a few days before I fly home. So, the time in Catania may allow me to go up to Lipari?? I really want to do some boat trips, so that's why I'm considering Lipari since I'll already be on the east coast. I guess I could alternately start differently and go to Trapani from Palermo and boat around the Egadi islands, then over to Siracusa and Catania.

Suggestions, anyone???? Thanks!

I'm just starting to plan a 2-3 week trip to Sicily, I'd be interested to see what you eventually decided on, jho13.

I'd really prefer to do without the hassle of a car, and I plan to start in Sicily, but end up in Rome after we visit Sicily. It almost looks like it might make sense to split the trip into two segments:
(1) Palermo and western Sicily: Perhaps home-base in Palermo and make day trips to Agrigento and places around Palermo?
(2) Eastern Sicily: Perhaps home-base in Catania and make day trips to Siracusa, Mount Etna, and Taormina?

Well, my three week trip went like this: I enjoyed 3 full days in Rome, flew to Palermo and stayed there for 6 nights with only one pleasant day trip by train to Cefalu, then took a bus to Siracusa and stayed in Ortigia by the bridge for 6 nights, then a bus up to Catania for 3 days with the plan to fly back to Rome from there. Catania turned out to be problematic and not very interesting so I landed up returning to Palermo and back to Rome from there. This itinerary kept me interested and was a lot more leisurely which was fine for me, but you may want to take more day trips. I’m glad I didn’t decide to hop from one city to another— packing, unpacking, finding hotels in a new city, bus and train schedules, etc etc — it can be very tiring. Unlike other larger cities in Italy, English is not commonly spoken in Sicily. So I think your plan is good to make a home base on the opposite sides of the island and wander from there. Public transportation is readily available and my hotels often printed out a schedule for me or provided websites— I found it convenient to buy tickets at the station or on the bus. Sicily is a big island and certainly warrants a return visit! Enjoy your travels!!

This thread was so helpful. I am doing a similar trip with public transportation. I might be back for more questions.