Rental car versus hiring a driver in Sicily

Everything can be done without a car, however certain locations are not as well served by public transportation as others, therefore it would just take longer without a rental car. On the other hand, there are cities, like Palermo, where a car is not only unnecessary, but even a hindrance.

My suggestion is to decide what you want to see. There is a lot to choose from in Sicily. Then we can help you with an itinerary and how to best go about it (planes, trains, buses, automobiles). 9 days are not enough for all of Sicily, especially if you intend to rely on public transportation for certain areas, so you need to make a choice.

Use the website below to make a selection of desired places to see:
http://www.bestofsicily.com

I went with a friend to Sicily in April-May 2014, and he drove. My trip report is here, and even though your interests are different, I think you'll get some good ideas: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/sicily-palermo-caltanisetta-siracusa-taormina

Given your interests, Taormina is great and a good place for day tours to Mt. Etna; Ragusa and Noto are nice small towns. If you don't like cities, stay out of Palermo. Someone else recommended Cefalù as an alternative to Palermo - I didn't get there but it sounds great. You would like staying in the Ortigia section of Siracusa (Siracusa is a city, but Ortigia feels like a small town).

As you'll see in my report, my friend who actually did the driving did not find it difficult most of the time. For what it's worth, he more recently drove in England, and said that was MUCH harder than driving in Sicily!

I visited only the southeastern corner of Sicily for a few days (based out of Siracusa). I didn't find the public transport difficult at all, so it is an option for you if you don't want to drive. I was able to get to Ragusa, Noto, Taormina, and Catania easily and cheaply by bus and regional train (slow, but steady). However, the bus and train schedules were much more limited on Sundays. And having seen from the bus the complete lack of traffic in between cities, I would not hesitate to rent a car either to access some smaller towns.

We went a few years ago without renting a car - you can travel more according to your own schedule if you have a car, meaning you can probably pack a few more sites in, because you're not limited to the public transportation schedule, but it is doable via public transport if you really don't want to drive. (We wouldn't have minded driving but were trying to save money).

We flew into Catania and took a bus down to Siracusa for a stay on Ortigia; from there we took a day trip to Noto via bus and then finally went up to Messina, where we took a day trip to Taormina via bus (and hired a driver for a day as well for a trip outside of Messina). (Most tourists probably aren't going to go to Messina, but my husband's mother is from there, and we went to see his aunt, her twin sister.) We departed via train to Calabria.

So - yes it can be done!You just have to plan a bit, especially probably for sites like Agrigento or Ragusa etc. But I think they are all accessible via public transport.

Deb,

If you could increase your time by a couple of nights, one other option you could consider is the RS Sicily tour, as they take care of all the transportation and hotels, and you'll see a lot of the island.

Thank you for all those great ideas.... we will be looking into it this weekend and making some decisions!