Sicily 11 night Itinerary Help

If I remember correctly we spent 3 hours at most at the Valley of the Temples and we did it at a very leisurely pace. I waited for people to move to get better photos, stopped for a snack, etc. If you visit Selinunte or Valley of the Temples, you don’t need to visit Segesta. In all honesty, after a couple temples they (in Sicily) are all very similar.

This is just me, but a couple days in Siracusa/Ortigia is more than enough. Others on this forum would say a week isn’t enough, so it’s a matter of personal likes.

Note that it's Palermo, not Palmero. It must be me, but I'm not seeing three nights to fill in between Palermo and Ortigia. Help me figure out what you're asking, please.

Janet- typos corrected;) I'm asking if the 3 nights between Palermo and Ortigia including the overnight in Erice is a good use of time while mapping the best route in order to visit at least one of the temples. We will have a private driver, allowing us to leave our luggage in the car or are we better off to split those nights into 1 night Erice, 1 night Agrigento visiting Valley of the Temples in the morning then travel to Piazza Armerina spend the night, visit Romana del Casale. Is there anything else I should be considering. I did entertain a visit to Marsala. Sorry for not being more explicit.

I think if it is a convenient stop, the Valley of the Temples can be done in two hours. There are two entrances, the main one, then one at the far end. For the time you have, enter at the far end, all the best temples are there, avoiding a long walk.

We actually stayed at the same B&B in Piazza Armerina, very nice, the host is great, breakfast good. Just up the street from there is a little gelato place, ranks up there with the top two places I have been for Pistachio gelato, all handmade, all good. There are also a couple good restaurants, Osteria del Conte and Trattoria al Goloso nearby.

For Palermo, try Osteria al Ferro de Cavallo, we liked it, maybe not fancy for an anniversary dinner, and not for those that need help with the menu, or expect an itemized bill. We went there at least two nights, you order wine, you order food, staff is inattentive, they scribble a few lines on a ticket, sometimes not every time you get something, you take the ticket to the owner, he looks at it, does some calculation in his head, crumples the ticket and tosses it on the floor, and proclaims a price. A bit unnerving for some, but I have to say it was probably accurate, or close.

I don't believe you necessarily need two nights in Piazza Armerina unless you plan to go to one or more other towns in the interior (such as Caltagirone and Enna). I do think it's interesting to see this less-touristy (except for the villa itself) part of the island.

I don't think I'd want to visit all three of Noto, Modica and Ragusa on a single day en route from Piazza Armerina to Siracusa. I'd want time to wander aimlessly. Ortygia's lovely, but with four nights there I don't think you need to cram three Baroque towns into one day. You might also consider going to Scicli.

I skipped the three major Greek temples, so I can be of no help there.

Just to add to your confusion, I enjoyed Segesta more than the other two temple locations. Two hours would certainly have been enough for me. We were there in April and it was HOT! And I would spend two nights in Piazza Armerina. We are public transportation people and that was one of our more difficult places to find it (in those days, we were trying to stick with buses and avoid taxi fares). I would have enjoyed a night in Erice more than the day trip we did. Loved Ortigia!

I'll confuse you even more... We visited Segesta, Selinunte and Agrigento and were glad we saw all three. While you could say the temples all look similar, the settings were what impressed us. How the amphitheater at Segesta was set to capture the view (so many years ago) really made me think of what life might have been like back then. And Selinunte right on the coast with seemingly much more to be uncovered. Valley of the Temples lit up at night. All similar but very different. And while I didn't like Taormina itself, the amphitheater is impressive. I'm glad we saw it as a day trip from Ortigia.

I've been to Greek temples in Greece, Paestum Italy, and Sicily. Those in Sicily were the best preserved. I went to all 3 sites and found them to be very different. My favorite was Selinunte.

Segesta is an easy stop on the way to Erice. Be sure to see the theatre as well as the temple. Selinunte needs at least 1/2 day. You can see the temples in Agrigento in an hour or so if you don't linger. The archaeology museum is well worth visiting as well. The driving time from Erice to Piazza Armerina via Selinunte/Agrigento is at least 4 hours. That only gives you enough time to visit one of the two. I think you have one too many days in Palermo. I'd eliminate one and spend it between Erice and Piazza Armerina instead.

Get to Villa Romana del Casale as early as possible we arrived before the opening and got in for about two hours before the tour buses arrived. It got too busy for us and we were outa there.