Sicily

You have to work with what you have of course, so just be selective. Choose what you want to see in a limited area rather than traversing the island and it should be fine. You won't see everything with two weeks either, and you can always go back!

With only 10 days, you’d be rushed to see the entire island. As already stated, be selective with what you’d like to see. We had 14 days, excluding travel days, and while we drove around the entire island, we would have liked more time. The main sights tourists seem to visit are in the Palermo, Cefalu, Monreale areas in the north, and Syracusa, Noto, Ragusa, and Agrigento areas in the east and south.

Plan your itinerary very carefully ahead as there is a lot to see. Sicily is a blockbuster of great archeological sights, museums in Palermo, views, plazas, churches etc. I would Break into thirds for your stays and hopefully u fly into Palermo and out of Catania. A lot of time is lost in backtrack.
If you can a guided tour is ideal. I am usually an independent traveler but upon my visit to Sicily as i too had limited time My tour selection was terrific.
The only sights I would consider to drop are the volcano, salt farms, wineries and Cefalu.
Enjoy.

Thanks for the advice better do some research and planning. Cheers Tony

Most travelers with limited time like you have choose one side of the island, East or west. You need at least two weeks to see the highlights of Sicily independently.

I would echo Suki’s sentiments. Our first visit to Sicily was limited to Eastern Sicily. We had been on a Southern Italy tour and ended in Sicily. We extended our time to 10 days. We stayed in Taormina, & visited Mt Etna. We then stayed another 5 nights in Ortigia & did a day tour to the Baroque towns of Noto, Ragusa & Modica. We stayed a night in Catania, before flying home

We were to be in Sicily now for 28 days. The itinerary started in Palermo and was ending in Catania. Our plan was to use public transportation.

I have taken the RS Sicily tour and it was my favorite of 11 RS tours. But I concur with the comments of JS re: the salt farms, volcano and Cefalu. The view of Mt. Etna from Taormina is spectacular. Cefalu is great for a day at the beach and close to Palermo for return flights but not much more IMHO. I was also glad to get out of Palermo. Sicily is fantastic, enjoy it!

I’d simply suggest, and you may have already done so, review the itinerary of Rick’s 11 day Sicily tour. Not suggesting you take the tour but it will give you an idea of what can be covered, in quick fashion, in your available time. Extended where you have an interest and skip where you don’t. Also check tour reviews- what spots seemed to gather the most WOW moments and which didn’t.

I was supposed to have 2 weeks in Sicily a while ago. The plan was for a week in Ortigia (my 3rd time - phenomenal place) doing a few short day trips to the baroque cities. Then I was to rent a car and head to Agrigento for 3 nights. There was a bit more after that but that's not the point here. It looks, on google maps, that the drive from Ortigia to Agrigento can be either rather quick or rather slow - there are places to stop and explore along the way. I don't think you need a car while based in Ortigia - trains and buses are pretty easy. Parking in Ortigia can be difficult. An itinerary like this is giving you 2 parts of the island without spending a lot of time packing and unpacking. On the plane ride home you can begin planning your return, which I am sure you will want to do!

Hi jinks36, Sicily is a beautiful destination and as you research and plan you will find so many places to consider. I highly recommend that with ten days, you limit yourself to either Easter or Western Sicily and just have the mindset that you will return one day to see the rest. Both sides have wonderful attractions and more than enough to fill your ten days. Look at it all and then prioritize as to what appeals to you the most.

Palermo is no place for a car, so you might try to begin or end your trip there (assuming it makes it onto the final itinerary) and avoid having a car during the Palermo period. While not essential, a car would be handy for getting to the cathedral in Monreale (though bus service is available), so you might plan to see it on your way out of town or back into town.

“ the drive from Ortigia to Agrigento can be either rather quick or rather slow”

There is no quick way. The drive will be at about 40-50mph, or slower, on poorly marked, rural roads with few road signs other than at exits. The roads are mostly in good repair. Have a good GPS. When we drove from Sigonella near Catania, to Agrigento, we stopped at Villa Romana Casale en route. As there were minimal signs to know which road I was actually on, I depended on the GPS. The drive was easy, the GPS accurate, but we got into Agrigento on a different road than I had planned on; However, early enough to visit a couple places in mid afternoon. Ortigia is closer than from where I started the day. There are island-wide speed limits. Since I wasn’t certain what constituted a major or minor out-of-town road, I opted to play it safe and drive slower. It worked; I didn’t receive any tickets.

On Ortigia, there are a couple large public parking lots a couple blocks to the left, immediately after crossing onto the island. Plug one into your GPS to save time finding it. The parking machines only took 1€ coins, nothing smaller.

We did a decent overview in 11 days but obviously missed a lot. Our itinerary (note we prefer to stay places a little longer than other people and avoid 1-2 night stops at all cost.

Fly into Catania, get car. 4 nights Ortygia island in Siracusa. Day trip to Etna with car.

Drive to Scopello. 3 nights. Beach, hiking, and part-day trips to Segesta and Erice.

Drive to Palermo airport, return car, bus into Palermo. 4 nights in Palermo. Visit Monreale as well as the Palermo highlights. People list Monreale as a day trip but it’s basically the Palermo outskirts, so I don’t count it as such. It’s just a place you should visit while in Palermo.

Fly home from Palermo.

Both flights were one stop - Sicily to Rome to Chicago or reverse.

Notable things skipped: Catania, Agrigento, the islands, baroque towns like Noto (could easily be done as day trip from Siracusa), and a whole lot more. But no matter where you go you can’t see everything so it’s a matter of prioritizing.

Skipping Agrigento was tough, but we had just been to Greece and were also going to Segesta on this trip. So it was a tough call and it’s a must do when we return. But it was so far out of the way (Palermo and Siracusa were our #1 and 2 priorities).