Sicily - 9 days. Flying in 7/1 & out 7/11 of Cantania

Hi! Sounds like a cool trip planned. If you're going in July, you'll want to be on the water as much as possible. This depends on what type of travel you like. If you like nice things, Taormina and Siracusa is great. Especially if you stay on Isola di Ortigia in Siracusa.

Agrigento is really about the valley of the temples. It could even be a day trip. I definitely recommend stopping to see the Scala dei Turchi which is one of the most iconic beaches in Sicily, if not Italy.

Catania, Taormina, and Siracusa are where you should spend time. Mt Etna, Ragusa, and Agrigento are more day trips.

Make sure you spend some time in Ortigia, Siracusa’s historic core.

If you’ve never been to any of the places, or similar places on other trips, then how long you need is a wildcard. Of the places you mentioned we spent 3 nights in the Catania area, 2 nights in Taormina, and 2 nights in Agrigento. How you’re getting around will affect the amount of time you have in each place. We had a rental car.

To us, a couple hours in Ortigia was sufficient while others have spent days there and could have used more. We spent 3 hours at the main Valley of the Temples sites. I would expect July would be much busier than when we visited, therefore, requiring more time. We only went into Catania one day and that was only so I could see how much (or little) it had changed since I visited it numerous times in the late 70s.

The mentioned Scala de Turchi is a few miles outside of Agrigento and it is worth visiting if you have the time.

Plus 1 for Ortigia. The Cathedral there is amazing, built over a greek temple and contains the relics of Santa Lucia. The nearby church of Santa Lucia has a Caravaggio of her burial.

If you are a fan of the Godfather movies, Savoca is nearby. That is where they filmed the Sicilian scenes. You can have a drink (or gelato) in Bar Vitelli, where Michael met is father-in-law.

We enjoy the Italian detective series Inspector Montalbano, which has parts filmed in Ragusa. This is one of the most beautiful towns.

I'm hazy on what things you want to do/memories you want to make at the various destinations, but just in general, you probably have too many destinations for that amount of time. Of your 10 nights you have probably 5 or 6 in Catania/Etna/Taormina so that leaves 4 or 5 between Ragusa, Agrigento and Siracusa/Ortigia. It's just too much moving around.

I assume you're renting a car with that itinerary and your limited schedule. It'd be nice to rely on public transit (busses mostly) but I just don't know if it's doable on your schedule. So I might do Etna at the end; allowing you to put off renting your car until you leave Siracusa. But if you're really just interested in the volcano, you could arrange for a day trip.

Are you just doing day trips to Taormina? Remember each time you move your family to a new hotel, it kills at least a half a day of sightseeing and it's kinda exhausting/boring for the kids.

Agrigento - The temples are really amazing, the town is just fine. On a short trip, maybe stay closer to the park entrance. This is the farthest destination.

Ragusa - It's one of my favorite cities we visited but there is the slight inconvenience/timesuck of having to park and walk. So it really doesn't make any sense for just one night.

Ortigia - People on the boards love it. I liked it fine. It felt a lot like coastal towns along the Adriatic to me; expensive and kinda touristic but very picturesque and charming.

Pack light, don't rent a big SUV. Oh and pack light!

Some quick comments about eastern Sicily, where I've spent a bit of time.

These comments are long (so much for "quick"), so I had to split them into 3 posts.

Taormina and Siracusa are both about an hour from Catania, so it's easy to make day trips of them. There's buses if you don't want to drive, and the buses are very comfortable.

Highlights of Taormina (for me), in no particular order:

• Isola Bella - we're big into walking, so walked down the stairs to it, explored the island for an hour or so, and then walked back up, took 2-3 hours total

• Taormina's main tourist/shopping strip - fun to explore for a couple hours at least

• gardens (connected to main strip) - very nice, half hour or so

• amphitheater - connected to main strip, really cool views, but kinda expensive and not always open - another half hour or more if you're really into archaeology

• walk up to various viewpoints - half hour

• Castelmola - in theory you could walk up from Taormina but we were always driven. Beautiful little town perched on a steep hill with a ruined fort at the top. I've been there on 3 or 4 separate trips and always enjoyed its chill vibe even more than Taormina itself! 2-3 hours at least

I doubt you could squeeze all of that in a day, unless you get there really early, leave really late, and get some to drive you up and down the hills. Or maybe get a ride up to Castelmola first, explore it, walk down to Taormina, explore it, walk down to Isola Bella, get a ride back to wherever you left your car/bus.

If Catania is your base for multiple days, you could do a day trip to Taormina, see how much you get done and how much you like the vibe, and go back on a different day later if you want. It has some truly beautiful views, and lots of neat little details.

Highlights of Siracusa (for me):

• Ortigia - neat little streets, very picturesque and relaxing, fish markets, a place where I had my first Turkish wrap ever (and fell in love with Turkish food!). At least 2-3 hrs wandering around

• Castle Maniace - at the tip of Ortigia. Great views, fun to explore topside and also down in the interior, where there are some really dark and spooky bits. My kids had a blast there. 1-2 hrs

• archaeological park - not connected to Ortigia, but really cool roman and greek ruins, and the ear of dyonisus. if you are into history and imagining what it was like in the old days, this is a really neat place! 2-3 hrs

We've squeezed all those Siracusa highlights into a single day before, multiple times. We were driven, though, which is how we got from Ortigia to the archaelogical park. Not sure how long it would take to walk between the two, or how enjoyable that walk is.

Catania :
I know it well, since my partner's from there, and we've stayed with her family there many times. Personal highlights tend to skewed towards family-related memories, but there are some tourist-oriented locations which have stood out:

• Duomo-area markets - this is the most famous and tourist-dense area in Catania. The fish market and nearby produce markets are interesting, the new wooden market in the park just south east of there is cute, the cheap counterfeit markets are less so, the craft markets a little up Via Etnea are worth a look (if you are into crafts). Plenty of markets if you like markets. Personally, I'm not into markets, so the amount of time I'd allocate to them is zero, but they're unavoidable if you're walking through the area so you will see some of them whether you plan to or not. How many hours you dedicate to markets depends on how much you enjoy shopping.

• Giardini Bellini - about a km north on Via Etnea, this park has lots of pretty areas and is a nice break from the concrete. If you're into walking, it's definitely worth the walk. You can take Via Etnea up to it and come back down a different street, possibly one that loops you toward the monastery. Depends on how much you enjoy getting lost! :)

• Church rooftops - There's two good ones I've done: the Badia di Sant'Agata which is just north of Il Duomo, and San Giuliano, a few blocks northwest. Both offer great views of the city. Each costs a few euros. Definitely worth doing at least one of them! About an hour each.

• Teatro Antico (greek/roman amphitheater) - a few blocks west of Il Duomo, fun to explore, sort of like an inner city version of the one in Taormina. The external views aren't nearly as good, but it's easy to get to, and less touristy. 1-2 hrs

• Castello Ursino - a few blocks south of Teatro Antico, this castle is neat to walk around, and also has a nice museum inside. Definitely worth checking out if you re interested in history. 1-2 hr

• Monastery - a few blocks northwest of Teatro Antico, great views, neat murals, nice shade! Definitely worth exploring for an hour or so.

• WW2 museum - nestled deep within Le Ciminiere, which is this old industrial area northeast of the train station. Getting there is a mini-adventure in itself, since its location is so weird. But once you are inside, it's a fascinating museum about the allied invasion of Sicily during WW2. If you are at all interested in WW2, you need to see this museum! We love it. 2-3 hr.

• Aci Castello - a few km up the coast from Catania, you are probably not going to walk there (although we've done so a few times but we have a lot more time to kill) so you will need to take a bus or taxi or drive. Cute town, but the highlight is the triangular castle which is perched on a rock overlooking the water. Absolutely worth going inside it, where there a little museum, little art gallery, little garden, and big views from the top. Weddings are sometimes hosted there, which are interesting in themselves. The surrounding town is fun to explore.

• Mount Etna - it's a long drive up to Rifiuio Giovanni Sapienza, where you get neat views and an interesting walk around craters. Dress warmly. On the way up, you'll pass Monti Rossi (NW of Nicolosi), which is a forested area where you can picnic and take a nice stroll, a huge contrast from the city. There's also some neat hiking trails in a park just west of the road up. I have no idea what it's called but the coordinates are: 37.69354994552365, 14.98089787036117 - an hour or two at each place you stop, which can also include small hill towns like Nicolosi, which is cute

Note that Catania has a metro, but it's very limited (just one line) and is mostly used to commute to/from the suburbs (like Misterbianco) which you are unlikely to [want to] visit. Since my partner's family lives out that way, we took it a lot, but you might never use it.

How much time should you allocate to Catania? Well, it depends on how comfortable you are exploring a city which is for some the best place in the world, and for others the "worst" (most uneducated and dangerous) city in Europe. Since 2010, I have spent many months in Catania, always with my daughters, from toddlers to teens. We have never had anything bad happen to us. However, we always keep the girls with us, stick to populated places at night, and dress like walkers/hikers (shorts and backpacks), so we don't look like rich tourists off a cruise ship. Teenage girls tend to draw attention wherever you go (not just Catania), so if you have daughters, tell 'em to wear their worst outfits and you should be fine. Good luck with that! ;)

Seriously, though, Catania can look ugly or beautiful, or both at the same time. The ash-darkened walls can look decrepit and creepy, but then through a hole in them you can view a beautiful garden. If you get away from the main streets, you're bound to find piles of trash on the roadside, sometimes in huge piles, but then turn the corner and there's a picturesque cafe next to a bustling bakery full of delicious-looking pastries. The juxtaposition of dark, neglected areas and happy, sparkling hot-spots permeates Catania, and probably a lot of Siclian cities. So your comfort level depends on how much (and for how long) you are repulsed by the ugliness vs attracted by the beauty. It takes time to learn to filter out the gross and boring bits so that you can focus on the good bits. Each time I return I need to make that adjustment. (I live in a New Zealand resort town so the contrast is huge.) How long it takes you to "see" the good bits is not something any of us can predict.

So maybe one day or fraction of a day is enough ("basta Catania!") or maybe you will find yourself strangely attracted to the rough, chaotic chessboard of bad/good, decay/life, trash/treasure... and will want to stay longer. I have no idea how much Catania (or any place) will "click" with you. That is something you will need to find out for yourselves.

If you pick Catania as a base for a few days, you can do those day trips to Taormina, Siracusa, and Etna (and other towns like Caltagirone with its steps and pottery, or even Agrigento if you don't mind the long drive)... and you will be able to see bits and pieces of Catania in the mornings and evenings before/after those day trips. If you end up liking Catania, you could then dedicate an entire day to it, or if you prefer getting out of Catania, you could pick more day trips. You'd have that flexibility. Just make sure your lodging in Catania is comfortable, and near some nice morning and evening food options, and you should be good to go.

That was a great read! I will be flying into Palermo and then doing the south before flying out of Cantina. I have booked marked this :)

I agree with the others that the itinerary seems too busy. I recommend going directly to Taormina on arrival for 3 nights and enjoying the sights, beach, and doing a day trip to Etna from there, then to Siracusa for 3 nights with a day trip to Ragusa (maybe stay for dinner and sunset if you are able), then to Agrigento for 1 night, stopping at Villa Romana enroute (probably the best preserved Roman mosaics anywhere- mindblowing historic site in the middle of nowhere including depictions of female athletes in bikinis and many other impressive works). Get up very early for Valley of the Temples as the complex is huge and it will be very hot and busy in July, and then return to Catania after lunch for 1 night. Every time you change hotels it is a time consuming production to get everyone packed and moved to the next place wasting half a day - thus the recommended 3-night stays. I assumed 9-days meant 8 nights, but if it is actually 9 nights- you could consider adding 2-nights in Ragusa after Taormina/before Syracuse and scraping the Catania night (unless your departure home is too early).

You already know of Agrigento - the BEST Greek temple site.
I'd also go to the museum

sort of "between Ragusa and Agrigento" is Villa Romana del Casale
it has the BEST Roman mosaics.

two Black Fridays ago, we got the MHzChoice streaming service for a few $ a month.
That winter we watched Inspector (Detective?) Montalbano. THAT is what sold us on going to Sicily that spring.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inspector_Montalbano_(TV_series)