Hello. My husband and I are going to Sicily in May for about 2 weeks and I wanted advice on which three locations would be best to use a s a base to explore Sicily. We prefer to stay in fewer locations and do in-depth explorations/short day trips rather than long drives and frequent stops in lots of hotels. For a 12-day trip, we were thinking of three cities for four-day stays in each. The first stop would be the city to which we are flying into, Palermo; The second town would be Trapani where we would explore the West Coast. Lastly would be Siracusa, returning to Palermo the day before to fly back home. We plan on renting a car. We have been to Italy at least a dozen times and explore it on our own with the Rick Steves’ books but we have never been to Sicily. Any advice is appreciated.
Posted by
2898 posts
Realize that even with a car you cannot see all of Sicily in two weeks.
And I do think three bases isn’t very many for two weeks. You are going to spend a lot of time traveling back and forth. We stayed in six places in two weeks. But the places you have chosen seem reasonable if you only going to do three. But maybe before you reserve accommodations, figure out where you want to go from each and how long it would take you.
That said, I would consider going to Siracusa after Palermo and go to Trapani last. Trapani is not that far from Palermo and you may be able to go to the airport from there, saving yourselves a night.
Another alternative is to fly out of Catania for your return instead. That would save you from backtracking across the island.
Posted by
United States
75 posts
Flying out of Catania, after visiting Siracusa is a better option than circling back to Palermo. Alternatively, if the connections are better for you, fly into Catania and home from Palermo. That being said, 12 days is very short time to try to see both Eastern and Western Sicily....I would suggest focusing on one or the other for this first trip. Do you have specific interests or sites in mind that are 'must-see'? If so that will help inform your itinerary.
My husband and I have spent close to 4 weeks in Sicily in total, in 2 trips, and still feel like we have barely scratched the surface :~).
Posted by
Boise, ID, USA
2337 posts
Yes, we've spent five weeks in Sicily on two trips (but on public transportation). There's lots to see.
Posted by
Calgary, AB, Canada
591 posts
We didn't see the area around Trapani, so cannot comment on that, I think 4 nights Palermo and Siracusa would be good and you could do some daytrips from each. My only thoughts are, that you don't necessarily need a car for the Palermo portion, or really for all of Siracusa.
Ortigia is the original island for Siracusa and where most tourists like to stay. Not car friendly.
If you cannot fly home from Catania, might I suggest the following:
Palermo first, bus to Siracusa, pick up car there when you want to start exploring, drive to Trapani and finish there. I think that it is only about an hour drive from there to Palermo airport.
Posted by
1080 posts
While I appreciate the desire to home base in just three places, I think it’s at odds with your sightseeing goals. Sicily is challenging because it has a lot of sights and they aren’t necessarily close to each other. So, day tripping off your coastal destinations are going to mean a lot of driving. 3-4 hours round trip driving can add up fast. For reference, I day tripped from Piazza Armerina to Agrigento a couple hours each way and it was a drag.
I’m not a fan of 1-nighters, but you’re really best served by a couple overnight stops around Agrigento and Piazza Armerina as you make your way across the island. This will make for a better experience visiting the two major sights of Valley of the Temples and Villa Romana (which are absolute must sees.) And no offense to these towns in the interior, but they are generally pretty sleepy in May. One night is about right. If you’re locked into your Palermo flights, you could do a night heading east then another when you backtrack.
Overall, Palermo and Siracusa both deserve 3-4 night stays. I have not been to Trapani, but it looks pretty sleepy and more than two nights feels like a stretch. If it makes sense, on your way back you could drop your car in Cefalu and do a night there. Cefalu has very good rail connections to Palermo and then onward to the airport.
Posted by
Seattle, WA
442 posts
Your proposed trip is just one day longer than the RS Sicily trip.
We normally travel on or own, but this past year, I ended up incorporating the RS Sicily trip into a 30 day southern Italy trip. Advice I got on the forum re planning independent travel in southern Italy helped me reach that decision. I think that was a good move.
For our TR including comments on the RS tour and comparison of three distinct styles of travel, see https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/southern-italy-30-days-three-ways-to-travel.
You could do what one couple on the RS trip did: add a day trip to (or a day and a night in) Cefalu at the front end of the trip. And then you’ve got it covered.
Posted by
OP
Pennsylvania, USA
12 posts
All of the replies provided great advice. I am going to re-think the itinerary based on everyone's suggestions. I was able to add two days to our trip but we need to be back home after that, so we cannot spare more time. I think we are going to Sicily with the idea that we will return in the future for more exploration. Thank you for the feedback everyone!
Posted by
Mashpee, MA
61 posts
Following this helpful thread as my husband and I are doing the same thing at the same time of year! All of these posts are super helpful!