Sicily, How many days?

Eighteen days was not enough for me, and I do not do beaches. I also have very limited interest in clasical (Roman/Greek) archaeological sites. So I'd say 3 weeks would be good for the more typical traveler. Could be shaved a bit if you will rent a car for part of the trip, because train service is somewhat limited and buses (though comfortable enough) don't make it easy to link smaller towns. If your time is much more limited than that, I'd recommend covering just part of the island reather than scurrying from coast to coast, seeing how many places you can set foot in.

You'll need to get a comprehensive guidebook to Sicily and read it to determine where you want to go. I suggest looking at these areas (but remember my biases):

• Siracusa (my favorite) and the Baroque towns of Ragusa, Noto, Modica and perhap Scicli
• Catania (workaday city with nice historic area) / Taormina (gorgeous but overrun) / Mt. Etna
• Palermo (incl. Monreale) and Cefalu
• Trapani and Erice
• Central Sicily (Piazza Armerina/Villa Romana, Enna, Caltagirone, etc.)
• Greek sites of choice (Agrigento, Segesta and/or Selinunte)
• Aeolian Islands (if time)

Sicily is beastly hot during the summer. That's definitely not a good time to go.

Thank you, Acraven. I have two weeks for the whole trip. We have a car, and Sicily is a must, but also an Amalfi Coast and Rome. What do you say?

I say save Sicily for your next trip to Italy. Assuming you're not traveling in the summer (not a good time for anywhere in southern Italy), I'd suggest that you consider Puglia instead of Sicily. There's a lot to see in Puglia, but you can have a good visit there in far less time than you really need in Sicily. And with a car you could see Matera on the way to or from Puglia.

If you absolutely must include Sicily, pick a limited area. What area to visit is a matter of personal preference; since Siracusa is my favorite Sicilian city and I enjoyed the Baroque towns so much, I'd fly in and out of Catania. I'd make sure I either flew from the US to Sicily or from Sicily back to the US. Otherwise, you're going to lose even more time, relocating from the mainland to Sicily and then the reverse. Don't forget what a hassle airports are these days. Do you really want to deal with four flights over the course of just 14 days? That's a huge chunk out of your vacation time.

Got it. Thanks for the info to think about

I can’t imagine visiting Sicily for less than 10 days, and that assumes you visit just some of the main spots. It should be considered a country on itself.
For ideas see:
www.bestofsicily.com

I agree with all of acraven's wise advice. With two weeks, either totally Sicily or no Sicily. Unless you are going in off-season, you won't want a car around the Amalfi Coast and you won't want one in Rome ever. Have you been to Italy before? If you want a car, then Tuscany/Umbria or the heel (Puglia). Where to choose depends a lot on the time of year.

Andrew and I are cut from diferent cloth. Traveling at that speed, I wouldn't know I had been to Sicily. I say Palermo has at least three days' worth of sights, and Siracusa has two. And not to include Ragusa...

Thank you, Guys. You ruin my plans. I'll to talk to my people about it.
About the car: my friend comes all the way from Russia on his van.

Unknowingly, you ruin my plans too... :)

Not really, but as a warmer alternative for an east coast of Italy trip I've discussed earlier for next April, just this morning I was messing around with the possibility of...after 3 nights in Amsterdam, flying to Naples (1 night), train to Maratea (2 nights), then across that train/ferry thing over the Straits of Messina--have always wanted to do that--to spend 6 nights on the island, probably out of Palermo to a European layover of some sort, then home to Chicago.

Have been there once, only to Catania & Taormina. Spectacular, totally different than anything else on the mainland, and I've been jonesing to return. I haven't driven in Sicily, or in any part of Italy for that matter. But driving around the island seems by far the most efficient way of travel. Buses/trains reportedly aren't that reliable, thus I suppose that's why one needs more time there. Just asking, does Sicily do ZTL's? That might change my mind about getting behind the wheel...

Maybe if we don't drive we'll keep to the north coast via bus/train through Palermo to Trapani/Erice, then back and out.

I can't answer your ZTL question, but I can assure you that you do NOT want to drive in Palermo. It's a challenging place just to be a pedestrian. I don't know about getting behind the wheel in Catania, either, but at least walking across the street wasn't scary.

Otherwise, having a car in Sicily would make for comsiderably more efficient travel if you want to get to some of the interior towns or travel from one smallish place to another. There's little if any bus service on Sundays and holidays, and lots of connections do require buses. However, I found both buses and trains to stick to their schedules; it was more a matter of the schedules' being designed for local residents rather than tourists. However, my inbound train and my outbound bus were both hours late.

One thing to be aware of is that the rail link between Palermo and Trapani takes a convoluted route and is therefore quite slow.

Jay

Yes there are ZTL in many Sicilian cities nowadays, including Taormina and Palermo, but a ZTL has never stopped me from renting cars. Just don’t drive in them. Simply park in a parking lot outside the ZTL perimeter. All ZTL must be signaled by this round red and white sign, which is the European sign for “no motor vehicles permitted beyond this point”.
The site below provides info and maps on any ZTL nationwide.
https://www.accessibilitacentristorici.it/ztl/sicilia/palermo.html

The biggest danger of driving in Italy are actually the speed cameras. Waze app warns you of the fixed cameras, so it’s a good app to use for navigation. Unfortunately it’s harder to be warned of the mobile cameras aboard police patrol cars, sometime unmarked cars. Basically they follow you with a dash camera where they film you speeding from behind. They usually stop you after a while, and even show you the recording. At least you won’t be surprised when you get home.

Sorry to disagree with the other posters but 'different strokes for different folks'. Sicily deserves as much time as you have to give it. So, if you only have 7 days (even 5 or 6) I think it's worth going, with a couple of caveats. Don't go for that short time expecting to see it all - not gonna happen. And you'll see more in that short of visit by renting a car. There's plenty of wonderful things to see even if limiting yourself to one (or two) areas. Not sure where you are coming from but a quick intra-European flight to either Palermo (for the west) or Catania (for the east) will get you there. If you're open to renting a car you can see a lot in 5-7 days. In the west you could see Palermo, Monreale, Trapani, maybe even Agrigento or Segesta - some, not all, depending on what is of interest to you. In the east you could see Catania, Taormina, Mt Etna, Syracuse, Piazza Amerino - again depending on what your interests are and how you are traveling. I wouldn't give up on Sicily just yet, especially if it's of particular interest to you or your traveling companion/s.

It depends. If you want to see SICILY (as in get a good overview of the whole island) then yes, 2+ weeks. But if you want to dip your toe in and see a region of it then less time is fine. For example, a city break in Palermo with one day trip to Cefalu OR Segesta OR Erice could be done in 4 full days. Ditto for Taormina/Etna OR Siracusa/Baroque towns. Or other regions. The point is that Sicily is big, takes a bit of effort to get to (flight or very long train), and has a lot of sights spread out over a large area, and the public transport between different regions isn't super fast. So you need to either have a chunk of time or be willing to only see a section.

When is your trip? Weather and crowds will make a huge difference, especially for the Amalfi Coast.

We took what I call "A Taste of Southern Italy" tour several years ago. It started in Rome x 3> Positano x 2> Maratera x3> Taormina x3. Along the way we did day tours of sights. Following the tour we stayed 4 nights in Ortigia and did day tour to Ragusa, Modica, and Noto. We spent another day in Catania before flying out. Our plan is to return and spend more time on west side of Sicily and revisit our favorite area of Siracusa/Ortigia, etc.

In April-May 2015, I spent 9 nights in Sicily (plus a night in Rome to fly home without missing my plane the next morning). I went with a friend, and we zipped around in a car and still only hit some highlights, but had a great time. If you want all the details, here's my trip report: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/sicily-palermo-caltanisetta-siracusa-taormina

We had a great trip, but we accepted up front that we were merely doing a "tasting platter" of the island, and missing a lot. With judicious pruning of your goals, you can see a part of the island on a shorter visit, but you can't see "Sicily" in less than about two weeks.

As for ZTL's, we didn't drive in Palermo except to leave, and no one else would want to either. Siracusa has a ZTL for the central zone (Ortigia) on weekends, but there are large parking lots on Ortigia just before the ZTL, so it's easy to just park there and walk in. And for Taormina, we almost hit the ZTL, but were able to avoid it thanks to my shouting at my friend, the driver (details in my report).

Thanks a lot, People. I "feel" that you're right but that will be not only my decision. Thanks, you guys really helped me.