Sicily

Kinda depends on what you want to see/do. Will you be staying in one place and day tripping or moving around. I've done a good bit of Sicily and found Palermo, Siracusa, Agrigento and Marsala to be the places I liked the most. I also liked some of the smaller towns like Montelepre and Corleone but not sure what kind of connections they would have for public transport.
Myself, I like driving and have found Sicily fairly easy to drive around in. Bigger cities like Palermo can be a bit hair raising but the autostrada/country is easy.

Disclaimer: We will be heading to Sicily for the first time in 8 weeks so my advice is based solely off of the research I have done rather than first hand experience. Like you, we will be using public transportation, however, we've budgeted 13 days for this trip. Unlike most of Italy, while the public transportation is good, I have found it is definitely more challenging, schedule-wise. With only 5-7 days, I would strongly recommend you pick half of the island to visit east or west, and not both. Since your other two destinations are in the north, I assume you will fly to Sicily (from Milan?) which gives you the choice of flying into Palermo (west), Trapani (further west) or Catania (east). From my research, it seems that the eastern half is more developed and geared towards tourists, while the western half is a bit more rough and chaotic. If it helps, our itinerary is as follows: Fly into Catania. 2 nights Taormina, 3 nights Siracusa, 3 nights Palermo (with a day trip to Agrigento), 3 nights Trapani, and 1 night back in Palermo to position us for the flight out. As Ron said, it depends on what you are interested in doing. Sicily is well known for its beaches, Greek ruins, and naturalistic beauty but there are different places to find each. You might also want to check the Sicily forum at TripAdvisor as there is a very helpful destination expert there who can give you very good advice on Sicily.

Just a little tip for ya'll, laundramats are pretty much non existent in Sicily from what I've seen and hotel prices can be very expensive to do your laundry. Pack enough to last your trip and/or expect to do some bathtub laundry. Irons are scarce also from my experience.

There's a really great sicily expert, two actually, on tripadvisor's sicily forum. Just log in there and ask your question and you'll get detailed expert advice.

I was in Sicily in late Sept 2009. It is still VERY warm that time of year in Sicily. My impressions: The people are very friendly and I loved Taormina but did not like Palermo. I also went to Syracuse and Cefalu and saw the Villa Casale and the temples at Agrigento. Be sure to take a trip out to Monreale when you are in Palermo. My favorite part of being in Taormina was sitting on the terrace of my hotel in the morning drinking my coffee with the sea below me and Mt Etna to my right spewing steam. Also, the shopping and restaurants were good there as the 'beautiful people' go there. I had a drink at the bar Liz Taylor and Richard Burton used to go to and bought a hat for my daughter "just like the one Julia Roberts bought from us last year". Both experiences made me smile.

Thanks to all of you for the excellent info and tips on Sicily you have have provided in your posts. I'm still in the early stages of planning, so I do appreciate it. I will indeed get myself to the suggested Sicily experts! That said, any other info about getting around, places to go, local things to know about, etc., is certainly appreciated. Ciao!

Wow, you have been some excellent advice! You won't be able to see all of it in that short of a trip, pick one section, and get some excellent advice on TA. We had our best luck exploring the island with a rental car. It allowed us to stay in Agritourisimos, and explore small out-of-the way towns easily. We had excellent results using the Lonely Planet guidebook for exploring Sicily. On your next trip to Sicily stay in the Aeolian Islands for a few days. Read about them. thre is an overnite car ferry from Naples, or you can take people ferries from various locations. They are so much fun; each is completely different. We stayed on Lipari and did day trips to some of the others.

One more question re: Sicily ~ neither my husband nor I speak Italian (nor any other language, unfortunately). What should we expect just speaking English?
Ciao!

As far as the hotels go the staff in the places where we have stayed spoke good to excellent English. Most of the tourist sights had about the same type staff. Just general walking around/restaurant type situations you'll probably run into less English speaking people. I would say to maybe try to learn some basic Italian and you should get by.

In my view, Sicily is best toured by car. 5-7 days by public transit sounds pretty tight unless you don't plan on visiting all of the main sights. We toured by car for two weeks Then to Panarea and Stromboli for a week. It wasn't enough time. You might consider one of the escorted 5-7 day bus tours. Never been on one myself but they appeared to be efficient.

I agree with John. A car would be the best way to see Sicily. Just get one with a GPS if you do go that way.

Again, I greatly appreciate all the input! Keep it coming! Any thoughts/experience in hiring a local guide to drive and share historical/cultural info about the area of Sicily we travel in? We really don't want to get a car - our past experience of renting a car in Europe was that it was distracting and too nerve-racking for us. We loved the trains even though we got mixed up now and then.
Thank you, all!

You wouldn't need a car with only 5-7 days. You can easily get around on buses and trains. Fly easyjet from Malpensa to Catania or WindJet from Pisa to Catania. Spend your time in Taormina and Siracusa and take day trips to Mount Etna and Noto. Lavenderia ad Acqua on Corso Umberto in Siracusa is a good place to do your laundry. It's just before the bridge to Ortigia.

Hi Anne, I can sympathize with your desire to avoid driving a car in Sicily - we debated the idea for about 2 hours before deciding "nope, no way, no how!" There are a number of driver/guide services available, but of course they come at a price. It's also worth noting that usually your driver cannot serve as a guide at any sites, as they have to be licensed in Italy. I like Giovanna's suggestions and think that would be perfectly doable in your allotted time by bus/train.

Oh boy! My husband and I are planning a trip to Sicily, too. We are rather late getting the trip planned as we will travel in April this year! We've been numerous times to Italy but never to Sicily, so I am finding this thread most interesting. Here are some of our questions....From Rome, is it best to take a regional flight or the train? We will have about a week in Sicily --- better to have a home base and do day trips, or move around? Top sites to see? We will be using public transportation and NOT renting a car, so any helpful advice is most welcome!

Hi Margaret, As noted above, I haven't actually been to Sicily yet (though we're at 5 weeks out now, eeeks!) but hopefully some of my research will help you out. 1) I'd fly from Rome. A week is not very much time and you want to spend it seeing Sicily, not stuck on a train. 2) Whether to base in one location or move around will probably depend on what you want to see (as well as you personal travel style), and top attractions depend on what you are interested in. Greek temples? Mt. Etna? Mosaics? With only a week and not wanting to rent a car, you are going to be limited in how much you can get around. The public transportation is supposedly good (buses apparently preferred) but I found the schedules are not very cooperative for tourists. Don't expect to be able to reach more than one site a day, unless taking a tour. First thing I would do is pick east or west, and stick to that side of the island.

If public transportation is used, Giovanna's advice is best. If you want to see more with your limited time, a rental car is a must.

I have to add my two cents... I HIGLHLY recommend renting a car and NOT taking public transportation. The little time you have is soooo valuable. Sitting around for buses and trains is a complete waste of this valuable time. I have lived in Naples for 5 years and love the driving here. (It's actually the best thing about living in this crazy place!) The driving is definately calmer in Sicily, compared to Naples... Sicilians actually stop at stop signs, sometimes. Just get the right mind set ...be alert and have a sense of humor. (A GPS would come in handy too!) If you had a month to explore the island, I'd say maybe do public transportation... but 5-7 days... yikes!

If you plan to see the interior, rent a car, but if you plan to see Taormina, Siracusa, Palermo, or Trapani, you don't need a car. Driving Sicily's countryside is calm. Driving cities is hectic. GPS isn't very reliable in Sicily, so a good map is essential. If you had a month, you would probably do a combination of driving and public transport. If you only have a week, you could take public transport or drive, but until you decide on your location, this discussion is moot. You wouldn't rent a car in cities, you could rent a car in smaller towns, and you would definitely rent a car in the countryside.

We were in Sicily for 12 days in Oct '09 and spent the entire time in the western half and don't regret it a bit. We're quite experienced senior citizen (late 60's)Italian travelers. Have you considered taking a ferry from Rome (Civitavecchia) or Naples? It's an overnight trip to Palermo, sleep in a very reasonable cabin, save at least one + days traveling vs train and not as expensive as air. Don't, repeat, don't rule out renting a car. We stayed in a lovely apartment near Cefalu` for a week, drove everywhere (Agrigento, Segesta, Piazza Aremenia with Roman Mosaics, central mountain villages that are stunningly beautiful, etc...) on a very good road system. A GPS is helpful. Public transportation is a bit iffy in western Sicily. We absolutely loved Palermo, stayed in a convent (monasterystays.com), did not drive but walked and walked. Palermo is not touristy but is real Siciliano, fantastic daily market, lots of history, close to Monreale which is a must. I could go on but you get the idea...we will be going back to Sicily for sure!

We've been twice to Sicily, all on public transportation: two weeks for the northern and eastern areas and two and a half weeks for the western and southern areas. It's doable, sometimes frustrating and time-consuming, but we just consider that part of the adventure. I agree with the advice to pick an area and probably, as someone else mentioned, the nothern and eastern areas are easier by train/bus. Siracusa was a favorite of ours; we also liked Taormina, Cefalu and Palermo.

great insights! we too are planning Sicily (May 2-10) after almost a week driving from Rome (long story), so we will have a car. Advice please - after Taormina for 2 nights and Ragusa for 3 nights, should we head for Marsala/ Trapani area or Cefalu for three nights before flight to Rome? RS only writes about Cefalu. We're usually looking for seaside fishing towns, not museums or city-life of Palermo. tante grazie!

Is your flight to Rome from Catania, Palermo, or Trapani?