Sicily car rental

We rented a car from Sicily by Car on Via Napoli in Palermo. It’s in a ZTL but you are able to get a paid day pass. They can give you information at the office.
But we have also rented a car at the Catania airport and dropped off at the Palermo airport. There is a reasonal bus that goes into Palermo.
Palermo is an extremely hectic an confusing city with many one way streets. I woukd try not to drive in the city.

We did as you plan — picked up a car at Catania airport and dropped it off when we arrived to Palermo at the end of our trip. When we were ready to leave Palermo, our accommodation arranged a driver to the airport. It worked out great for us. You do not need or want a car while in Palermo but driving into the city to drop off the car was not a problem. There are several drop off locations in the city depending on which agency you use. Just do a Google search.

We are definitely not driving in the city! Just needing to drop the car before we stay in Palermo. Thank!

Two Sicily-By-Car offices to choose from downtown:
One is on Via Napoli
This is what the entrance looks like:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/KxQQqgmg6DnMpDQf9

The other one is near the Cruise port, here.
The entrance looks like this in the image below.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/vTQsuZBkm3J2Yq4A8

The former is inside the ZTL, therefore the agency will need to put your car's license plate in the White List in the City's portal, or you will get a fine. The one near the port is accessible without entering the ZTL.

Check the reviews for that business.

We rented from Sixt and picked up/dropped at their office by the pier in Palermo after circling a chunk of the island. Navigating in and out of Palermo was pretty easy. I didn't think the driving is particularly challenging once you get used to it. Plus you will have been driving in Sicily for 2 weeks by the time you get to Palermo.

Get the EasyPark app, pay attention to parking signs, get the zero deductible insurance

Hi! Not sure if this will help, but we just rented a car for a week in Sicily. When I picked up the car at the Avis in Siracusa (across from the train station), I found out that the international site directed my booking through the US site (where I live) rather than than the Italian site (where I was renting). This resulted in an odd record that only showed windshield protection being selected rather than any damage coverage when I had selected what I thought was the super damage coverage recommended on the forum. They were able to change everything and it worked out, but the rental cost $400 more than expected. The manager explained that the local site is often cheaper (who knows if that is true). Anyway, just wanted to share my learning! Happy travels!

I use www.autoeurope.com then I choose the best deal available for my dates of travel. They work with all major companies, including SicilybyCar which is big in Sicily especially. Enter the pickup city (All Locations) and drop off city (all locations). For one way rentals there might be a one way drop off fee, but it is generally not as large as the one way drop off fees as in the US.

Once you select the company and vehicle size, the above website will give you the option to choose the insurance coverage levels. The basic level is included in the price of the rental, the level above (no deductible) is about $5 a day extra, then the total coverage (includes windshields and undercarriage) costs about $12/day. I always select the total coverage.

Thank you for the tips. I have a further question. Has anyone stored luggage after getting off the plane at Catania airport? We are flying in from Malta at 8 am but are not getting our rental car until 130 pm. We are hoping to store luggage and tour around Catania for a few hours since we are there.

We did the reverse direction and there was a place to pick up the car closer to town. Probably saved a few days of rental by not picking up the car until we were leaving Palermo. If you drop the car off in town earlier, you will still have the cost for transport out to the airport when you leave.

Where in Catania are you picking up your rental car? Pick a luggage storage place near there. Just use google map function to locate the handiest location based on that.

Yes there are rental counters all over Palermo. Dropping the car off there will save you €50 and an hour or so vs driving to the airport to drop it off and then backtracking to Palermo in a taxi.

Hi Chris

Picking up
At the Catania airport area. I will search Google as suggested. . We will return in town in Palermo. We gave a 1 pm return so will look for an easier drop off location then head to our accommodation.

Maybe I don't understand, but it seems that you are thinking about...
... arriving CTA from Malta at 8:00, gathering your stuff, taking a cab to the city and exploring for ≠4 hours until 13:00, then taking a taxi back to CTA, picking up your rental car and your bags, then driving off to ___

You could always switch your pickup location to central Catania where you'll be sightseeing; thus avoiding a trip to and from the airport? You could store your bags at a baggage handler near the rental office. I realize this involves you driving your rental from central Catania to the autostrada, but it'll be mid afternoon and the traffic won't be peak. I don't know what rental company you'll end up with but Sixt has a downtown Catania location that's like two blocks from a divided 4-lane road out of town. And they have a downtown location for drop off that is literally on a similar divided 4-lane road. You're not really dealing with stressful driving in either situation. I was more worried about driving in Sicily than I needed to be. I found it to be stressful for about 15 minutes until I got used to not having 5 feet of open space around my car at all times. Don't rent a big car regardless of what you end up doing.

Slightly OT, but have you considered that 4 hours in central Catania might be relatively minimal juice for a lot of squeeze? That's a question for others to weigh in on, but you could just change your pickup time to 9:00 and pay for an extra half day of rental. Then you'd skip your 4 hours in Catania in favor of ≠6 hours somewhere else.