Sicily...Clockwise or counterclockwise?

We went clockwise, but it doesn’t matter. It depends on the order you want to see things in. We started and ended in Catania.

That is what we thought also, but when we saw that almost all the posts were going counterclockwise, we wondered if we had missed something.

If you go anti-clockwise, and as you are doing a self drive trip, the water is always to your right. No making left turns to get to/from view points and the passenger gets better views. The driver is watching the road so not going to be gazing at scenery anyway.

Just my off the cuff thought. Not even a $0.02 charge.

In addition to Joe’s reasons, I would like to add some additional reasons for traveling counterclockwise.

If you travel counterclockwise you can take advantage of the prevailing Mistral winds which will push you along the southwest coast allowing you to save several centiliters of expensive gasoline. Also it will minimize the time driving with the evening sun in your face, which could blind you and cause an accident.

I don’t know if my reasons are sillier than Joe’s, but both of us have gone to great length to come up with crazy reasons for a choice that is largely inconsequential either way.

I'd check closing days for the major sights to be sure my route wasn't going to cause me to miss something important to me. That said, I don't know how many of the key sights in Sicily are closed one or more days a week.

We went clockwise. :)

Jeanine, do either you or your husband get more dizzy when traveling clockwise or counter-clockwise? If so, something to consider.
Your list of areas to visit omits some of my favorites on the western side of Sicily, including Erice and the beautiful Greek ruins at Segesta. Many people also like Trapani or Marsala on the west coast. You could visit some of these while driving either clockwise or counter-clockwise.

We planned our trip counter clockwise but then reversed it to clockwise as we couldn’t get reservations in some hotels we wanted to stay in if we went counter clockwise.

When planning my trip I thought along the same lines, but discovered it was far easier and less expensive to fly into Catania and out of Palermo. I was surprised by this. I suggest looking at this if you have not already. You would also only really need to pick the car up when heading to Ragusa this way. It would save you some money.

My trip to Sicily was clockwise. I remember looking into the possibility of Etna erupting as a factor. If it does, your flight into Catania could be cancelled or delayed. What city are you flying back to the US from? If there was a delay in flights, I wanted it to be in reaching Sicily as opposed to leaving Sicily (which could also impact making connections back to the US). Just a consideration.
Also flying into and out of Palermo means time spent back tracking.
Cefalu is a beautiful city, but also easy to reach from Palermo by train.
Hope you love Sicily as much as I did!!!

My trip was counterclockwise mainly because I was following our late friend’s Zoe’s itinerary and I was also traveling via public transportation. You can find a link to my trip report on my profile, if you’re interested.

My itinerary: Milan > Palermo (day trips to Cefalù & Monreale) > Trapani (day trips to Segesta, Erice and Favignana) > Agrigento > Piazza Armerina > Siracusa (stayed in Ortigia and took day trip to Noto) > Milazzo > Lipari > Acireale (day trip to Taormina) > Catania Airport> Milan > Home.

If you decide to travel counterclockwise, you can easily travel to Cefalù via train (one hour each way) from Palermo.

Enjoy your time in beautiful Sicily!

My upcoming trip of 18 days is counter-clockwise starting in Palermo. As Palermo is such a vibrant & high energy city I felt my personal energy level would be better at the start as I am usually dragging a bit by the end of a lengthy & demanding itinerary. Also, I too read about the possible eruptions in Catania delaying flights, and decided I'd rather risk a delay going home than starting my trip off on a sour note. However, I have the new luxury of a recent retirement and not being concerned about missing work!

I don’t think it matters which way but I highly recommend visiting some wineries on Mt etna !

Since the Palermo airport is actually a fair distance west of Palermo, and on our first trip, we weren’t planning on spending any time in downtown Palermo, we picked up our rental car and continued west, initiating a counterclockwise route. Segesta was a priority, so we got to it our first day.

If you planned, though, to start in Palermo, and you’ve gone east from the airport to reach the city, I can see continuing eastward to Cefalu. At that point, you’d have established a clockwise direction.