Sicily Expert? Bus Stations at Catania airport...

Good luck. We traveled around Sicily in May using trains and a couple of buses. I changed our plans to avoid Sunday travel. The regional trains around Noto don’t run on Sunday and bus service is limited and confusing. If there’s anyway you could switch your travel to Saturday or Monday do it. Noto is a long way from Palermo. Is it possible to add a day and go from Palermo to somewhere on Sunday, then to Noto on Monday?

"Azienda" means Company, I bet the full name is a little more specific

I doubt such a small airport like Catania has two separate bus stations and different bus parking areas for each carrier. Even in the biggest airports, buses from different companies all wait in a line near the Arrivals.

Since at Catania Airport the office that sells bus tickets is at the Arrivals area of Terminal A
(map: https://www.aeroporto.catania.it/en/in-the-airport/map-and-services/ ) there will be a bus stop on the platform close to that office (i.e. outside the Arrivals area of Terminal A). You'll get off the bus in front of the Departures and you'll have to follow the signs pointing to the Arrivals and/or to the Bus stop.

from Palermo to somewhere on Sunday

They could train from Palermo to Siracusa on Sunday

The “bus station” at Catania airport is basically just a pull up, not like a huge parking lot or terminal. Arrival/Departure in same place. Lots of busses coming and going, most headed towards Taormina it seemed. Very simple/easy to navigate with a ticket office right there.

Sounds like you’re deep enough into this challenge, but there’s nothing to Siracusa? Feels a little more direct.

@3lovetotravel
I've gone round and round. I land in Palermo late on the 2nd. I was hoping to see a little bit of the city before taking off, but if I try to get to Noto on the 3rd, I need to leave pretty darn early in the day. I think that's my only other option. Otherwise, I'd have to cut off part of the plans that were the reason I'm headed to Sicily.

@Dario Yes, sorry! I'd been going back and forth between all my rome2rio/google/omio tabs and forgot the name so I was going to come back and fill it (forgot once I navigated away). I read only the most basic Italian so it reads as Sicilian Transport Company to me. The other option looks like SAIS (Assuming the "A" there stands for Azienda too?)

Thanks for the insight on the airport!

Can you describe your entire itinerary in Sicily and how much time you have in total? Noto is best reached from Catania or Siracusa. Do you plan on spending any time in Siracusa on your trip? I took a bus from Siracusa to Noto (bus not on a Sunday) and it was a quick trip, probably no more than 1 hour in travel time. The bus station was not really obvious but it was near the train station in Siracusa.

The Catania Airport has buses fanning out all over Siciliy from one central location (there was a single booth/ kiosk there to get tickets), it was not hard to figure out at all.

@awrzesinski
Thank you!! This is why I ask. :) Really appreciate it!

@Agnes
Thank you for your insights. I mainly planned to visit Noto and Catania... I know that's not necessarily the popular choice, but those are the places I had wanted to go. If I stay in Noto, I would probably take the train to Ragusa early one morning and stay til early afternoon and then stop in Siracusa on my way to Catania.

Upon trying to actually book transport and accommodations, it looked like staying in Siracusa was the easier option, so I found an airbnb and tentatively nailed things down, but that's not what I had actually wanted to do, so I figured I'd give one last effort at seeing if I could pull it off.

I arrive in Palermo late on the 2nd of Dec and leave Catania early the 9th. I was hoping to stay in Palermo on the 3rd, try some local food, take a local walking tour and go to bed early then leave early on the 4th. This would also prevent me from spending 2 consecutive days only traveling which tends to wear me down. I'd like to stay in Noto the 4, 5, 6 (wouldn't get to Noto til midday at very best on the 4th and leave early on the 7th) and then Catania 7, 8 (fly out 9th).

I'm trying to see if I can sacrifice some of my time in Bologna (after) to stay in Sicily longer, but my original (non refundable) flight was $14 and the only reasonably priced one left is less than 24 hours later and would require me to be at the airport at 4:30am, so not so worth it. Staying til later on the 10th or early the 11th (as far as I'm willing to push it) would run the cost up considerably.

ETA: I'm trying to avoid switching places a lot. 3 places in 7/8 days is pushing it... 4 seems unpleasant and isn't a great value since the most costly part of many airbnbs are the service & cleaning fees. Of course 4 airbnbs is less unpleasant than being stranded. ;)

For what it's worth, Siracusa is much bigger and more interesting than Noto (many more attractions there worth seeing), I would put more time there or to make it my "base". Noto is tiny. A day trip there was sufficient for me. If I had to rank places in terms of interest, then Siracusa would be first followed by Ragusa. Ragusa and Modica are most similar and you can see one and skip the other. Ragusa, Noto, Modica, and Scicli are built in a similar baroque style. Noto's pedestrian drag is very flat, so that makes it easy for anyone with mobility issues. Ragusa and Modica are most stunning because they are hill towns (with the potential drawback of steep and windy streets). Catania, on the other hand, is a large city and has some grit to it (like Palermo).

@Agnes From my research, I came very much to the same conclusions as you, having looked at the exact towns you mentioned and a few more.

The size of Noto is at least part of the appeal for me. I was hoping to get to know a place a little instead of dashing through the highlights everywhere I visit. (Not that 3 days is sufficient, but a bit better than 4 hours) I'll never cover Palermo or Catania in a couple of days so I thought it might be nice to stay somewhere I can orient to quickly in between. Everywhere else on this trip will be... gritty, as they say. For some reason, I seem to love the huge/gritty cities and the tiny, more remote ones. The ones in between, a hair less. I loved both Rome and Montecatini Alto (Population 435) more than Florence, Pisa, and even Venice.

Ortigia also offers a smaller experience.

It is a long haul, but you have your reasons. My suggestion would be to take the bus (Interbus runs frequent buses on Sunday) from Palermo to Syracuse, then the train, which does run frequently on Sunday, to Noto. I agree, the AST buses seem not to run on Sundays. Just looking, you could leave Palermo around 8:00 AM and be in Noto about 1:00 PM. Of course this is just picking a random Sunday, not when you are traveling.

I agree with Chani. Noto is awfully small for the amount of time you propose to spend there. I'd definitely base in the Orytgia section of Siracusa instead.

Having just six days in Sicily is painful.

Sleight,

I took several buses during my visit to Sicily a few years ago so I can understand what you may be going through trying to find the various bus schedules, connections, etc.

If you’re set on staying in Noto (instead of Siracusa), you can take the Interbus from Palermo to Noto with a change in Siracusa, and thereby avoiding Catania Airport.

The bus station in Palermo is behind and to the left of the train station (Palermo Centrale)
You can buy your ticket(s) the same day of travel but arrive early just in case there’s a line.

I would suggest buying both tickets (Palermo to Siracusa, and Siracusa to Noto) in Palermo.
It’s possible that it may just be one ticket with a transfer since you plan to travel to Noto the same day.
I’d definitely ask if the bus to Noto will wait if the first bus is delayed. Both buses will be Interbus (blue colored bus with large Interbus logo on its side)
The buses have a designated parking area with good signage at the Palermo bus depot (outdoors with some benches)
You’ll need to place your luggage in the hold below before boarding the bus, and the bus driver will check your ticket as you board the bus. Take your personal bag with you.

The bus “station” in Siracusa is just along a street (Corso Umberto- just google Siracusa bus station for map and photos) there is no station building per se. There’s only a small kiosk where one can buy tickets.
(I took the Interbus to Noto for a day trip)

Looking at the bus schedules, it looks like you’ll only have 5 minutes to change buses when you arrive to Siracusa, but the buses will be at the same stop so that shouldn’t be a problem.
The only issue I can foresee is that if the first bus (Palermo to Siracusa) is delayed, I’m not sure the bus going to Noto will wait.

Now, if you end up choosing the bus to Catania Airport, you’ll transfer to the AST (Azienda Siciliana Transporti) bus at the same location.
As someone else mentioned, there is no bus station. All buses arrive and depart from the same area. When I was there (2018), there were a few kiosks for the various bus companies.
I don’t recall any benches there, and you must be very vigilant and make sure you’re ready to board when your bus arrives.
It can be a bit chaotic because several buses may arrive and depart at the same time. In my experience, if the bus drives up and another bus is parked in its designated “stop”, one will need to get to the bus, the bus will not come to you.

Enjoy your time in beautiful Sicilia!

Edited to add…
If you opt to stay in Ortigia (Siracusa), there’s a small bus (navetta) that runs from the bus stop to Ortigia. When I was there, the navetta driver was grumpy and told me that I couldn’t ride the navetta with my luggage, but then made an exception. You’ll need to buy your ticket (€1 in 2018) from a yellow machine located behind the driver.

noto is tiny but beautiful. on my 2021 trip to sicily i stayed in syracusa and made day trips to ragusa, noto, scicli, and modica. there is a rail line that connects all the major valle di noto towns to syracusa. in your case you could base in noto a explore the area via this train line.

Is it just you, or more persons?

Thank you everyone!

@Paul Yes, that 5 min transfer is why I was wondering if all the arrivals and departures were in the same spot. Being its different bus companies, there's little likelihood of the second hanging around for transfers and busses are not exactly as timely as trains. It may be that it's the off season, but Trenitalia is giving me zero trains from Siracusa to Noto on Sunday. (Just gives results for the following day.)

@acraven 6 days. I know. I'm trying to stop the constant feeling I-only-have-one-shot-and-I'll-never-get-back and realize that I'm visiting a few specific cities and not "Sicily" because I want to see eeeeeeverything. I took a trip in March for the first time in 20 years and thought it would be the last for a long time. It ended disastrously, but the 3 canceled/delayed flights provided enough airline credit and compensation to take my son in September and contribute heavily to the cheap tickets for December. The off season provides a great reduction in the cost of accommodations as well.

@Priscilla Yes, that's what I'm trying to do at this point, but the transit sites seem to be showing routes that don't actually run that day. Interbus and AST show nothing between 11:30am and 6pm, so I may have to store my pack at the station and visit Siracusa that day if I don't just change my plans and stay. Ah, Italy is so exciting!

@alomaker Thank you, that's what I'll try for.

Please let us know how it all turned out.

Wishing you a fun and safe trip!