Sicily - extra nights - airport, hints.

If you're writing about the RS tour, you can certainly use more time in Palermo, and the tour short shrift to the southeast. Many of us have enjoyed visiting some of the small Baroque towns outside Siracusa. The place to stay in Siracusa is the medieval district of Ortygia (though I guess not if you decide to rent a car). From Siracusa you can get to Ragusa, Noto, Modica and Scicli by train and/or bus.

Catania has an attractive historic area around the Duomo, and I've heard the WWII Museum is good, but for me it's not a city that needs a great deal of time. I'd hop on a train or a bus and head down to Siracusa.

I agree with acraven that Palermo deserves more time and I’d add two days at the start of the trip. The tour stays in Ortigia which is a terrific visit. Make sure to get a sandwich at Caseificio Borderi! I enjoyed Catania visiting the WWII museum and watching the action and strolling through the fish market. You could use Catania as a base to visit the four towns mentioned above. I had a car on one of my trips to Sicily and spent a leisurely day driving up Mt. Etna and then circumnavigating anti-clockwise through the villages and towns returning to Catania. The airport in Catania is the one to use at the end of your trip.

I don’t know how much time you have. On my second visit, I took the Rick Steves Tour and then flew from Catania to Naples where I spent three nights, rented a car and drove to Amalfi town for three nights. Then I spent a night at an Agriturismo in Paestum before driving to Orvieto. From Orvieto, I drove to my hotel at FCO with a stop in Tivoli to visit Villa d’Este.

Agree with previous posters. There is so much to see in Palermo you could easily add a couple of extra days. Although we were not on a RS tour, we spent several days in Ortigia which was also our base for a visit to the southeast part of the island.

Enjoy!