Sicily- From Palermo to Agrigento, Catania

What do you plan to do while staying in Palermo and Catania? That would govern how much time you'd need in each place. I think nearly all of us would recommend Siracusa rather than Catania for a 4-night stay, because we'd want time for both the historic Ortygia selection of Siracusa and for the Baroque towns in that corner of the island (Ragusa, Noto, Scicli, Modica).

However, Siracusa is much farther from Taormina than Catania is. Opinion on Taormina seems rather sharply divided. It is beautiful, though expensive. Many people like it a lot and would gladly stay there for multiple days. Others are like me and find a few hours on the main street (tourist-clogged and lined with international boutiques) more than enough time.

I haven't been to Agrigento because I'm just not interested in Greek temple ruins, but most visitors are different from me, and I think that detour would be worthwhile for them. I liked the Villa Romana del Casale a lot. What I do not know is how practical it would be to go to both of those places on the way from Palermo to Catania. I recommend using ViaMichelin.com to get the estimated driving time. Understand that it will not include stops, navigational errors, traffic delays, etc.

And what about Monreale? It's arguably the No. 1 sight in all of Sicily. You can get there by public bus from Palermo, by tourist bus, or you can drive there after you pick up your car and begin to head away from Palermo. But I am very doubtful about seeing Monreale as well as Agrigento and the Villa Romana on the way to Catania.

Note: You should not under any circumstances drive in the city of Palermo. It will take years off your life. See the sights in Palermo, take a day trip to Cefalu by train if that's on your itinerary, and then pick up the car for the rest of your trip.

We were staying just south of Catania and we stopped at Villa Romana Casale on the way to Agrigento. We arrived at our B&B (Villa San Marcos) late afternoon so there wasn’t time to visit the valley of the temples until the next day. From the B&B we were able to walk to the temples via a path in the olive grove and we spent 3 hours visiting them. The point being, I’d stay in Agrigento 2 nights and cut a night from Catania. I wouldn’t have wanted to drive to Palermo from Agrigento after touring the valley. The ruins at Agrigento are better than any in Catania. In my opinion, Catania is worth 3/4 of a day and you’d better spend your time at Ortigia with a half day in Noto.

I don’t think any of us would recommend a stop at both Agrigento and the Villa Romana on the drive from Palermo to Catania. It’s a long drive and both of those sites are worthy of taking your time to explore them well. Like Jaime, i too stayed overnight in Agrigento (after taking a bus to get there). You can spend hours wandering around the ruins at Agrigento. Be warned that it can be very very hot there in summer and very crowded with tourists. Same is true for the Roman Villa. From Agrigento I then hired a driver who was recommended to me here on this forum, to go from Agrigento to Ortygia/Siracusa with a two to three hour stop at Villa Romana del Casale, a brief stop in the town of Piazza Armerina and a lunch stop in Caltagirone. So if you want to see both I suggest that you stay a night in Agrigento as you originally planned.

Are you staying in Catania so that you can see Taormina, Mt. Etna and Ortygia from a middle spot? Then I think you need 4 nights for the east. If not going to Taormina, then like others have suggested, Ortygia is a very pretty place to stay. In Palermo you have four nights so three full days - a day or more to see the sites in Palermo, also plan on a visit of several hours to Monreale and a daytrip to Cefalù or Erice.

I am assuming from your post that you are considering renting a car. Your whole trip is doable by bus and/or train, or consider hiring a driver for specific days.

Hi All,
Firstly, i would like to thank all of you for your help in providing advices regarding my 9–nights in discovering Sicily.

Secondly,, to Pat or anyone can provide me the name pf driver, and his cell number for me to contact him regarding to hire him during the time I stay in Sicily. This is one of the options. The other options are: rent a car for the whole trip or partial of the trip and taking public transportation.

Thank you very much.

I have planned the following:
1. 4 nights in Palermo including day trips to Segesta, Erice and Salt Pans Full-Day, Monreale and Cefalù Half-Day Trip, and the rest to explore Palermo.
2. 1 night in Agrigento to explore Greek Temple, and Roman Village.. I will take either train or bus from Palermo. (2 hours).
3. 2 nights in Syracuse to explore Noto, Ragusa, Vittoria, Modica, Avola.
4. 2 nights in Taormina.
5. According to Rome2rio app, i can take bus from Agrigento to Catania, and from here to either Syracuse or Taormina.
6. Skip the trip to Milazzo - Lipari island, and will fly to Rome from Catania (direct bus Taormina to Catania airport).

Please tell me if there are any interesting places I should visit.

Thank you very much.

Maybe I should cut 4 nights to 3 nights in Palermo, and increase to 3bfrim 2 in Syracuse.

You are simply trying to do too much. Two nights in Siracusa would be only 1-1/2 days even if your inbound transportation worked like clockwork, something I wouldn't count on. That's about the minimum I'd recommend for Siracusa itself, and you plan to visit five small towns as well. Transportation will chew up a lot of time.

Four nights in Palermo is only three full days. You've pinpointed 1-1/2 days of sidetrips, which leaves only about 1-1/2 days for Palermo itself, which I think is the bare minimum. There are many interesting sights in the city, and 1-1/2 days is really insufficient. You certainly cannot reduce Palermo by a day.

It appears you have only nine nights available. There is a reason why we tell people that two weeks is the minimum time needed for a good visit to Sicily with a car. You need more time if you are going to depend on public transportation. No matter how much you tweak your allocation of days, you just don't have time for all that you want to see. You're going to spend too much time traveling from place to place, not to mention the time spent checking your watch to be sure you're not running late.

You absolutely cannot rely on the detailed information provided by Rome2Rio. You must keep clicking through the Rome2Rio website to get to the link to the website of the transportation provider. That's where you'll get accurate schedules. Be especially careful about Sundays. There are few inter-city buses running on Sundays. [Edited to correct a bunch of typos.]

Www.trenitalia.com is the place to go for train schedules.

Michael, I agree that you just do not have enough time to see all these places and I personally think you have to prioritize and cut back on the number of places you plan to visit. The pace is too rushed and travel distances are great and will eat up much of your time. It is especially true of your time in Siracusa/Ortygia. For a daytrip from Palermo to Cefalù the train or bus is easy. Train or bus is also easy from Palermo to Agrigento - about a two hour train ride. Piazza Armerina and the Roman Villa are not particularly close to Agrigento and I do not believe they are connected by train. This is the part of your journey best served by a driver or rental car. I am going to send you a private message with the names of two drivers that I have used. Siracusa /Ortygia need at least two days right there. As orhers have said, stay in Ortygia. If you intend to actually visit all or some of those other towns you would need a rental car - just save them for a future trip. Give yourself plenty of time on your last day to get to airport if you are going there directly. I took a bus from Siracusa to Catania airport with no problem but gave myself a cushion of time and had an afternoon flight.

Hi All,
Thank you very much for your suggestions. I will re-plan accordingly.

Please give Siracusa more time and actually stay in it’s historic center of Ortigia Island, our favorite place in Sicily. . We stayed overnight in Agrigento and stopped at Villa Romana Casale en route to Noto. Then we drove to Ortigia.

I would do 3 nights in each Palermo. Syracusa then Taormina. You still will be rushed and unable to see “it” all. After your 3 nights in Palermo get a car and drive west/ SW stop at Agrigento for a 1/2 day. In my opinion it just enough! The to Syracusa stunning. Then to Taormina very touristy but worth the experience and food and shopping and culture. Nonetheless it will be an amazing trip Afteralll your in beautiful Sicily !

Have a wonderful holiday

My first time in Sicily was limited. We ended a Southern Italy tour there in 2014. Our tour group spent two nights in Taormina. We also went to Mt Etna. After the tour ended we went to Ortigia and spent 5 nights. It was a great base. We hired a driver and did a day trip to Noto, Ragusa, Modica & sites along the way. We stayed one night in Catania. We knew we would go back. In 2020 we scheduled about a month and had planned to follow this itinerary with a few modifications:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/my-trip-to-sicily-in-zoe-s-memory/ Unfortunately we had to cancel due to the pandemic. As recommended up thread I also recommend adding time to Ortigia. It was our favorite area. We would also return to beautiful Taormina. Enjoy your planning!