Sicily Help

I would also check on Trip Advisor's Sicily Forum. There is a DE there whose name is Vagabonda and she is a wealth of information regarding Sicily.

I agree with Giovanna. If you want to see Agrigento and Etna, and you only have 3.5 days, you'd be much better off flying into (or out of) Catania. So one possible itinerary is fly to Palermo - drive to Agrigento (overnight) - drive to Catania or someplace near Etna (overnight) - fly out of Catania. Or do the reverse. Sicily's a bigger island than most people think and it'll take you the better part of a day to get from one side to the other, especially with checking in/out of hotels, parking, getting lost, and all those other usual incidents that occur when traveling. Palermo is in the northwest, Agrigento is in the southwest, and Etna is in the northeast. You won't really have any time to see Palermo, Catania, or anything else besides Agrigento & Etna, and you'll lose a day or more just driving, especially if you have to loop back to Palermo for your flight. Since you live in Italy, would you be able to return to Sicily later? If so, I would split the island into two trips and do the western half (Palermo, Agrigento) this time and save Etna and the eastern half for another visit, which will also alleviate your concerns about the eruption (which, based on the reports I've heard, was nothing serious).

Thanks for the advice so far. I"m thinking we might forego Etna this trip and concentrate instead on Palermo and Agrigento. There's no chance in changing our flights out of Palermo, so I'm stuck with that.

Agrigento and Palermo is a better plan for this trip. There's no need for a car then, because you can take Autoservizi Cuffaro from Palermo to Agrigento. Have you thought of hiring the car at the airport for just two days and starting in Agrigento? Return the car to the airport and take the bus to Palermo. You haven't mentioned Monreale, but Monreale is worth the bus ride from Palermo.

It would be more advantageous to arrive in Catania than Palermo. Use public transport in Palermo, since Palermo isn't a city for driving, and spend a few nights outside Palermo. Etna isn't a reasonable side trip from Palermo. You can still drive around Etna. The recent eruptions occurred in the Valle del Bove, so you could still drive to Rifugio Sapienza, and you could still take the cable car up Etna South. The train around Etna, the Circumetnea, leaves from Catania, again a reason for flying to Catania instead of Palermo. The suburbs of Catania are not pretty, so you might begin the train in Giarre and go to Bronte. The train is no substitute for driving the volcano and going to Rifugio Sapienza.

If you want to stay in Palermo, public transportation is a better option to Agrigento (train or bus is about 2 hours each way). If you want to stay in Agrigento or outside of the city, a car would be a better choice. Depending on how fond you are of Greek temples, maybe stay somewhere in-between, and you could probably visit Segesta and/or Selinunte along with Agrigento. The final option you have, if you really did want to fit Etna in, is to base yourselves in Palermo sans car, take a day trip down to Agrigento on one day and take a guided tour/excursion to Etna another day. However, this is going to make for several really long days, and wouldn't really qualify as a vacation.

I would agree with splitting it up and saving Etna for another trip. There's more than enough on the western half to fill up the time you'll have. You're in a similar situation as us. We did the western half last July and the eastern half a few weeks ago. Worked out pretty good. Saving the middle for a future trip. The trip to/from Palermo to Agrigento is gonna eat up a good half day so I'd be sure to get started early.