Sicily Itinerary and General Thoughts

That looks like a pretty standard, and good plan.

The only thing I question is staying in Erice, rather than in Trapani.

We spent 3 nights in Trapani last year and liked it very much. Easy to walk around to almost all interesting areas, lovely walk along the beach, great restaurants with prices very reasonable for the quality.
If this were my trip I would stay in Trapani and see Erice as a day trip, IF you are set on seeing it. I'd been there once before--it's atmospheric, true, but you can see the town in a couple of hours and it does get many day trippers. I much preferred staying in Trapani.

I've driven in Sicily a few times. Being a New Yorker, I am not at all a skilled driver but I found it quite easy to make my way around the island. I do like to have a GPS in the car and always book a car that has one.

I had a wonderful experience with the SIXT agency at Catania airport. I've been renting with SiXT for a few years now and always give them very high marks.

I do like Catania and have enjoyed staying there for a couple of days several times in the past few years. But I know you cannot fit everyplace into one trip....but if you do have time for that city...I'd recommend!

Thanks of the rely, ekscrunchy! Great info and tips on renting and driving, and I'll look into Trapani :-)

I agree with not staying in Erice. We stayed outside Erice in a country place and went to Erice as a day trip. The thing you have to consider is you probably will not be content in Erice for three nights. It is quite a hill to drive up and down.

I also think one night is enough for Agrigento. We also had two nights for Ragusa but would like to have had three. There are lots of places to explore in the area and we did not have as much time as we would have liked. So I would move one night from Agrigento to Ragusa. We stayed in the old section and parked in it the first night. The ZTL was not in effect. But it was horrid to get out of there (plain scary) so after our day trip we parked on the perimeter which was much easier to navigate driving wise.

We used more cash in Sicily than I had planned and ended up getting more. Certain things like the puppet show we attended in Palermo were cash only (I would recommend!).

We found the driving in Sicily to be ok. The only difficult part we found was the stretch before the Palermo airport where we returned the car (that part was easy). Basically the traffic is much heavier than other places and there are not merge lanes like we have in the US. We could not find anywhere to fill up with gas and just paid for it to be filled at airport.

I missed the nights in Agrigento and I agree....one night will be plenty. If you are fixed on the two nights, the town itself is interesting, but not as atmospheric as Ragusa Ibla.

With time in Ragusa, do explore the Upper town as well, accessible by steep uphill walk, or bus, from Ibla.

Good for you to skip Taormina; it's become less and less pleasant in recent years. Yes, the views are lovely and the Greek Theatre, too, but I think that too many people skip right past Catania and spend time in Taormina.

Same with Cefalu (minus the Greek Theatre) Bravo to you for foregoing those and focusing on what I think are the more compelling places..

If you want to stop at Villa Romana del Casale en route from Ragusa to Agrigento you might want to stick with the two nights in Agrigento. Visiting Villa Romano and the Valley of the Temples (plus museum? ) in one day is a lot. Villa Romano is impressive, and Valley of the Temples at dusk is magical. We are fast travelers but both in one day would have been too much for us. We drove from Ragusa to Agrigento via Villa Romano, had a lovely dinner and spent the night there, visited nearby towns and a beach the next day before heading to Valley of the Temples. Enjoyed Ragusa for two nights too. Did not go to Erice so cannot comment but, otherwise, your plan looks well thought out. Have a great trip!

I agree with the others about staying in Trapani instead of Erice. Trapani is a very pleasant town:
https://slowtravelitalyspain.blogspot.com/2019/03/trapani-october-2016-trip-report.html?m=1
For the 'day' trip to Erice, it's quite small so you could easily head up there about 4pm when the daytrippers start to leave and wander the streets and wait for the sunset across the salt marshes below

I read this question and wondered if I had asked it and forgotten! This is EXACTLY our situation down to the driving preference. This is our first trip to Italy and I’ve been unsure of spending it in Sicily but I think this sounds very close to the perfect itinerary for us. We also want to skip Taormina and Cefalu. Thanks for asking before I did!

We visited Villa Romana del Casale on the way to Agrigento and went about 5 pm to Agrigento which was a wonderful time to go.

We could have visited the museum the next morning but did not. Instead we left and drove to our country place outside Erice.

This is to say you could do all three and still spend one night.

[Update]

I'm grateful for all the excellent suggestions! Thanks ekscrunchy, BethFL, mml, Tinac, and fellow planning phase cohort daccshumann.

Here's the modified version, with changes in bold and more info added:

• Day 1: Arrive Rome
• Day 2: Visit a few sites in Rome (been there before)
• Day 3: Fly to Catania, get rental car, drive to Siracusa
• Day 4: Siracusa
• Day 5: Siracusa
• Day 6: Siracusa to Ragusa
• Day 7: Ragusa

Day 8: Ragusa to Agrigento

• Visit Villa Romana del Casale along the way
• Booked spurge stay at hotel in the Valley of Temples.
• Wander the temples in the early evening followed by dinner overlooking the site
• Note: This was the only date the hotel was available to fit our itinerary, so no option shift a night in Agrigento to Ragusa

Day 9: Agrigento

• More proper visit to the museum and temples
• Make the most of the hotel
• Drive to Agrigento to walk around, dinner, stay the night.
• Note: Helps us avoid driving between cities at night

Day 10-12 changed from Erice to Trapani)

• Day 10: Agrigento to Trapani
• Day 11: Trapani (consider Erice late afternoon as others leave, wander the streets, dinner, sunset)

• Day 12: Trapani to Palermo (drop off rental car)

• Day 13: Palermo

• Day 14: Palermo

• Day 15: Palermo fly to Rome (stay near airport)

• Day 16: Depart Rome (early morning flight)

Again, huge thanks! What else should we be thinking about doing while there, or doing to prepare? We are obviously reading the RS guide. Thanks :-)

We liked our stay in Erice. Stayed in a hotel overlooking the distant sea with parking. It’s a challenge to drive there but fun in the stick shift car. Had one of our best meals there. I liked it because it was small. Your original plan seemed very good. We did a similar trip backwards from Palermo to Catania. Be sure to do some exploring in central Sicilian interior and stop at little bars/restaurants. The people are very friendly away from the tourist areas. Talk to friends whose family came from Sicily to get suggestions for simple side trips in the interior. Ciao!

Looks like an excellent plan. You might consider going to Monreale to see the beautiful cathedral there before dropping the car in Palermo. Enjoy!

I like the updated itinerary including a must visit to the cathedral in Monreale. That was probably the highlight of our visit to Sicily.

Are you planning to actually stay in Siracusa? Most people prefer Ortigia, just over the bridge. It’s charming and scenic, and walkable.

[More Updates]

Upon more thought - and thanks to comments here including Tinac's nice blog post - we decided to drive straight from our stay in the Valley of Temples to Trapani. That adds one more night in Trapani and a chance to slow down the pace. We could have added a night in Palermo, but we think Trapani might be more our style.

Thanks to mml and Mother Duck, we plan to visit the cathedral in Monreale before dropping off the rental car in Palermo.

Charlene, yes, we are actually staying in Ortigia, not Siracusa.

Stay on Ortigia, the historic island, rather than in the city of Siracusa. We spent a week there and didn’t want to leave!

Hello! One option you might want to consider is to take the bus or train from Catania airport to Siracusa/Ortigia, not worry about parking during your stay in Ortigia, and then rent a car as you leave Siracusa. There is an Avis rental counter in a tiny building to one side of the Siracusa train station. While you are in Ragusa, try and climb the stairs partway up Ragusa Superiore to Chiesa Santa Maria della Scale to get a view of the shifting light and sunset over Ragusa Ibla. Just stunning!

That’s actually a good idea. I think the bus & train from Catania stop at the same place in Siracusa. There are taxis waiting, or it’s just a fairly short walk into Ortigia , depending on your luggage.

Rob,

Day 11: Trapani (consider Erice late afternoon as others leave, wander the streets, dinner, sunset)

Keep in mind that Erice may get very foggy in the afternoon, and you may not see the Castle of Venus, or the views.
So hopefully you’ll visit on a sunny day.

You may also consider taking the funicular to Erice instead of driving.
You may be interested in reading our late Zoe’s trip report about her experience riding the bus to Erice along the narrow mountain road with the hair pin turns!

Also consider visiting Segesta on your way to Palermo.

Don’t miss the Cappella Palatina in Palermo.

And… If you change your mind, (or if time permits it) you might enjoy a day trip to Cefalù just to see the beautiful cathedral.

I will share my trip report where you may find some useful information as well as my favorite restaurants, and gelaterias.

Wishing you a wonderful trip!

Thanks for the additional suggestions, Suki, sloo, Charlene, Priscilla.

Suki, hotel on Ortigia booked!

sloo and Charlene excellent idea and info. Looking into that option for transportation. Thank you.

sloo, making a note to climb up for the sunset :-)

Priscilla, wonderful info and links. Very grateful for you sharing.

Once we finalize transportation, I plan to post our final itinerary (a small way to give back for all the help received here in the forum). On that note, I created a separate post asking for experiences and suggestions here:

Sicily by Car Rental, Train, Taxi and/orCar Service