Sicily Itinerary

Have you plotted your driving routes on ViaMichelin? I used public transportation in Sicily, so I have no experience doing those drives, but from VM it appears it is more efficient not to attempt Trapani/Erice as a day-trip from Palermo. It's estimated at 4 hours round-trip with no stops, getting lost, looking for parking, etc. The drive on to Agrigento is only about 25 minutes faster from Palermo than from Trapani than from Palermo; if you're picking the car up at the airport the trip will take longer, virtually the same amount of time as driving from Trapani. So the day-trip approach will seemingly cost you an extra 1-1/2 to 2 hours of driving time. And what would you do with the car when you get back to Palermo after the day-trip?

Note that VM does not give a coastal route south from Trapani to Agrigento as one of its suggested options, but if you add Marsala as an interim stop you'll see the driving time increase by 18 minutes compared to the fastest suggested route, which is through Salemi.

I'd use VM to build a grid of driving times between the Baroque towns and from each to Siracusa. I don't know what would be best. Noto is quite close to Siracusa. Actually, I'd recommend going there by train, but service is infrequent, which wouldn't give you much flexibility in the amount of time spent there. You would have the option of taking a 10:30 AM train, arriving at 11 AM, having lunch and departing from Noto on the 14:50 train to Siracusa. In any case, I would not attempt to see all four towns in one day, starting from Siracusa. Ragusa needs a fair amount of time.

I just took the little train around Mt. Etna. I just wasn't interested enough to devote more time to it. If the weather is decent you'll be able to see Mt. Etna from Catania.

You can check the train schedule on the Deutsche Bahn website, but of course a train gets you to Catania city rather than the Catania airport. Choose a Sunday to see the approximate schedule you'll have next year. It appears that the first departure is not until 7:56 AM, which is probably too late for you. A lot of the buses in and out of Catania make a stop at the airport, but I don't know how often buses run from Taormina to Catania, and your travel date is a Sunday, which is iffy for many bus routes in Sicily. It would not be hard to find a taxi or some sort of shuttle from Taormina to the airport. It's not a total loss if you need to spend the last night in Catania. The city has a nice historic district and cathedral. I haven't been to the WWII museum.

Do you have particular plans for Taormina? I wouldn't spend 3 nights there when you have just one non-jetlagged day in Palermo. There's a lot to see in Palermo, not so much in Taormina. Plus Palermo is a real Sicilian city while Taormina seems to be a tourist resort. But I admit to being not fond of heavily touristed small towns.

3) Should we stay overnight in Ragusa to see the little towns in the area before going on to Syracusa or should we just use Syracusa/Ortygia as our base since Ragusa, Modica, Noto, etc. are close enough for a day trip.

We stayed overnight and did some sightseeing in Ragusa, then drove the next morning to Modica and Noto on the way to Siracusa.

While this saves you backtracking, it has the disadvantage of your luggage being in the car while you sightsee in the towns. The distances are not great, so the choice depends on your comfort level. (Take your critical items with you in a daypack to reduce some risk of car theft. We left our luggage in our car at various points and had zero problems.)

Ragusa is an easy town for parking, with a 24-hr free (unattended) lot at the base of the town. Our hotel met us in the parking lot and brought us up to the property. Ortigia is a bit trickier, with some no-driving zones, but still quite manageable.

4) What's the best way to see Mt. Etna? Favorite tours? We probably won't hike to the top but we would love to see as much of the volcanic area as possible.

We drove there (we were staying in Giardini-Naxos) and parked in the free lot, then clambered around the volcanic rock at the base. That was a fun adventure for us; and it was chilly and windy enough at the base in the beginning of May. I was glad to have gloves and a jacket.

I agree with acraven that Taormina is quite touristy and was worth one day for me. The public gardens were a quiet escape from the streets and shops. We used our other day in the area to take the bus from Taormina up to Castelmola. While also quite touristy, Castelmola does have lovely views.

With a car, we stayed in Giardini-Naxos in a property with (included) private parking. We had a full-on view of Mt Etna from our balconies, which more than made up for not going to the top.

5) Can we get to the Catania airport for a late morning flight from Taormina easily or would it be better to stay the last night in Catania before our flight out the next day?

Even from Giardini-Naxos, we didn't want to do the drive to Catania airport in the morning. We returned our car to Catania airport, took a taxi back into the center and spent a day sightseeing in Catania, having a lovely last-night dinner on the steps of a small church near our hotel. I much preferred that over another day in Taormina.

Our hotel arranged the transfer back to Catania airport. The shorter rental car time reasonably offset the cost of the taxi and airport transfer.

First reaction is much too much time in Taormina.
Stay another night in Palermo and visit Monreale then.
Yes, you can stop in Selinunte on the way to Agrigento
You are skipping Villa Romana Casale? It is easy to include en route from Agrigento to Ragusa, Noli.
If you visit Noli from Siracusa, bus takes you into town. Train drops you off down below.
We hired a driver to take us from Taormina to Catania airport. The airport was not easy to deal with, rather chaotic. We loved Sicily but the one place we won’t return to is Taormina.

My gut reaction is that you may be overdoing it (a common problem with Sicily.) I would suggest trying to eliminate one or two of these 1-night stays if possible.

You sound pretty set on Trapani/Erice, but it really is kind of the outlier. If you’re doing a one night there, how much are you really going to be able to see? Trying to see Monreale on the way makes this even less worth the effort. Two nights in Palermo, seeing as one is the day you arrive, doesn’t feel like quite enough. I would make it three nights so you have two full days, making a Monreale day trip easy.

Trying to see Selinute en route to Agrigento is definitely overdoing it. The site is rather expansive from my understanding, and similar to Valley of the Temples (which is stellar, you’ll want to have all your time and energy to enjoy it.)

Or maybe Ragusa is the outlier? The autostrada from Agrigento to Siracusa is a pretty easy drive. A stop at Villa Romana makes a long day, but I can’t imagine passing it up. Three nights in Ortigia is good, four would not be crazy. Noto is an easy day trip from there by car or bus. I think if you want to get into the hill towns you just more time than what you have. You need some slow time to appreciate these places. Ortigia and Noto deliver handsomely on Baroque architecture otherwise.

Can’t speak to the Etna/Taormina portion I’m afraid. Though if you’re able to fly into Catania and out if Palermo it sounds a little more convenient. Itineraries for Sicily are dream-breakers, it’s almost impossible not to leave out something you want to see. I feel like you’ve got a hard cut ahead of you to make this one sing.

Thanks for all the comments. Very helpful to hear different opinions. I was thinking the time in Taormina might be to much. Might be better to stay a few nights in Catania and day trip to Mt Etna as well as be close to airport for return flight. Taormino seems to be a love/hate town. I just might add another night in Palermo with a day trip to Monreale, rethink Trapani, and just get down to Valley of the Temples and the rest of the SE with our rental car. I agree that 1 nighters are tough. Thanks everyone for responding so quickly!

I would start in Palermo. Visit Monreale by bus from there. Based on my visit in late April by bus, driving to Monreale is not recommended. OTOH you don't need to spend a night in Catania before flying out. I staying in Ortigia (the best part of Syracusa :-) and drove to the airport, dropped the car and walked 5 minutes into the terminal.

I planned to park in Trapani and take the cable car up to Erice, but because of high winds, it was closed, so I had to drive up and back on switchback roads. It was about 1/2 hour each way and while the views were good, the drive was anything but relaxing. In the end I had about 3 hours in Erice, would have liked twice that. It's too far for a day trip from Palermo.
Stay somewhere on the coast.

Selinunte is very large and well worth a visit. I enjoyed it more than Agrigento. You need several hours there. You may also want at least an hour at the archaeology museum in Agrigento.

I didn't get to Taormina. I was going to go as a day trip from Ortigia, but things didn't work out for me. I did go to Etna and regretted it. While the skies were clear along the coast, Etna was shrouded in clouds, and ended up driving back down in fog. From the parking lot/tourist center, it was an expensive trip up to the cone and since there weren't any views, I decided not to bother. I talked to some of the tourists who'd gone up and they were unenthusiastic about the experience. I drove into Catania once, to the (recommended) WWII museum. Driving wasn't difficult, but it was very slow.

We flew in to, and out of, Catania. Rather than staying in Palermo, we stayed in Monreale and took the bus into Palermo. I think it would be better to do Monreale as a day trip from Palermo, if possible, if you’re staying there. If not, then drive to Monreale then on to Trapani. Take the cable car up to Erice, but ensure you know the time of the last car back to Trapani. I found the Marsala salt farms to be a nicer experience than the ones at Trapani. Both salt farms are on very small rural roads out in the middle of nowhere and can be difficult to find. Yes you can stop to see the temples at Selinunte on the way to the Valley of the temples, but I wouldn’t try to see both on the same day. When leaving Trapani stop and see the salt farms and Selinunte, then drive to Agrigento. The temples at Selinunte are spread out, and unless you take the tram, it’s a long walk between them. We actually skipped the furthest one and still spent about 1.5 hours there, while we spent 3 hours at the Valley of the Temples. After coming from the Valley of the Temples, my wife was templed out wanted to move on. We also made a quick stop just outside Agrigento to see the rock formations at Scala de Turchi. Three nights In Taormina is too many.

I feel that staying closer to the airport would be better only because you wouldn’t need to worry about potential traffic issues and trying to find the rental car return facility (which is actually pretty easy). It would just be one less thing to worry about, but Taormina is not a long distance away. The airport is just outside of the city. Personal choice.

Since you will have a rental car and I assume a GPS, I recommend looking up the location of public parking lots in the towns you’ll be parking in and plugging their addresses into the GPS. It will save you a lot of time trying to find them as you’re trying to navigate in the towns themselves. Same for the salt farm.

Hi, we are visiting in April-May with 30 nights planned for Sicily. We are visiting the places you mention only with the addition of Lipari, while not staying overnight in Taormina. So we are there almost three times as long, while visiting largely the same places. Sure hope you like driving.

I agree that 3 days in Taormina is too long. As others have said, it is very touristy - a long street of expensive shops. You didn't mention Cefalu, which is also a resort town. But I liked it much better than Taormina. The scenery is lovely - right on the water and it has a bit more of a real town feel to it. We took the route to Cefalu up through the Madonie Mtns. and we really liked that area and the small towns. It really depends on what you prefer, but we stayed in Monreale and took the bus into Palermo, rather than doing the opposite. It was so much easier to use Monreale, rather than Palermo as a base to get in and out of. I wouldn't rush through Erice. We stayed a overnight there and enjoyed it. It was misted in and was very scenic. I wouldn't rush to try to see Ragusa, Monica and Noto (although I haven't seen the latter two). Part of the beauty of Sicily is just enjoying the lifestyle, sitting and having a coffee or gelato and taking it all in. We stayed in the small town of Aci Trezza the night before we flew out from Catania, which worked out fine. It was an easy drive to the airport and Act Trezza was lovely, with good restaurants. Again, it all depends what you prefer - large city v small town.

We have been to Sicily twice in the last year. We went back because we enjoyed the first trip so much. We never drive and use local transport or drivers. We have been to all of the places you are going other than Ragusa.

You have too much time in Taormina and far too little in Palermo. I suggest starting in Taormina via Catania and finishing in Palermo.

Erice is best done from Trapani not Palermo.

The bus service from Syracuse to Noto worked well for us. Stay on Ortigia. You have right number of days for Syracuse.

We used a tour from Catania to see Etna. Since the other couple cancelled it was a private guide for a day.

I consider us to be ambitious travelers but starting in Trapani and doing both Selinute and Valley of the Temples the same day is likely too ambitious. Both take a couple of hours minimum and are far apart.

Hi kcholment, no doubt you will enjoy Sicily, no matter which choices you make about where to stop for how long. I was there back in 2014, how the time flies. I got a car when arriving at the Palermo airport, just for two days, then took the excellent RS Sicily Tour. The itinerary was a little different then and did not include the Ragusa area, which seems very interesting. Next life, probably. I started with two nights in Erice, which I absolutely loved, and which was a major highlight for me. It was lovely during the day, but truly wonderful in the evening and early morning, when the ancient stone lanes were empty and misty, very romantic and mysterious. The owner of my apartment encouraged me NOT to use the cable car to Trapani, as you might go one way, then find that wind or weather stops the operation and you are stuck at a distance from your origin and car. I also had some of my very best Sicilian meals in Erice. On my full day in Erice, I took my car on a good day trip. I drove first to Segesta, a real highlight you did not mention in your itinerary. I liked it most of all the Greek ruins in Sicily, a temple and an amphitheater out in the middle of nowhere, very beautiful and highly photogenic. Then I drove to Selinunte and visited those very spread-out ruins. I drove back going north along the west coast, planning to stop at Marsala and Trapani. As it turned out, while I had an image of small towns they were really very congested small cities. I did not have street maps of these cities, and in each case I drove around and around in heavy traffic, never finding a place to park, coming upon dreaded ZTL signs. I never stopped the car in either town, feeling lucky to find my way back to the highway without a ticket or a fender-bender!
Yes, there are lots of sites and experiences in Palermo and Monreale, give them enough time, and you definitely do not want to have a car there.
Another unexpected highlight that Chani mentioned was the very interesting WWII museum just outside of Catania. It focused on the Allies liberation of Sicily in 1943, really the first step in liberating Italy and Europe from Hitler/Mussolini. I knew nothing about that piece of history. It was very well done with some experiential learning involved.
Enjoy Sicily!

Thanks again for each of your replies. They are all helping me to improve our itinerary, knowing we can’t see it all in the time we have. We will not stay in Taormina 3 nights due to several comments and I will include at least one more night to our stay in/near Palermo score we get our car and use it as a base for a few day trips where public transportation can be used.
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Larry,
I appreciate your comment about Trapani and Taormina too. I have read similar and of all the places to visit this seems like an one we can skip Trapani and certainly not overnight in Taormina this trip. Time better spent elsewhere, a bit quieter is more to our liking after exploring Palermo.

I based in Trapani for 3 nights, going to Erice (very atmospheric) and the Egadi Islands (underwhelming unless you're looking for an uncrowded beach). I liked Trapani, which has a very pretty historic district, but I didn't have a car I needed to park. However, if something has to be cut, I'd vote for cutting Trapani rather than chopping days off short visits to Palermo and Siracusa. Visiting Sicily always seems to entail making painful decisions.

Just a counterpoint on Taormina... I was just there for 6 nights, and could have spent 6 more. Yeah, It's touristy if you want to walk from 1 end of Corse Umberto to the other during the day, and see the greek theater right after (we went to Greek theater late afternoon and had it to ourselves). Mornings and evenings all the cruise folks are gone. My Girlfriend and I took cooking classes, went horse back riding, and generally enjoyed activities during the day. We rented an apartment with a huge terrace overlooking the sea - we spent some afternoons enjoying a bottle of wine and enjoying the views. If your mode of travel is to check off boxes for sites, then yeah, you can rifle through Taormina quickly. If you want to enjoy the local culture, take more time.

Just my 2 cents worth

Glenn