Sicily Itinerary help needed. 8-9 days in southeast sicily

Do see Piazza Armerina.

Unless you just want a change of scenery, all these towns and sites a very doable from Siracusa/Ortigia as your base, no need to change accomodations. Agrigento and Piazza Armerina would be the longer drives but definitely worth it.

I would add that while RS Sicily Guide will not be released in time for your trip take a look at Rough Guide Sicily as an alternative guide book.

thanks Chris. I was wondering that about using just syracuse as the base. I was thinking that would be too much driving...on the map Ragusa looked to be about an hour+ from syracuse..

I agree with Chris, you can visit Noto, Modica and Ragusa from Syracusa.

I'd suggest staying in Ortigia, the historic center of Syracuse.
I truly enjoyed my 5 night stay at Albergo Domus Mariae. My room had a small balcony with an amazing view of the sea.
The room rate includes a fantastic hearty breakfast buffet which is served across the street at the Domus Mariae Benessere (more expensive hotel). Ortigia became one of my favorite places, I could have stayed there forever if I didn't have family back home!
Make sure you eat at 'Sicilia in Tavola', my favorite restaurant (reservations required for dinner- closed on Mondays). My favorite gelato and granita was found at Gusto Gelateria, yum!

I didn't have a car but visited Noto as a day trip via bus. I'd considered visiting Ragusa too, but loved Ortigia so much that I stayed there instead.

If you're interested in visiting Villa Romana del Casale, I'd suggest staying in Piazza Armerina.
I stayed at this great B&B, Dimora del Conte, with lovely hosts. My room was the "Room del Conte", it was very spacious with a comfortable bed, sitting area and small balcony with a nice view of the town.

In Agrigento I stayed at this charming b&b, B&B PortAtenea in the historic center. The delicious breakfast was served on the roof terrace where one can see the Valley of the Temples in the far distance. Lovely host too!

My guidebook was the 'Sicily Lonely Planet'.

Sicily is amazing, have a wonderful trip!

Thanks Priscilla and Chris.. you got me thinking that I might change my plans and stay in siyracuse! I do have lonely planet but will as the rough guides!

My husband and I did that trip 3 years ago, only in the opposite direction. We found the driving easy but rather slow, mainly all 2 lane roads and we got behind the Circus! It added several hours to our travel and a very frustrated driver. We where driving form Agrigento to Ragusa, I vote for a night Agrigento.

I used Siracusa as my base to see Noto (1 hour away by bus) and Ragusa (2 hours away by train). I really regret not spending the night in Ragusa, it was magical. If you have a rental car, you might as well not backtrack but keep moving forward. Siracusa is great and I highly recommend no less than 2.5 days there (excluding side trips). But if I had to do my trip over, I would have made time to stay in Ragusa overnight. Public transportation was very easy (no need for a car, really) but I was not able to fit Ragusa and Modica in one day just relying on the train because of schedule timing and the time spent in Ragusa walking from the upper to lower part of the town. If I had a car, that would have been possible (although probably still a bit tight because I really like to walk for long periods and explore). I also wish I had a chance to stop at one of the smaller towns on the way, like Scicli.

I bought the PDF chapter from Lonely Planet just covering southeastern Sicily. It was more than adequate and cost only $5 or so (the caveat is that the maps will have the highlights but not contain everything you may want). I picked up a much better map from the Ragusa tourist office across form one of the large churches. The city also has very good signage and you can probably follow with your cell phone as well.

The ruins are great in Syracuse but I would definitely spend the nights in Ortigia. It is really quite magical. We stayed at L’approdo delle Sirene, as our daughter also did on her honeymoon, and I can highly recommend it. Be sure to get a balcony. In Agrigento which has the most amazing Temples of the Valley we stayed at Villa la Lumia as it was walkable to the temples and it was very nice. You could considering flying out of Palermo which really is way nicer than we expected. We did not like Catania. I used Lonely Planet but more so the outstanding assistance of Vagabonda on Tripadvisor. Vagabonda has over 111,000 postings. Her personal help is amazing and she is so very kind and loves Siciliy. I started using RS in 1993 but I had a very delightful 17 days in Sicily without a hiccup or RS and mainly thanks to the postings on TA and particularly Vagabonda. Have a wonderful trip

Thanks everyone for your help! I really appreciate how great this community is. I am still tweaking the itinerary based on everyone's input and am keeping a list of hotels you all recommended. I definitely feel better about this itinerary now! I am going to stay in Oritigia and am keeping a list of all your great hotel recommendations. I know have my Lonely Planet guidebook and while not as helpful as RS it is definitely a great help. I have also been looking at TA as well and have seen Vagabonda's postings.

Thanks all ! keep the suggestions coming! I am looking forward to this trip. Hopefully the weather will cooperate!