Sicily & Malta Itinerary, public transit & planning

There have been several recent discussions about Malta on this forum which you can search. We've done five weeks in Sicily, all by public transportation. In two weeks, you could see quite a bit. The best approach would be to determine which spots in Sicily you would most like to visit and plan your trip around those: Greek sites, beaches, museums, whichever you choose. Some of our favorites were Cefalu, Siracusa (Ortygia), Piazza Armerina (for the mosaics) and Taormina. To travel to Malta you'll need to be in the southeast, so if you limit your travel it should of course be on that side of the island.

I've been to both and recommend both, including Gozo (which turned out to be a really nice surprise). You can do both by public transit. Malta has a nice, new bus system with most routes emanating from Valetta and connecting just about all but the most remote places. Sicily has old and new trains and decent bus service, but public transport is quite unreliable and infrequent on Sundays (so just keep that in mind). I would start your planning by getting the Bradt guide to Malta, followed by Lonely Planet. The latter book is very helpful for Sicily, as well. Once you have a chance to see "what's there", so to speak, you should post more specific questions. I could write a whole page on not-to-miss sites, but that may not be relevant to you because everything is based on your interests. If you don't speak any Italian, then Malta will be a bit more simple to navigate because English (and Maltese) are the main languages there, so there's no language barrier. Catania is the most logical gateway to Malta via Air Malta. Flights are inexpensive if you buy early and take only 40 minutes (I don't believe there are any direct ones from Palermo).

Here are some recent and older postings about Malta (you can search the Italy forum for Sicily - there is a lot written there):
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/anyone-been-to-malta
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/malta-side-trip-from-sicily
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/malta-is-a-must

This is a good intro to Sicily:
http://www.bestofsicily.com

Check flights to Malta as well as ferries; I found ferries were very expensive when I priced them in 2015. Much shorter trip that Sicily-Naples but much higher price.

I, too, traveled around Sicily by public transportation. It is doable, but Sundays and holidays are very difficult as far as buses are concerned (and there isn't a lot of train service), so you'll need to plan your Sundays/holidays carefully.

I'm not much interested in classical ruins, so I can't help with info on Selinunte, Segesta or Agrigento. Such sites aside, you might consider selecting your bases from among these areas:

Siracusa: fabulous medieval district (Ortygia), good archaeological museum and an attractive archaeological park with a still-used Greek theatre. Also a good base for the Baroque towns in the interior. I'd say Ragusa (#1), Noto and Modica are main towns to see. Ragusa probably needs to be the day's only destination. Opinions differ, but this was my favorite area of an island with many wonderful destinations.

Palermo: Hectic big city with fabulous religious buildings (churches and oratorios) and wonderful markets. Can be scruffy in places. I wouldn't make it my first overnight stop; it's not the place to decompress after a transatlantic flight. Also a good base for Monreale (unmissable cathedral) and the former fishing village/now beach town of Cefalu. It's worth getting a good guidebook and reading about the various religious buildings in Palermo; there's a lot of variety. Hours and closing days vary, so it's pretty easy to put together an itinerary that allows you to see a bunch of them over a day or (better) two. But Monreale is definitely the best, no contest. It's outside of town but a bus will get you there. Google for info ahead of time; I think there are two buses and one runs a lot more often (or perhaps is cheaper) than the other. I don't remember the details.

Trapani: port in the NW with pretty historic district. Good base for the nearby and extremely atmospheric Erice (or I think there's lodging in Erice). I though the Egadi Islands were sort of underwhelming and think you could skip them, but the ferries leave from Trapani. If pressed for time, I guess I'd say you could skip this corner of the island, but it would be a shame; I liked both Trapani and Erice.

Catania/Taormina area: These places are visitable from each other. Catania's the 2nd city (busiest airport). Pretty historic area; not as crazy as Palermo, but still a working city that isn't all polished up for tourism. Taormina is an extremely beautiful coastal hill town, with a glorious site, and super touristy. So you can choose which sort of atmosphere you prefer. There are trips to Mount Etna from either Catania or Taormina, but it can be done by public transportation. If you want to actually hike on or up Mount Etna, research your options in advance.

Piazza Armerina/Enna/Caltagirone, inland in the SE part of the island. Piazza Armerina is the closest to the very impressive mosaic site, Villa Romana del Casale (reachable by bus from P.A., or with more careful coordination from farther away). There's a lightly-visited but reportedly worthwhile Greek site also nearby, Morgantina. Enna is an attractive town with many historic buildings; it seems to be ignored by nearly all tourists. Caltagirone is a ceramics center. Any single one of these towns can be visited on a day-trip from Catania and possibly also from Siracusa, but staying in that area would allow visits to more than one and with less concern about schedules.

Thank you so much to all who answered - a great deal of time & effort was spent on your replies - truly appreciated. Lots to think about, lots to plan, but I have a lot of time to do it in as well. This may not be my final question you see posed on this great site. Thanks again,
Gail