Siracusa, Sicily, Neapolis Archaeological Park/HOHO bus

Hi Jules,
In 2019 I used that bus to get from place to place on two different days. It is not truly a HOHO bus in that it is not a big tour bus, at least from what I remember. It is a smaller size bus and makes the rounds of tourist sites in Siracusa/Ortygia. and I remember it was cheap and the ticket was valid I think for 24 hours. We caught it on Corso Giacomo Matteotti near the Fontana di Diana, because we were staying in Ortygia. I think the first time we got on we did the full round trip to get a feeling for Siracusa/Ortygia. Then the next day we took it to the Archeology Park. The bus dropped us off across the street from the entrance to the archeological park in the parking lot of Bar Dionisio. I found the Orecchio di Dionisio and quarry area to be interesting. It is hilly and somewhat steep in places, but there are concrete sidewalk pathways from area to area. In my opinion the Greek theater and Roman ampitheater there were not as impressive as the ruins in Agrigento, Segesta and Selinunte, and the theater in Taormina, all of which were spectacular. I personally would prioritize seeing all of those other sites over these ruins in Siracusa if your time is limited or if your knee is bothering you. On the other hand, I found Ortygia to be beautiful. Lots to see and do there. Other than the archeological park I stayed in Ortygia most of my time and particularly enjoyed the outdoor market, the beautiful main piazza and cathedral, the castle, the colorful narrow streets, the views as you walk around the town, particularly along the periphery, and a typical Sicilian puppet show at teatro dei Pupi on Via della Giudecca.

Ditto to what Pat said. I enjoyed the Neopolis and would recommend visiting even in comparison to other sites, though you don’t need to spend hours there like Valley of the Temples. The bus was very handy and cheap. If you’re trying to save your legs you could skip the hike up to the theatre for sure, but the rest of the place is still interesting (the theatre is kid of separate and above the rest of the site.) Ortigia is an absolute joy to wander, and relatively flat. It’s a hidden gem. I can’t imagine going to back to Sicily and not spending time there.

I’ll note that I though the Paulo de Orsi museum was fantastic and spent a good chunk of time there. It’s extensive, and seems almost geared towards archeology buffs. It’s far superior to the museum at Valley of the Temples, which is also difficult to get to and park at relative to the actual temple site.

@ awrzesinski and Pat, thank you so much for the helpful information. It was especially good to get first hand info on the HOHO. Online reviews are either very favorable in terms of convenience and value or really, really bad. I think the bad ones are pretty a result of not having the capacity for a busy tourist season. Since we will be there shoulder season, I don't think it will be overly busy.

I would agree with Pat. I think you could skip the archeological park in Siracusa without regret.

We stayed in Ortigya and took the little bus to the park. It was a bit underwhelming, certainly not as impressive as Agrigento or Taormina. We spent maybe an hour there. But afterward, the bus never showed up at the stop to take us home. Not sure if it was us or them, but others waited fruitlessly too. We ended up walking back to Ortigya. We finally saw some taxis at the train/bus station but by then we were probably halfway back so we kept going. With a sore knee it would not have been fun.

It wasn’t clear whether you’re staying in Siracusa or Ortigya. I hope it’s the latter — it was one of our favorite places in Sicily.

Thanks Charlene. Absolutely, we are staying in Ortigya. If we drop the archaeology park, we could take Ortigya at a very leisurely pace and I like the sound of that given the photos I've seen.

I agree with the assessments of the others here both about the park and Ortigia. We went to the park. It is close to a half day visit and lots of walking. I don't regret going, but there are other better architectural sights in Sicily.

Thank you, Dan. This helps me a lot. I think I want to spend the majority of my time taking in Ortigia.