My husband and I will be traveling to Italy in February 2025 for three weeks. We plan to spend a week in Rome and then begin to head south. We will spend 3 days in Naples, but want to spend the rest of our time exploring Sicily. We will have a little under two weeks to explore Sicily before having to return to the United States. How should we arrange this trip? I’m looking for recommendations on modes of transportation, hotels, and cities to visit, and in what order. Thank you!
Posted by
Kamloops, BC, Canada
479 posts
Just back from Europe & will share some details from the Sicily portion of our trip which was 11 nights. We flew into Catania from Malta, then took the bus directly to Giardini Naxos & stayed for 2 nights, using it as a base to visit nearby Taormina by bus. We took a train from Giardini Naxos to Catania & visited Catania for a few hours, then took a train to Siracusa where we stayed for 3 nights. Then picked up a rental car, visited Noto & Ragusa, stayed overnight one night in Ragusa. Then drove to Villa Romana del Casale (amazing mosaics), where we spent a few hours en route to Agrigento where we stayed 2 nights & visited the Valley of Temples & Agrigento itself. Drove to Palermo airport (stopping en route in Segesta to visit the temple & theatre), dropped off the rental car, and stayed 3 nights in Palermo before taking a Ryanair flight to Barcelona. This itinerary was quite hectic, but we squeezed in some down time in Siracusa. Ryanair was fairly reliable in terms of being on time. We were hoping to fly home from Palermo to Western Canada but would have needed to make multiple stops so decided to spend some time in Spain & eventually fly home from Madrid which offered better flight choices. We got some good ideas for itinerary planning from Rick Steve's tours on his website.
Thanks to everyone who helped with my trip planning, especially Roberto.
Posted by
OP
Florida
2 posts
Thank you. This is very helpful.
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
16043 posts
If you go from Naples, you should try to catch a flight to a Sicilian airport.
Easyjet: flies from NAP to PMO and CTA
RyanAir: flies from NAP to PMO, CTA, TPS
Volotea: flies from NAP to PMO
NAP=Naples, PMO=Palermo, CTA=Catania, TPS=Trapani
RyanAir also flies from the above airports to Rome FCO, if you intend to fly back to Rome. But you could also fly back to the US from Sicily with other airlines. There are no non stop flights from Sicily to the US, but you could fly with several airlines through their European hub. You need to specify your home airport in the US for us to give you better advice, but assuming it's Miami, you could fly, for example, with ITA Airways to MIA via Rome FCO from either PMO or CTA.
Below is a good resource for what to visit in Sicily. There is no specific order to follow. It depends on where you fly to and from.
Catania and Palermo are the main cities and their airports are the largest in the islands.
http://www.bestofsicily.com/index.htm
You should spend at least 3 nights in Palermo and you don't need or want a car while in Palermo or even Catania. To move from place to place, a car would be best, but there are also buses and trains. Some more rural or small town locations are best visited by car.
Posted by
Kamloops, BC, Canada
479 posts
Perhaps Roberto could give some advice about ferries from the mainland to Sicily....? Although it might be easier to fly.