Ten Day Sicily Itinerary

Make it easy, look at Rick Steve's tour of Sicily and follow that. Another way...get his tour book and do the suggested itinerary. He always has a suggested itinerary by public transportation and one by driving. Then you can tweak it for your allotted time and interests.

Buy Rick Steves Sicily 2nd edition guidebook if going before the fall season. If not, buy the 3rd edition at the end of the year. You can download an eBook from his app onto your phone that will come in handy while there.
Fly into and out of Palermo and Catania (multi-city) and focus on Palermo and Siracusa that are a direct 4h 45m train ride from one another.
Good day trip options from Palermo are Monreale Catheral and Cefalu where the elderly men still dress for their evening passigiatta and the canolis don’t get any better than what you’ll eat there. Evening dining options in Cefalu along the coast are well worth it too.

I would not try to replicate a tour itinerary in Sicily on an independent trip. Tours have professional guides and drivers to see that time is not wasted. You will not have those benefits.

To me ten days if awfully short for Sicily. I think two weeks is about the minimum for a driving trip covering most of the geographical extent of the island, and that's excluding the off-shore islands. I wouldn't try to cover the length and breadth of Sicily in ten days.

I assume you're interested in at least some of Agrigento, Selinunte and Segesta--key classical sites I skipped during my 17-day visit. How many of those you want to chase down will affect how much remaining time you have for other sightseeing. I think you will definitely need to skip Trapani/Erice and other points north and west of Segesta. In your position I'd go west of Palermo only if I wanted to include Selinunte and/or Segesta.

Certileman, certainly the RS Sicily guidebook, and other good guidebooks, will explain the many wonderful cities, towns and sites to you. The island of Sicily is surprisingly large and diverse, with interesting and ancient towns and Greek and Roman ruins all over. The roads are generally good. But if you are really limited to 10 days in Sicily, it will be tough to cover the whole island, and you’ll need to pick and choose where to go, and where to skip. 15 to 20 days would be better, and worth it, if you can. You will NOT want to drive within Palermo. Traffic, parking and “limited traffic zones” will be challenging in most of the cities and mid-sized towns. Everyone will have their favorite spots. Mine include Erice and the Segesta ruins in the far northwest; Palermo, the Monreale Duomo and Cefalu more in the northern center; and Ortygia in Siracusa in the southeast. And on and on. Lots of great scenery, wonderful food and ancient history throughout. Enjoy!

I would agree, with limited time choose an area that piques your interests. We ended a Southern Italy tour in Eastern Sicily. We spent 2 nights in Taormina and did a day trip to Mt. Etna. Following the tour we took the train to Ortigia x5N and hired a guide for a day trip to Noto, Ragusa and Modica. It was our intention to return to Sicily for a month in 2020, and start in Palermo but of course we had to cancel. Our plan was to use public transportation and a driver.

The main tourist destinations have been mentioned, so it’s really what you choose to see and where you’re flying in to and out of. That will help determine the route you’ll probably follow. We flew in and out of Catania and drove clockwise around the island. With only 10 days, that would be impractical for you. Rather than drive in Palermo we stayed at a B&B in Monreale that had parking and took the bus into Palermo. We stayed outside of Catania and the bus into it too. With your short amount of time, I’d skip Catania.

Everyone else is right. With only 10 days, your itinerary is going to have to be severely limited. All of Sicily has history (Roman ruiins), great food and wine and general sightseeing, so you can go in any number of directions.. Have you thought about not driving and using drivers and/or public transportation instead? Your itinerary will dictate your choices, but don't rule out those options. For us, car rental with the extras like insurance, gas, etc., was more expensive than private drivers. And with a driver, you get to enjoy the scenery and get the driver's views/comments, as well. Depending on your side-trip wishes, don't overlook Trapani, an easy drive or bus an hour from Palermo. We stayed there for more than a week and included day trips to Erice, Favignana, Mazala del Vallo, Segesta, Selinunte, most of which were on public transportation, but a few with a driver. Trapani itself is cute and easy to navigate. If you do decide to drive and are heading east from Palermo towards Taormina or south, all like "off the beaten track" destinations, consider the Nebrodi mountains and the small towns there, including. Petralia Soprana. visitsicily.info gives information about both.

Thanks everyone for you tips and comments. Rick does his Sicily tour in 11 days so I thought 10 might do. I am flexible and can extend my time there. I will take all yourrecommendations into consideration. Thank you again.