Three weeks in Sicily by Train/Bus questions

My suggestion would be to save your days in Palermo for the end. Cefalu is an easy train ride from Palermo so you could go from the airport and then to Cefalu. That would save you one hotel change. We did that when we went to Palermo-although after returning a car at the airport rather than an international flight.

And I would go back from Siracusa. I would also add time to Siracusa-at least a night if you want to make day trips from there. We spent 4 nights in Siracusa and did not do any day trips. We had planned to go to Noto but it was a beautiful day and we just enjoyed being in Siracusa (Ortigia). You could make a day trip also by train to Ragusa if you wanted. But you would need to allocate more time to Siracusa to do that.

You also can do a day trip to Agrigento from Palermo by train or there are tour companies that go there.

Thank you BethFL - I had been thinking that adding an extra night in Ortigia to do a day trip to Noto would be perfect so thank you for this suggestion! I think we'll add the extra night on to Siracusa and then come back to Palermo from there, doing day trips if we feel we have plenty of time, though just wandering around a city searching for food can usually take up a good part of my week. :)

Catania is close enough to Taormina to be visited from there (or vice versa if you're like me and really can't bear to spend much time in hyper-touristy Taormina).

I agree with Beth that your time in Siracusa looks very short. In addition to Noto and Ragusa, Modica and Scicli are worth seeing. To be down in that part of the island and get only to Noto seems a shame.

I'm doubtful that Cefalu needs three nights, but I suppose you need to be somewhere to shake off jetlag, and Palermo isn't the ideal place for that.

Yes, four nights in Taormina seems like heaps but the first day is basically traveling from Lipari in the Aeolian so pretty much the full afternoon getting there in time for dinner and a walk, and I definitely want to do a day taking the train into Randazzo or one of the other towns and doing some Etna winery tastings! So that's really only two days in Taormina - does that still seem like too much?

I've added an extra night in Siracusa and thank you for following up with that - seems like a region to really immerse in - I know it would be better with a car but on this trip we'd just rather have that relaxed feel of no responsibility!

We will be starting in Palermo still for a few days - we love a city with all the local feel, a little gritty and chaotic suits us best, but did think that a few days in Cefalu after might be a nice chance to relax for a few days and have some good eats and maybe do a day trip to Castelbuono or something for one of them? Do you still think knowing that that three nights is too much?

Thanks again, your suggestions are really helping solidify our plans!

Erin

It's been a few years since we went to Sicily and we also took public transportation. I don't see that you mentioned which months which would make a big difference I think. We flew into Palermo for two nights in the first days of June but definitely could have used more. Then we took a pleasant train ride to Agrigento which was by far the most amazing place for us and not to be missed. We spent the night then took the train to Cefalu for four nights and it was fun. We booked a one way on a round trip excursion boat to Lipari before we left but luckily I walked passed the agency where they advised me that the ferry was cancelled and put us on a multi-language bus ride to the port for Lipari. Lipari was nice although touristy with many smokers. The beaches had jelly fish but I would recommend the boat ride around the island although we got lucky and arranged a private two hour ride with a kind older squid fisherman. My daughter, who had lived in Italy and is fluent in Italian went the following year visiting two other islands as well. Taormina was setting up seating for the famous theatre so it wasn't the best and we didn't visit the beach. We loved Ortigia for four nights including visiting the ruins in Siracusa. We took a bus to Noto but it arrived at noon and the town was pretty closed up and then the return bus was one hour late so can't say it was a great use of time. There were many agencies offering day tours in these cities that could be useful. We took the bus to Catania which we didn't enjoy and flew out from there. Hope this helps a bit. RS book was just pending publication so I used Tripadvisor and an amazing poster named Vagabonda.

That's super helpful, Karen, thank you! Yes, I realised that I forgot to mention time of year! We are arriving in Palermo 20th May and leaving June 11th - so right before the onslaught of tourists I hope! We did Portugal for the same three weeks earlier this year and it was the perfect timing. I really really want to take a trip to Agrigento as I love history so much - you said you took the train - did you just do it on your own and do a day trip or did you stay the night? How far was it?

Thanks again everyone!

There's quite a lot to see in Palermo: Monreale (outside town, accessible by public bus, tour bus or taxi), the Norman Palace, lots of varied churches, the markets, the archaeological museum, and an interesting privately-run tile museum. Aside from the cathedral, I'm not sure about indoor sights in Cefalu; I believe it's more a wandering-around sort of place. If you get hit rather hard by jetlag (as I do), I'd suggest starting off in Cefalu where you won't need to go-go-go to get through a long list of sightseeing targets. Although 4 nights in Palermo sounds reasonable, if you're not operating on all cylinders until you've been there for two nights, that leaves just two well-functioning days, and Monreale will take up perhaps half a day by itself.

It may be getting quite hot in Sicily by June. Pay attention to comments about air-conditioning quality when you read hotel reviews. I'd also suggest strategically choosing hotels located near things you want to see, so you can pop back to the hotel for a break in the afternoon if you need to.

I'm interested in this as we are from Australia, and are hoping for a similar sort of trip to Sicily in the future. Unfortunately it won't be next year as we've already booked three weeks in Greece and Istanbul and that's all the leave my husband can get in a year, but definitely the following year.

There are lots of comments regarding jet lag on arrival, but if the OP is from NZ, which is seems so, jet lag is rarely a problem for us going to Europe as we are flying west. It is the trip home that is the nightmare for me, and for pretty well everyone I know from this side of the world

Hi DebH - your trip next year sounds amazing! Love Greece and Istanbul!

Yes, we are New Zealanders and it's a big trip, but we are either really lucky or plan things well enough to not experience jetlag. My family is from the US and we have family in Singapore so we always break up the trip for a day or two in each direction. Last year we stopped in DC en route to Portugal and Singapore on the way home so it was still big days but adjusting to those times before coming back. This year we're going the opposite direction - two days in Singapore en route to Sicily - two days in LA en route back (with the time change) so that's been amazing for us from this side of the world to and from Europe!

A PS to the last one Deb is that we fly Star Alliance and have found that purchasing Star Alliance Round the World tickets has not only saved us alot of money but also gotten us more status and airpoints AND helped alleviate the jetlag! As opposed to buying tickets return...

On the question of how long in Taormina. We were in Taormina the second week of May and it was not unreasonably crowded except for a short time after the buses arrived with day trippers. We got ahead of them and it was fine.

That said, there is enough there for one full day. We toured the town including the Greek theater which is fabulous the first day. Then we did a day trip to see Mt Etna. So my thought is with four nights you would need two days of day trips. Maybe you want to visit Mt Etna one day and the wineries a second for example (although there are tours that combine the two). Otherwise, I would move the extra night to Siracusa where there are multiple opportunities-do 3 nights Taormina, and 5 nights Siracusa. You can visit Ragusa and Modica by train as well as Noto.

Check train and bus schedules very carefully with respect to the day of the week. A lot of the inter-city buses don't run on Sundays, and I believe rail service is also reduced. I'm not sure about Saturdays. Finding train info is pretty straightforward on the Trenitalia website. For buses it's really important to check the footnotes, because that is where you'll find out how they've marked buses that run only Mon-Fri or Mon-Sat.

What acraven said above.
There is always work being done on rail lines in Sicily, so often it’s better to go long distance by bus.

We were in Sicily last April and used buses and trains.
5 n. in Palermo first.

Prestia e Commande bus/coach from the airport to the city; tickets at the desk inside the airport.
If using this bus to return to the airport, buy your timed tickets in advance.
There’s a ticket office at the bus station area just beside Napoli Centrale rail station.
We were glad we did, as the bus back was busy and they turned people without pre-bought tickets away.
You can also take the train from the airport to city centre.

We took Trenitalia trains for day trips Palermo to Cefalu, and Palermo to Agrigento.
Very easy.
At Agrigento, getting the bus from the rail station to the ruins was a bit of a mystery!, but somehow we got the right ones there and back.
It seems to be a circular route, so we got a good tour around the area on the way back.
We spent about 4-5 hours there and felt it was enough.

We got InterBus from Palermo to Siracusa/Ortigia and back.
Booked online from here at home.
Very efficient with a comfort stop half way at a service area.

Siracusa to Noto, we got a little rickety train there, and a bus back.
Easy and efficient.

If you stay in Ortigia, book somewhere closer to where the bridge over from Siracusa is.
It’s a long walk with even light luggage, to the very end of Ortigia otherwise!
Siracusa train and bus station is about a 10-12 minute walk from there to the bridge.

In Palermo, we used city buses.
Buy a handful of tickets to keep handy, as not all Tabaccheria shops sell them.

We went to Monreale by city bus from outside Napoli Centrale station.

Oddgrace32, the round the world tickets are a good idea, but we have given up on stopovers, as we prefer to spend the time in Europe and as I mentioned before, time is limited as my husband is still working.

We wouldn't stop over in the US, we have visited there twice before, and that's probably it for us, I dislike the tipping culture and it spoils my holiday lol. Obviously with family there though, that is a different thing.

We have stopped over in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur a few times, but now go straight through. We do plan on a Dubai stopover when we go to Sicily though.

We always fly Emirates and have status with them. I'd give that up for a much better deal though.

Thanks again for the tip, I will keep following your plans on here.