Travel help between Catania & Palermo

If you come from the Trapani area you will hit the Palermo airport before getting to the city, which is several km after the airport coming from Trapani. If driving into Palermo is concerning to you, then you could return the car at the Palermo airport on the way from Trapani, then take a taxi (or bus or train) into the city center. Maybe a bit more expensive than driving all the way (the taxi fare from the airport is close to 50 euro), but maybe less hassle especially if you arrive at rush hour.

We will be dropping the car off at the Palermo airport. I used google maps and by stopping in Agrigento we would go along the coast to Trapani. How much time should you allow for the Valley of Temples? It looks to be about two hours from there to Trapani. If time allows, we could stop in Marsala.

I understand you not wanting to drive around Palermo, but you wouldn’t be driving AROUND Palermo so much as driving TO Palermo if you catch my drift. Just looking at the map, there’s a bunch of drop off locations near the port and/or near major thoroughfares. The general preconception is that Palermo is some kind of chaotic mess, but in truth it is much less of a tangle as Naples or someplace like that. I’m saying you can likely get to where you need to go pretty easily, and it’s not like you have to worry about parking. To me, the potential anxiety over the drop off is a little overblown and worth it versus the time and effort spent dropping at the airport, and then taking the train all the way back in.

If Trapani is 100% a part of your plan, then what you have outlined makes total sense.

Alternatively, if you’re interested in visiting Cefalu, consider dropping the car there and spending a night. The train run from Cefalu to Palermo is about the same as the airport, and is an easy comfortable ride. This way, you get an easier drop (there is one road into town and everything is off that) and a nice visit to Cefalu.

Some car companies allow drop offs in Trapani. Have you checked? From Trapani there is an inexpensive and easy bus from the waterfront to Palermo, which might help you avoid some driving problems.

You are right about cramming a lot in during your last few days. I am confused a bit by your timeline. Where are you leaving from in order to visit Modica and Ragusa? How much time do you want to spend in each? I was happy with a chocolate surgical strike in Modica, but lots of people have commented that a few days there is not too much. Ragusa on its own deserves a full day, then, it's about a 2.5 hour drive from Ragusa to Agrigento, without traffic. Seems like a lot of ground to cover in one day.

You mentioned wanting to visit Marsala and Favignana. Marsala is south of Trapani, so it's not really practical stop on the way to Palermo unless you're planning a very long day from Agrigento to Marsala, through Trapani and on to Palermo to overnight. Have you considered spending more than an overnight in Trapani? To visit either Favignana and/or Marsala from there, you'd need more than one day. By train or bus from Trapani, round-tripping to Marsala would require 45-60 minute ride each way. Are you planning to visit specific Marsala-centric day, like a visit to a winery to learn about production? If so, you might want to visit https://sicily.guides.winefolly.com/ If so, counting in transportation time, Marsala would realistically be a full day. Favignana is a pretty full day from Trapani. The hydrofoils run frequently, but not hourly. It requires some planning ahead, especially in the off-season. (NB: despite what RS says, it's better to purchase your return trip to Trapani before setting out in the morning. There are plenty of day-trippers, and afternoon seats sell out quickly. We left at least a dozen people at the Favignana port because there were no seats left on the 4 pm (ish) run.) Favignana is small, but has a very interesting tuna fishing museum (the mattanza, a method tuna fishing, was once the only show in town there) It is a nice little town to walk around and there are beaches, too. Or, for a Plan B, there are ferries that run from Marsala to Favignana. It might work for you to overnight in Marsala rather than Trapani, do your wine thing there, overnight again and do the day trip by ferry to Favignana, and after your second overnight, proceed to Palermo bypassing Trapani entirely. Full disclosure though, we didn't do this, so I can't comment on frequency, reliability or quality of the ferry service. This is a lot to digest. The only other recommendation I'd make is to expect it to take a lot longer to drive distances than you'd think. Be sure to factor that in when planning.

We will be leaving from Aci Castello which is a few miles north of Catania. I do not necessarily need to stop in Ragusa but thought it might be a stop if we were driving through that area. I really just want to check out the chocolate. Is it worth the trip? From there It looks like it about 4 hours from Catania to Agrigento.

We are going to spend two nights near Trapani. It appears to be just over two hours from Agrigento to Marsala/ Trapani area depending on where we stay. Any recommendations? We would have almost two full days of touring. We can arrive in Palermo late in the day if we keep the car and drop it off at the airport we can control our time schedule. I will also check out the drop off in Trapani.

Thanks so much for the information on wine. Very interesting!! I also appreciate your suggestions.

If you are coming from Trapani and going to Palermo, you should drop off the car at the Palermo airport. We did that and then took the train into Palermo.

We spent a week and a half in Trapani for some down time as well as for a base for lots of day trips. Being there for so long, we stayed at an Airbnb in town, so I can’t suggest any hotels. For us, Ragusa was a lot more interesting than Modica. As I said, though, we didn’t give Modica much of a chance. We stopped in a shop there where you could see the production line for assorted chocolate bites through a big glass window, but there was no opportunity to speak with anyone about the process. Had I known of the “gourmet” food and wine shop in Ragusa that had an excellent selection of Modica chocolates (and btw, Marsala) we wouldn’t have stopped at all.

I have been booking houses through Airbnb. Can you share the one you stayed at in Trapani? I may consider staying there longer and shortening Palermo. We are flying to Rome for a couple days before our return flight home.

I’ll look it up and message you privately.