Trip in Sicily

How many nights? You say 3 weeks but the days only add up to 10 or 12?

I am still trying to figure out some nights in some places like Ragusa or Trapani, but taking public transportations makes it more difficult to get mon itinerary, that’s where I feel lost planning this trip

So how many nights is your trip? Lodging nights? The folks here will need to know that to help you plan.

Have you booked your flight(s) to Sicily yet?
If not, consider flying to Palermo and traveling counter-clockwise.
I spent a bit over 3.5 weeks in Sicily and relied on public transportation.
This was my itinerary: Palermo (4N) day trip to Cefalu (train) & one afternoon in Monreale ( bus) >> bus to Trapani (5N) with separate day trips to Erice, Segesta, and Favignana >> bus to Agrigento (2N) >> bus to Piazza Armerina (2N) >> 2 buses to Syracuse ( stayed in Ortigia 5N) >> day trip to Noto by bus >> train to Milazzo (1N) >> ferry to Lipari (3N) >> ferry back to Milazzo then train to Acireale (4N) >> day trip to Taormina by bus >> taxi to Catania airport >> Milan (2N) >> fly home.

If you’re interested here is a link to my trip report

Wishing you a wonderful trip!

i traveled sicily in 2021 via public transportation but had 29 day total compared to your 22. i would suggest the following: cut down your catania time to 3 or 4 days ( day trips to taormina, and castelmola) then move to syracusa for another 3 to 4 days (day trips to noto and ragusa). head to palermo next for 4-5 days (day trips to agrigento, cefalu and monreale). make trapani your last base for 2 days (day trip to erice). While this itinerary has more hotel changes (4) i think it cuts down some travel time. E.g. i don't know the public transportation route from catania to ragusa but it is a little over 2 hours by train from syracusa; from trapani erice is only a city bus and/or cable car ride, from palermo, much further away. i have posted my impressions of sicily on several threads elsewhere in this forum. hope this helps!

Great itinerary ! Thank you! I’ll start in Catania as a base to visit as much as I can around for day trips, my thoughts are from Ragusa to stay one night and to get to Agrigento from there. I hope it will be some buses to get there. From Agrigento, train to Palermo as a second home base to visit Cefalu, Monreale, from there a visit to Trapani & Erice, perhaps a night there which will end my trip and fly back from there, hopefully I won’t have to go back to Palermo airport. Got to find out, flying to Rome and back home. What are your thoughts ? Thank you 🌸🌸

We were in Sicily in May. It is very difficult to get to Agrigento from Ragusa by public transportation. That is why the recommendation for going from Palermo where there is a train. You can take a bus from Ragusa to Palermo as I recall . We didn’t end up taking it but rented a car for part of our trip .

Just consider, while you may not like changing hotels, daytrips relying on public transport can mean spending half your day riding in buses and trains. Schedules can also mean having to leave early afternoon, missing out on some of the best time in a place, early evening.

For example, Catania is fine as a base, and a day trip to Taormina fine; but I would relocate to Ortigia for a couple nights and day trip from there to Noto and Ragusa, rather than trying to do it from Catania.

Agrigento would be at least an overnight, not a day trip, whether from Catania or Palermo...unless you do an organized tour.

You say you won’t have to go back to Palermo airport, but won’t you fly to Rome from there rather than going all the way back to Catania??
It’s much easier to visit Agrigento from Palermo, by train.
You don’t need to stay there overnight unless you want to see the temples lit up after dark.
We went for the day in April, and saw everything we wanted.
Local buses between towns in Sicily are a bit hit and miss….the schedules need very careful planning to get the routes to work for you.

A couple ot things about Sicilian inter-city buses:

• They don't exist on Sundays.
• Most side-trip destinations will not have bus stations. You'll need to track down a sign on the side of the road (hoping the schedule is posted nearby and is current), then you'll wait, outdoors and uncovered, until the bus arrives. At least you're not traveling in the summer.

You definitely been to set up camp in Ortygia.

Thank you all for your responses, I’’m taking notes that it won’t be easy to plan a trip in Sicily relying solo on public transportations, however traveling on my own would be too expensive to rent a car, I will possibly get some private tours to visit a few places here and there. My plans are to visit Eastern and western sides, not having to change too many times hotels to be dragging my belongings every places, however I do understand that I’ll loose some time taking buses from one place to another, I’ll definitely consider to first go from Catania to Taormina and perhaps another town near by, then stay 1 night in Syracuse to visit Ortigia and from there Noto, Ragusa in one or 2 night and leave to Palermo from there.
From Palermo, staying as a home base to visit around, Cefalu, Monreale and to plan a trip to Agrigento by train would be easier than from Catania, not sure now about Trapani, perhaps spending a night there and returning to Palermo to fly back to Rome to fly back home.
Any suggestions would be definitely appreciated.
Thank you

When you spend 1 night somewhere, you have only about half a day of sightseeing time. That's rarely enough. I'd definitely want more than that in Siracusa/Ortygia. Even for Trapani/Erice 1 night seems inadequate. (From Palermo, a bus rather than a train is the way to get to Trapani.)

Aside from the limited sightseeing time, 1-night stops are really tiring because of the repeated checking in and out of hotels, traveling to and from train or bus stations and becoming oriented to a new city. You have 3 weeks; give each destination enough time to be enjoyable rather than exhausting.

Noto is best visited from Siracusa. The train takes only 33 to 43 minutes. The trip from Ragusa would be much longer. Ragusa is a good base for visits to Modica and Scicli.

Neither train nor bus service in that area is particularly frequent.

At the time of my 2015 trip, online Sicilian bus schedules weren't reliable even if they were available. It took some on-the-ground time to visit the local bus station and/or the Tourist Office to get the full story. The situation may be better now.

For us, last September, a half day/one night in Ortigia was just right. We found Cefalu much more crowded and touristy than Taormina (which we enjoyed) and totally missable. One and one-half days/ two nights in Agrigento were perfect. Visiting the Valley of Temples at dusk is awesome!!! Food there and the nearby beach are great too. Monreale is well worthwhile. Enjoy!

We spent a week in Ortigia and could have stayed longer. Wonderful!
We had a rental car and toured most of Sicily. We will return there.

It might help to get a map of Sicily and look at your itinerary. Right now you have a lot of back & forth — Catania to Taormina, back through Catania to Siracusa. Palermo to Agrigento and Trapani and back to Palermo.

With just three weeks, try to map a more circular tour. Perhaps Catania to Taormina to Palermo to Trapani to Agrigento to Siracusa and back to Catania?

Also, try to pack very lightly so you aren’t lugging a big suitcase onto all those buses & trains.