Trip to Sicily: Suggested itineraries?

I took a 10 day trip throughout Sicily in March of 2010 and had a great time. We started in Palermo and went counterclockwise ending in Catania. With 14 days you could probably make it all the way back to Palermo. I wouldn't characterize the entire island of Sicily as being run down although Palermo did have some trash here and there. I took the trip with friends who are historians and archeologists so it was focused on the antiquities. Here is our itinerary with some of the sights we visited, feel free to use it as you begin your planning. Also, for an excellent guide to the history and archaeology of Sicily check out Blue Guide: Sicily. The 8th edition of this book is set to come out this month. Enjoy your trip! Sicily: March, 2010 March 17 Arrive Palermo. Meet at Archaeological Museum, 2 pm Night in: Palermo March 18 Palermo: La Martorana and San Cataldo; Palazzo Abatellis Night in: Palermo March 19 Monreale; Segesta; Erice Night in: Erice March 20 Motya, Gibellina Vecchia (monument of Alberto Burri), Lilybaeum Cave di Cusa Night in: Selinunte March 21 Selinunte (Eastern Hill, Akropolis, Western Hill) Night in: Selinunte March 22 Agrigento: site, museum Night in: Agrigento March 23 Piazza Armerina, Morgantina Night in Piazza Armerina March 24 Gela, Noto, Pantalica Night in: Syracuse March 25 Syracuse: Ortygia; Syracuse Museum; quarries, theater, Night in: Syracuse
March 26 Epipolai; bus to Catania (at aiport by 2 pm)

We were in Sicily in May; and sadly, what you've heard about trash is only too true. It seems that lots of people are saving the cost of garbage collection by taking their bags and dumping them along country roads. However, Sicily has all the positive features you want. The previous poster mentioned many of the outstanding sights. I would add Taormina to the list. I also think it's better to stay several nights in one place rather than move every day. If you base yourselves in Palermo, Agrigento, and Taormina, and, perhaps one other town, you can get to most of the others pretty easily. Pm me if you have more questions.

This past March we did our second visit to Sicily; we had 10 days, and basically spent most on the North side of the Island, other than a day trip to Syracuse. We based in Giridoni Naxos and from there visited Tamorina, Syracuse, and the Villa Armenia(very disappointed as most of the rooms were closed and/or being worked on). From there on to Cefalu, visited the Catherdral, hiked to the top of the rock, ate wonderful food,and then on to Palermo to see Monreal, the catherdral, and the palace, and then on to Erice, where we stayed and toured Trapani and Segesta. In all places we stayed between 2 to 3 nights, and in Naxos and Palermo, since it was low season, the Hiltons' had rates of 85E including breakfast. 2 years' ago, we did the West, going to Segesta and Agrigento and spending most of our time in Palermo, again in March(beautiful, green, carpets of wild flowers at the temples).
We got most of our help and information from DK's "Top 10 Sicily" and from the Trip Advisor forum; there is a "destination expert" with the handle of Vagabonda who is awesome. Yes, the cities are rough around the edges but the countryside and the people are generous and helpful-on our first visit we were lost in Palermo, and a couple got in their car and lead us to our hotel! I tell everyone to go now before its discovered!

Thanks for your feedback. We are thinking of skipping Palermo on this trip.We would fly into the Palermo airport rent a car and then head for our first night in Segesta or Erice. Would we be missing a lot not staying in Palermo for a couple of nights? Is the archeological museum still closed?

If you're interested in Greek ruins and Mt. Etna, then don't skip Taormina! Taormina has a beautiful Greek Theatre inside the town itself, which is still used for outdoor concerts. Sting was recently there. You can tour it for no charge. There is a funicula that takes you down to the sea if you want to go, and the view going down is amazing. Taormina is close to Mt. Etna. Before we went last year we used the following website:
magicofsicily.com There is an awesome guide, Angelo, who is a local and takes people to Mt. Etna and a vineyard and even Syracusia. There are also apt rentals available to you on this website which we used and were thoroughly pleased with. PM me if you need more info.

Michael, with two weeks in Sicily you should have plenty of time to see everything you want to. We were there the same two weeks a few years ago and the weather was perfect...gorgeous every day, and about 80. Two of our favorite spots were the Aeolian Islands (Lipari) and Cefalu. Without benefit of Rick Steves we were able to find Rick Steves-type places to stay, and loved it. I'd be happy to provide a suggestions if you are interested.

Here is a link to a site I used for a lot of my planning to Sicily......
My favorite town was Cefalu on the north coast. http://www.bestofsicily.com/

My two cents:
Palermo is my favorite city in Italy. My opinion, you haven't seen Sicily unless you've spent some time in Palermo. I could easily spend two weeks there (and have over several trips). The trash thing is true in most any city in Sicily (though Taormina was very clean) but usually the countryside is pretty clean. Palermo seems to go through periods of clean up in the quarters but you can walk through one that's fairly clean into another with trash all over. After awhile and seeing what Palermo has to offer it just became background to me.

Oh we loved Palermo! And if you are looking for friendly people you'll certainly find them there, as well as in the rest of Sicily. Specifically in Palermo we enjoyed walking around the markets and the city in general. Initially I was going to skip seeing Monreal but decided last minute to see it and it was spectacular. A definite highlight of the trip. Stayed near Marsala and enjoyed that area as well as thw best pizza of our life! Thought the ruins at Segestra and Selinunte were incredible. We stayed on the east coast near Acireale, which was in between Taromina and Catania. Our b&b was Palazzo Giovanni, situated in the family's lemon grove in a tiny town near the sea with a stunning view of Mt Etna. It was our favorite place and we highly recommend the wonderfully friendly family who gave us ideas for wine tasting, scenic routes, activities. We used this as the base to see Siracusa (wonderful town) and Taormina, which while pretty was our least favorite part of our trip. It reminded me of the Amalfi coast-again, very pretty but a little too "resorty". We didn't really get a chance to see all of the archeological sites though, so I'd really like to go back. We thought Sicily to be so interesting and not like the parts of Italy we had seen before. Two weeks would be a wonderful trip, but I really hope you don't skip Palermo!