Catania Sicily

I was looking into this as we were considering this tour next year. To me, the most convenient way is to book two one-way flights. To Palermo and from Catania. It seems like a long trip back to Palermo just to catch a flight. I can't remember which airlines, but it was different for each flight.

Edit to add: flight to Palermo would be from Rome. From Catania would be to Naples as we'd had to Sorrento next.

Our plans were foiled by Covid but a friend and I had booked the train from Catania to Naples. (They put the cars on the ferry!)
It seemed like a nice way to unwind for a few hours after the go-go-go of the Sicily tour and before we did our own exploring.

On our trip this past spring, we flew in and out of Catania. It is a reasonable sized airport. The only negative I've heard is that very occasionally, Etna causes problems for the airport.

There are numerous direct flights from both cities. Not knowing your destination, I could only research in general terms. I used skyscanner.com because it is good on quick-hop European airlines. Skyscanner will let you type in your departure city and then just specify "Italy" as destination to produce a list of possible arrival cities. Thanks to the competition between budget airlines, prices look reasonable from either city but you can play around to find a suitable deal. I would also use a multidestination search function to see if going and coming can be combined on one itinerary at a discount. If you are not familiar with this function, the itinerary it produces could be on different airlines.

Hands down, best early a.m. speedy taxi ride giving maximum thrills tinged with maybe a touch of horrified American gripping the handrest response was to CTA on our departure from the most excellent RST Best of Sicily tour. We stayed 2 extra nights and were highly satisfied with our effort to give rough-edged Catania more time to reveal her character. All of Sicily is beyond fascinating and Catania's food and seafood markets are such the real deal.

I didn't take the tour (yet) but I booked a multi-city (open jaw) flight to Rome, where I spent a few days, and out of Catania - all on Air France. I booked a one way ticket from Rome to Sicily on Ryanair.

We're not on a tour, but will be arriving in Catania in 2 weeks. We booked an open-jaw into Catania and out of Palermo -- IAD-MUC-CAT-PMO-MUC-IAD. We're on Lufthansa. Not looking forward to the flights, but we are very excited about trying to complete our truncated visit from last year.

Flying out of Catania would be easiest, of course depending on where you are going. It’s a big enough airport with flights to lots of European cities. I suppose it’s possible Palermo would have better flights but it would have to be a lot better to offset the travel time.

I’ve flown via Rome and both cities have plentiful connections there.

Catania is actually the larger of the two airports.

We went into Palermo and out of Catania. Some of flew back to the US and one person flew Ryan air to Trieste, Italy. It was fine.

At the end of our RS Sicily tour in May only one traveler was returning to the U.S. and I’m pretty sure she flew out of Catania. We flew out of Catania to Venice and I think many others took various forms of travel to Southern Italy. I know several took the train from Catania to Naples. I don’t think anyone returned to Palermo for onward travel.

After our 2016 tour, we flew from Catania to Rome in the late morning on Alitalia, stayed overnight in Rome, and continued home to Boston the next day. Before the tour we flew from Boston to Rome, stayed a couple of nights, then took an Alitalia flight to Palermo. At the time, this option was cheaper than taking grueling multi-stop flights to and from Sicily from the US, so much so that it paid for the extra nights in Rome.

It was also more relaxing not having leave Catania very early in the morning.
We were able to enjoy the final breakfast, and it seemed like we were able to avoid breaking the tour's magic spell until the very end.

I’m doing this tour in October. Return I booked Catania to Rome on Ryan Air.
Arriving I have Rome to Palermo on Ryan Air.
I have RT Bos-FCO on Delta.

Yes it’s a bit much to return to Palermo, avoid if possible.

I am on the BOS tour next March April 2023. Our travel plans have us arriving in Palermo 4 days early. We are spending an extra night in Catania before we take an EasyJet flight to Paris.

I flew into Palermo for this tour and out of Catania home. I flew Lufthansa and picked up my connection home from Frankfurt. I believe there was a couple on the tour who had to get back to Palermo to fly home. I believe they took some type of bus from Catania to Palermo (don't quote me on this). I would send an email to Rick Steves and ask them if they know of this bus service.

There's definitely train service between Palermo and Catania. Some routes go through the interior of the island while others run along/near the coast. There are SAIS buses as well, and I think they're more frequent. They may also be faster; Sicilian trains are rather slow.

When we did the Sicily tour in May, we landed in Palermo from Rome, and left from Catania to Rome. Other members of our tour flew from Catania to Barcelona, from Catania to some other European capitol. For our tour, anyway, we all left from Catania. Early morning, everyone was required to check their carryon, short easy flight to Rome. Catania is worth spending a couple more days exploring.

Yes there is a bus from Catania to Palermo. There is one that leaves from the airport. But keep in mind that the airport for Palermo is actually in Punta Raisa, another 30-45 minutes west of Palermo. The bus goes to Palermo center, so you still need transport to the airport. No reason to waste several hours to go back there to depart, unless the Catania airport is closed due to ash from Mt Etna, as it was for us. Catania has more flights than Palermo.

We flew Boston to Rome on Delta. Then ITA to Palermo and ITA from Catania to Rome after our fabulous RS Sicily tour. We were able to share a van with other tour members to the Catania airport, which Alfio, our guide arranged for us. A bonus was clear skies and being able to see Mt. Vesuvius from the plane.

I’m using United miles to go to Palermo and United miles from Catania. ( April 2023 to and from MCO)

I booked a flight from Catania to Amsterdam (AMS) there is a stop in Milan via ITA. Have overnight stay in AMS due to limited flights before returning to US.

Didn't look at Palermo return. Flying in via Swiss Air from Dublin to Palermo. Doing the 11 Day Sicily Tour in October.

Catania is a larger airport than Palermo so fly out of Catania to Rome or wherever you ‘re heading.

Fly to next destination from Catania.
Many flights to many places a day.
Not too expensive and airport is easy to get to.

When I was on the RS Sicily tour in 2019 I flew from Catania to Munich on Alitalia via Rome. I regret not staying a few extra nights in Catania as it blew my mind, but there's always next time.

I flew out of the Catania airport back to the Frankfurt airport. This is a nice airport.

My wife and I just took the Sicily tour. We flew out of Catania airport on a 7:15 am flight to Malta on Malta Air. We had an hour layover in Malta and then took another Malta Air flight to Munich arriving at around noon. Later on that day, we left Munich for Denver on a 10 hour long United Air flight. It was a long day but it was worth getting back to the US. Catania is the best bet for getting back to the US.

We took the Best of Sicily tour last May, and we flew out of Catania early in the morning to Rome. Other members of our tour flew to Barcelona and then home, or like us, flew to Rome. I think one couple went back to Palermo because they wanted to see other sights on that end of the island.