Our 11 day trip was amazing thanks to Rick Steves book. We took Ryan Air from Rome, landed in Palermo. Two nights in Palermo. Do not rent a car yet, there is no parking in Palermo, take the 6 euro bus to Palermo and walk the town. Take the Streaty Food Tour (Viator) it's worth it! Take the No-mafia tour (Viator) it's worth it. Make sure you find time to go to the NoMafia museum, its only opened from 10-4 but make a point to go. Go to the food markets, get lost and find your way home. We stayed in Puniche Atmosphere BnB. Marika was a fabulous hostess that fed us so much for breakfast we barely ate lunch! When your ready to travel on, take the bus back to the Airport and rent a car and head to Trapani. This will be so much easier than trying to drive in Palermo. Be aware, Trapani is windy. Go to the Salt fields and tour it on your own. We should have only spent one night in Trapani, as we were a bit bored. Download the EasyPark app, to make it easier to pay parking. Make the trip to Erice on your way out of town unfortunately the cable car was not working, while there find your way to Caffe San Giuliano, have a pistachio coffee and converse with Giuliano himself. Visit Segesta, Selinunte, and Agrigento. We should have spent two days in Agrigento. Don't miss the Villa Romana Del Casale. Ragusa was our favorit city. Be sure to take a historical tour, we found Serena on Viator. For 3 hours she gave the finest tour of Ragusa we have ever had. You will come to love the city as much as she does. We stayed in Intervallo Boutique Hotel, which is like and BnB. Vincenzo was the perfect host. Take the countryside drive, stop in Modica for Chocolate. Ortigia is not to be missed, stay on the island, it's worth it! Splurge on the Maniace Boutique Hotel. While there, take the street food tour with Maria (doeatbetterexperience.com). She will give you a detailed guide on the island but go hungry - lots of street food. We ended our tour in Cefalu. We drove to Monreale, Castelbuono and Pollina while we stayed in Cefalu. Make sure you save Sundays for a day of walking in the city your staying in, it fun to people watch the families, children, grandparents all come out and sit in the piazza. It is true, pizza is a dinner meal, if your eating pizza for lunch its probably a tourist restaurant. Ask your local host/hostess about places they would eat, ask them to make reservations. Finally, even with 11 days in Sicily, we never made it to Catania, Taormina or Mt. Etna. We simply ran out of time! Because of the rain, we opted to not push our travels. EVERY freeway in Sicily had construction, that is not an exaggeration! We wished we could have extended our holiday by a week, but we are happy with our itinerary. We had rain, which sometimes dampened our walks, wind in Trapani, and it was surprisingly cold while we were there. The locals, always wear scarves, and jackets. Bring layers and pack light, Sicily is old and wasn't make for suitcases. Every city in Sicily is old and most are built on a hill! Many places have no sidewalks and only cobbled roads, very rough on the suitcase. So be prepared to lug those suitcases everywhere. PACK LIGHT! I found that I wore the same comfortable pants 3-4 times in a row. I also only brought one pair of waterproof tennis shoes and wore them everyday. I also brought sandals for lounging around the hotels. There are laundromat's in every city, so spend a few hours half way through the trip to do laundry to keep your suitcase light. We met so many visitors from all over the world during our breakfast time. thats the beauty of BnB's and a host making you breakfast. Finally, we never felt unsafe anywhere in Sicily.
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