14 Days in Sicily - help with itinerary

Dear all,

Would you please help me with itinerary for 10 days trip to Sicily, this June?

My former plan was for second half of June with return in beg. of July, flight to Palermo, leave from Catania, and stay in Palermo (visit Monreale, Cefalu), Agrigento, Modica (visit Ragusa), Siracuse and Taormina, 16-18 days.

But now I can't stay until the end of June, I don't want to go in July or August as it will be too hot for sightseeing, so I am trying to find some shorter version. I was more interested in eastern part (baroque towns, Ortigia and Taormina), but as there aren't direct flights until July, I am thinking about visiting Palermo, and stay on some nice beach for few days. There are direct flight to Trapani, so start and end there.

I am traveling with almost 3 yo (with stroller and baby carrier), and only by public transport. I wanted to see Palermo, so I would keep this from former plan, but I don't know where to go next, for 3/4 nights.

1 Trapani (morning flight), move to Palermo, afternoon in Palermo

2 Palermo

3 Palermo, half day trip Monreale

4 Palermo, day trip Cefalu

5 Palermo, day trip Agrigento (not sure with this, as it is quite a long time in train there and back)

6, 7, 8, 9 ? (last day move to Trapani, overnight before flight from there)

10 Trapani (morning flight)

I have found only an afternoon bus from Trapani airport to Palermo, so we have to go to city, and take a bus to Palermo from there?

I have read here in forum about Castellammare del Golfo, and it looks nice. Is there a good connection between Palermo - Castellammare and Castellammare and Trapani?

If I stay close to, I would also like to visit Zingaro reserve, I found that it is open again, but it seems that only way to go there is by privat car, or taxi - or is there some option via public transport? If taxi - how much, and is it possible to book one with car seat? Would it be better to stay in San Vito de Capo, or Scopello, for Zingaro visit? And last - 3yo may walk or be in baby carrier, baby stroller is useless in Zingaro (coastal way)?

Or do you have another idea for coastal town, with nice architekture, and beaches nearby?

Many thanks, Katjes

Due to the unique current offerings airline wise we have 6 nights/7 days in Sicily as part of a broader trip. We fly into Catania midday day 1, and our departure is from Palermo at 8pm, offering a near full-day in Palermo on day 7 (with bags safely stored with our hotel)

My dilemma is allocating the 6th night.

So far we’ve settled on 2 nights in Ortigia, 2 in Taormina, 1 in Palermo. For our 6th night I cannot determine if we should devote 3 nights to Ortigia as our base to have more time for places such as Noto etc or place a 2nd night to Palermo to have 2 full nights between transfers.

My current thinking if 3/2/1 is arrive Catania middday day 1, head to Ortigia and spend afternoon/evening there.

Day 2 - visit Noto, Ragusa, Marzememi or so one (1-2 of these).

Day 3 - visit another couple of places

Day 4- drive to Taormina, staying there.

Day 5 - visit Etna or gorges etc

Day 6 - to Palermo, spending part of the day in Cefalu

Day 7 - Palermo till leave for our flight late in day.

Is this a wise itinerary or should we forego the 2nd day of exploring behind Syracuse in favor of 2 nights based in Palermo?

Hi! I'm planning on doing a long holiday in Italy from the end of September until November. I will be doing most of my transport via public transport, but biking/hiking or renting a car every now and then might be an option too.

What I'm currently thinking about:

- Enter sicily by train, hop off on the east coast. Visit Taormina, Catania, Siracusa, and possibly Ragusa as main sites. 5 days?

- Take the ferry from either Pozzallo or Augusta to Malta

- Spend about a week on Malta

- Take the ferry back, see (possibly Ragusa here) Valle dei Templi, and the north and west of sicily. About 10 days?

- Take the ferry from Palermo to Cagliari

- Spend about two weeks on Sardinia (not sure what places yet)

- take the ferry from Porto Torres to Barcelona

Is this a feasibily itinerary? The suggested staying times for these places seem to be all over the place (e.g. 5 days enough for Sicily, two weeks in Malta) so I'm wondering if I'm taking it easy enough or if I could include Amalfi for example. Is two weeks in Sicily enough if I go by public transport? I want to see the main sites and take some relaxed days off too. I don't need to spend days in every town exploring every alley.

I plan on staying in hostels and cheap hotel rooms mostly. I can also bring camping gear but I'm not entirely sure if it's worth it as I think a lot of campings will already be closed in October. I don't particularly have a set budget but I prefer to spend my cash on good food and perhaps some guides. I don't have a need for luxury hotels or driving a car everywhere.

Hi there,

My family of 4 (kids aged 9 and nearly 5) are planning a trip to Sicily for 4-6 weeks in 2023 (and other parts of Italy too after the 4-6 weeks are up). We will rent a car for most of our stay.

We are planning to come in mid-June, which is the earliest we can arrive that spring.

My main question is: We aren't certain though if we should stay through to the end of July (6 weeks)?

We don't really know what its like in July, as we've been to Sicily in different periods befo

* early-mid June a few years ago (a bit north of Catania, Ortigia, Agriturismo Silitti near Caltanisetta, Marsala, Scopello); and

* a few days in early October for our honeymoon about 10 years ago (Ortigia and an agriturismo called Zottopera near Chiaramonte Gulfi).

We would ideally like to have a relaxing time with the kids in Sicily - and are hoping to avoid extreme heat (e.g. over 33 Celsius) during the middle of the day, crazy busy-ness and the worst of the Italian school holidays.

We are planning to stay in 2 or 3 spots as bases (about 10 days each): something like beachside near Noto/Ragusa, another near Palermo; and possibly an agriturismo in a central region or near a nice village (in a different region) as a third base. With possible weekend stays in Ortigia, Palermo, Cefalu and San Vito lo Capo.

Most places in Italy we'd like to visit mention September/October as ideal timing to visit, which I believe is also true for Sicily. But if we can visit Sicily at the start of our trip, we can leave September for areas like further north like Tuscany, Urbino, Ascoli Piceno.

Just booked our first trip to Sicily and will spend 7 nights in mid-November 2021. I realize not enough time, so looking to probably focus on the eastern part of the island and fly into Catania. Have some questions to help with planning

1)Thinking of spending around 3 nights in the Syracuse, Noto, Modica area. Which city/town is the best place to stay and explore from there? Planning to most likely do local buses to explore during the day

2) We'd like to spend 2 to 3 nights in the Mount Etna area and possibly stay in Taormina for part of it. Thinking of renting a car from Catania for this part of our trip. If not, anyone have a tour group they recommend for tours of Mount Etna.

3) We hate to miss Palermo, but realize with only a week you need to make choices. Will there be get similar food markets in Catania to those you find in Palermo.

4) We would not to spend a day sampling wines and wondering which region to target in the areas we plan to visit.

Thanks much for any comments you can provide!

Any thoughts on our new itinerary, we have 9 nights and 10 full days, arriving and departing Palermo, we don’t have a car:

3 nights Cefalu

1 night Erice

2 nights Marettimo

3 nights Favignana

We don’t like overcrowded beaches, enjoy to see the real Sicily and romantic evenings, don’t want to visit the temples, want to be close to the sea.

Many thanks!

We are 2 families - one : 2 adults and 2 children (18,21) and other family: 2 adults with a six year old child who shall be going overland from Sicily to Amalfi Coast in early July 2021. We were considering driving to Messina from Raguza area, take the ferry and drive to Maratea and stop overnight. The next day we shall drive to Sorrento and stay there for a few days. This was our draft itinerary so far.:

DAY 1 :

Drive to Messina - Ferry to Villa San Giovanni, Drive to Maratea and stay Maratea

DAY 2 :

Drive and stop to visit Salerno, then Vietri sul mare, Cetara and finally Sorrento and

stay at Sorrento (accommodation for next few days)

DAY 3 :

Drive and stop to visit Positano and then Praiano and see town centres. Return Sorrento

DAY 4 :

Drive and stop to visit Ravello and Amalfi and see town centres. Return Sorrento

DAY 5 :

Visit Sorrento Centre and Drive to Napoli or Salerno to catch Ferry to Palermo or Messina in the evening- overnight stay on the ferry

DAY 6 :

Arrive Palermo or Messina - depending on the ferry trip and availability. Spend a day in Sicily and end of trip.

Any suggestions please re entire itinerary. Not sure whether we should stop in Maratea or somewhere close - not to have a long way driving and whether to base ourselves at Sorrento. We are also undecided whether to catch the Ferry To Palermo or to Messina?

Please advise

raqdan

i am planning trip to Sicily . 21 Days. First let me say I like to drive and living in Texas I drive 100 miles most days. we fly into Rome Sept24, will drive to Casenza, stay overnight. The next day Cefalu two days, Palermo 3 days, Ragusa 3 days, Sirasua 3 days, Catania 2 days, Taormina 3 days, at the end 3 days in Rome. I have 3 days to fill. I was thinking maybe Messina or somewhere on the return trip. We have been to Amalfi, Sorrento but not Naples. Any suggestions? For those of you that don,t drive this may look crazy. We love seeing the countryside and I find driving a stick shift in Europe fun.

Dear All,

I'm trying to work out the itinerary for our visit to Sicily (travelling with my girlfriend) starting on the 10th of June. We arrive and also end our trip in Aeroporto di Palermo Falcone e Borsellino. I intend to rent a car through Auto Europe as suggested here in the forums. I also read it's best to avoid driving in Palermo and only hiring the car after departing the city. So as I understand we need to take the bus after flying in, and back again after 2-3 days to get the car?

Is the smallest category generally enough (C1, VW Up) for a couple or is it worth spending more (VW Polo, or upwards) for doing a road trip around Sicily?

Could you please help me to allocate the number of days appropriately? We are young, energetic, food and nature-loving people.

What I have in mind currently (open also for other suggestions):

Palermo, city and Monreale with the cathedral

Segesta with the temple, Erice medieval village

Mazzara del Vallo

Agrigento - Valley of Temples

Modica

Capo Passero

Pachino village

Siracusa

Taormina

Etna

Cefalu

Aeolian Islands

Mondello

In case this is too much for this amount of time, what questions should be raised to help with deciding what to skip/replace?

Also, is there any ticket that should be booked online in advance to avoid the crowds?

Thanks for your kind help and input!

My husband and I plan to spend a few days in Sicily next month. We will arrive Catania 13 July. We prefer to finish the whole trip via public transport as parking seems to be difficult in some towns. Our itinerary is as below.

14-16 July Catania to Taormina (we will join a day trip to Etna on 15th)

16-17 July Taormina to Agrigento by bus (SAIS bus service but I think we will have to transfer in Catania?)

17-19 July Agrigento to Scopello. This is a problem as I can't find any info about taking public transport between Agrigento and Scopello? Should I cut Scopello out of this trip and leave more time to Agrigento and Palermo?

19-20 July Scopello-Palermo

Any ideas about this itinerary? The biggest problem is the travel between Agrigento and Scopello. Suggestions are welcome please!