I'm taking a side trip from Taormina (Sicily), to Agrigento (Sicily).

The only thing that I want to do in Agrigento is take a walk through and admire the Valley of the Temples.

About how much time should I allow to see all of them.

Thank You.

As I recall, I spent about 4 hours at the site and another hour and a half at the museum. I didn't spend much time in the area near the Tempio di Giove - and one could spend a lot of time walking around that area. Enjoy!

When my parents and I visited last December we arrived around 8:50am. Only walked to the temples east of the roadway and back. Left at around 10:35am.

We did not visit the ruins to the west of the roady, nor did we go the museum.

That 1:45 is about the absolute minimum if you want to say you've been to Agrigento.

in any case the most fantastic archaeological site i've been to in Europe - great venue in fields overlooking the sea.

I don't think you can do it as a day trip from Taormina. Are you thinking of driving? Via Enna? What's your route?

Roads in Sicily are not particularly good. They are winding, two-lane highways that are heavily trafficked by buses, trucks and agricultural vehicles which make for slow going unless you are willing to join the Sicilians in their nerve-wracking willingness to pass on blind turns.

I'm not looking at a map, but have you estimated mileage on your chosen route? Figure you'll only be able to go about 60km per hour on average.

You can spend the night inexpensively in Agrigento, even with a view of the monuments. Try Camera con Vista in Agrigento. I wouldn't try it as a day trip.

Actually, most of the trip can be done on the Messina-to-Catania and Catania-to-Palermo autoroutes. www.mappy.com estimates the time at about 2.5 hours.

Five hours are more than I would want to drive in a day, but it's not all "winding, two-lane highways"...

I know that Messina-to-Catania is a very modern road, and I'm guessing Catania to Palermo is too. Still. I'd put another 45 minutes at least on that estimate.

I would also think time of year is important. Agrigento is pretty treeless. I'd rather tour the monuments in the morning.

Zerlina,

When I look at this map of Sicily, and the see the quality of road once you leave the Catania/Palermo autoroute, I think mappy is wildly optimistic.

http://www.bestofsicily.com/roadmap.htm

That's 78 miles of road of inferior quality to the coastal road, and that coastal road is no great shakes when it comes to making time.

fall06, Those are kilometers, not miles.

So divide by two (roughly) for distance.

That helps somewhet.

I still wouldn't do it, having driven the coastal roads and finding filled with detours, construction, slow moving traffic, etc.

From Taormina to Agrigento, it's 150km on the autostrada, then 70km on secondary roads.

That 150km can be done in about 1:30, if you stay close to 130km/h. That last 70km probably will take over an hour. Add some time just to get down from Taormina proper to the autostrada, and the finding the Valley of the Temples.

I think 2:30 is quite optimistic.

I drove from a bit north of Catania to Agrigento in spring of last year. Most of the road was excellent. It was the easiest driving that I ever experienced in Italy.

I did it as a day trip and, yes, it was long but certainly feasible.

How long was it? And how was the road once you got off the Catania/Palermo highway?

Sorry, I don't remember exactly how long it took or the exact condition of the road. All I can say is that it took a full day and that the road was not as good as the highway (which is excellent) but it was quite good, at least compared to other roads I've driven in Italy (I've driven other parts of Sicily and around Lake Como.) and would without hesitation drive it again. Which is more than I can definitely say about driving around Lake Como!

The roads around Lago di Como is tough, I agree.