Driving in Sicily
 

We are planning a trip to Sicily. My husband was stressed out by driving in northern Italy before. Is Sicily that bad? Or worse?

Alternately, what is public transportation like in Sicily?

Our tentative itinerary is

Fly into Palermo; spend a night not too far from the airport, maybe Monreale or Cefalu

3 nights in Enna, with daytrips to Agrigento and Piazza Armerina

2 or 3 nights in Ortigia

3 nights in Taormina or vicinity

Fly out of Catania

Any comments on this itinerary also welcome.

TIA

The area that we find the most stressful driving in Sicily is Palermo, especially at rush hour. It is pretty hectic and chaotic! Other than that Sicily is actually pretty easy. I have not used public transport in Sicily so am afraid I cannot comment on that.

Cefalu is fantastic - worth at least one or a few nights. Monreale Cathedral is gorgeous! I like your day trips.

Three nights in Taormina to me would be too much. In my opinion it is highly overrated - very pretty, yes, but very resort-ish. If I were to go there again (probably would not choose to) I would do just a day trip.

Have you looked into Erice? It is a gorgeous ancient little town (touristy, yes, but so worthwhile).

Here is my report for our 15 days in Sicily in 2005 that may help:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34620334

In answer to your question about driving in Sicilia:

It's hair-raising.

Driving in Northern Italy is like driving in Minnesota compared with driving in Sicily.

In Sicily, drivers -- male, female, old, young -- don't look when they enter intersections. If they did, they might feel obliged to stop or move out of the way of your fast-moving car. The rule of the road is "If I see you, I have to stop, so I don't look." Your husband will find himself slamming on brakes and taking sudden evasive maneuvers a lot.

Sicilians will cross the double line to pass other vehicles on blind curves, bridges, and other standard no-nos. It's bad enough when they are in front of you risking a pile up or zooming up behind and swerving around you to cut you off. It is terrifying when they are coming straight at you, in your lane, with a truck or bus to the right of them.

I live in Italy. They only place I have happened upon fresh accidents -- cars and double-rig trucks spun out over the highway -- is in Sicilia. More than once in a one-week trip.

How is public transportation? I don't know. Never tried it in Sicilia, and wouldn't. The sites are too spread out. That said, I would never drive in Palermo. Ever. Or probably Catania. I would prefer to park somewhere outside super-touristy Taormina and drive in solely for a day trip.

As for comments on your itinerary, it puzzles me. What is in Enna that makes you want to spend 3 nights there? Taormina is incredibly touristy. It drove me crazy to be there for one night. I couldn't take three -- although the Greek theatre there is unique, specatacular and certainly a rewarding day trip.

The mosaics of Monreale are lovely, but the town is awful, and it is not near the airport. Are you thinking of Mondello (a dirty suburban beach town.)

Cefalu is not on the airport side of Palermo. (I've never been.)

Sicilia is a fascinating place with beautiful and important sites, great food and lots of pleasant surprises. You might be able to tailor a rewarding trip with help from Fodorites if you posted a bit about what made you pick Sicilia as a destination, and what other parts of Italia you've seen.

PS: I should add that as soon as I can make time, I plan to visit Sicilia again, probably for a week, and will drive everywhere but Palermo. But I wanted to be honest about the driving difficulties. I put up with them, but I'm quite used to driving in Italy by this time.

Hi Mimar,

I drove in northern Italy (around Lake Como) and drove around eastern Sicily (never made it to Palermo).

I didn't find driving to be any worse in Sicily than in northern Italy.

Of course, that's not to say that Sicilians were great drivers, just that northern Italians were just as crazy.

Put it this way - I hardly ever swear. But I swore more while driving in Italy for two weeks (one week in northern Italy and one week in Sicily) than I typically swear in two years.

On the plus side, the major highways in Sicily are well designed & easy to drive.

There really isn't much in the way of public transportation in Sicily.

The road around Lago di Como is not one I would like to drive either.

And some of the roads in Sicily are nice highways. Many are not.

Where did your husband get stressed out in northern Italy?

I don't want to put myself too much at odds with Shanti's experience, but since I live in Italy, and have driven more than a week there, there really is a noticeable difference between the driving culture of Sicilia and northern Italy.

In fact, when I rented my car at the Catania airport, the women at the rental desk who handed me the keys asked: 'You heard, I hope, that people here drive a little crazy, right?"

Thanks to all who reponded.

Expanding on my original post:

Now that I think about it, other than a memorably profanity-laced search for a gas station in central Rome (just before returning a rental car at the Stazione Termini), the driving problems for my husband in Northern Italy were restricted to the week we spent at a villa in the hills north of Florence. We made numerous trips up and down the twisty mountain roads, saw lots of speeding and passing on blind curves. We've done plenty more driving in the north with no problems at all.

Over the years I've made notes about recommended places/sites to see in Sicily. We like to stay for a while in one spot and make daytrips. Enna, which was recommended by somebody, looks to be within daytrip distance of Agrigento and Piazza Armerina.

As for Taormina, one day is to see the sights and one day for relaxation.

(Once upon a time, we'd put several days of rest at one stop in the middle of our trip. A vacation from our vacation. But we'd get bored. Now we stick in the odd day here and there at what looks like a relaxing location.)

Really enjoyed your trip report, Bob. Thanks for the link.

We took a package of sorts to Sicily in 2001. The company we booked with recommended flying in to Catania for Cefalu in order to avoid the traffic in Palermo even though Palermo is much closer.
It was an easy drive-just under two hours I think on very empty roads. It gave us time to notice how many black mercs there were! Seriously!

I drove for 2 weeks in Sicily in 2005. It was quite "Hairy". I have drive in the lakes region and in Tuscany and Campania, and would say I enjoyed Sicily the least.

What marks it out as different, in my opinion, is the aggression. Through Palermo it is almost as though other drivers are looking for a sign of weakness. The worst road in my experience was that between Syracuse and Catania - much of it has a 50 or 70km/h limit, but it was being driven at 120-150km/h (and that was just the trucks). Lane markings meant very little.

Palermo, Monreale, Cefalu - all are doable by public transport - As is Ortygia. Getting to Piazza Armerinia may be more difficult.

I wrote up a trip report at http://www.microbes.plus.com/sicily2005.htm

Hi, Mimar -

I didn't drive in northern Italy, but did drive a bit in Sicily and - as others say - it can be nerve-wracking! I found it helpful to be extremely defensive as a driver, making sure to pull well to the right or even pull off the road to let others pass.

It doesn't sound like you plan to spend much time in Palermo. You might want to consider adding a night there and cuttine one from Taormina.

Hope that helps!

I beg to differ, at least partly. I've driven extensively in almost every region of Italy, and I'll never understand what should be scary about it, in general. Italians are Europe's best drivers. Driving in Germany is EXTREMELY scary since Germans are mad, mad, mad on the road. Driving in Hungary is scary. Driving in Greece is sometimes scary (mostly not). Driving in Turkey can be quite scary, too. Driving in Austria is very scary. Driving in France might be scary for slow drivers (I'm a fast driver, so I love it). Driving in Italy is mostly pure joy. Drivers are quick, intelligent, considerate. Who called them aggressive has obviously never driven in Germany nor Austria!!! (Nor in France.) To sum it up, my favourite thing to do with a car is driving around Rome. Great experience!
That said, there are two exceptions - not too grave, but not pleasant either. One is north Italian superhighways, where quite many testosterone-driven drivers with big cars keep tailgating everybody going at less than 160 km/h on the left lane. (My habit is to just softly touch the brake pedal while firmly pushing the accelerator, thus without slowing down - just making the brake light flash. Don't forget to look into the mirror to watch the one behind you startle, brake, and learn.) The second exception is, sorry Mimar, Sicily. Yes, they are a little crazy there. Not really aggressive IMO (at least, not compared to Germans or Austrians), but definitely somewhat crazy. And I must admit that the one and only place in Italy where I thought the local driving habits were too much for me was - no, not Palermo: but Siracusa. Not a really big city, but what an unspeakable traffic, where all seemed to agree that the sense of traffic rules was only to break them.

Ditto all the posters who describe driving in Sicily as "hairy, aggressive, scary" etc. We have driven all over Europe including Italy from Como to Amalfi and never have we encountered such rude and aggressive driving as we did in Sicily. Just be super alert at all times and expect the unexpected.

We spent 2 days and 3 nights in Taormina and felt that was one day too many. We enjoyed Ortigia -- stayed 2 nights.

If your husband is too stressed out to consider driving, you might look into tours out of Palermo or Catania.

Thanks to all who replied.

Well, looks like I'll be looking for a tour. Just inquired at Overseas Adventure Travel. Seems they've canceled all their 2009 trips to Europe!

Mimar -- check Patty's Places www.pattysplaces.com. A friend of mine took this tour of Sicily and loved it. She said the tour was really great. Because our friend was so enthusiastic about Sicily, we decided to go and, frankly, I wish we had gone on a tour.

Mimar - please stop claiming that OAT has canceled all their European trips for 2009. This is untrue. They have only canceled their land trips - the river and small ship trips have not been canceled. You are misleading people.

Well, sorry, if I was overstating the case about OAT. I only know what they told me on the phone. And, on the phone, the woman told me all Europe trips.

I wrote a report on this forum recently- Sicily with Go Ahead Tours-you can check it out-this is a tour of Sicily only which they run regularly. One thing I didn't stress in the report is that the Norman Palace in Palermo is spectacular- it had just reopened after a renovation which was paid for by a German billionaire. Also we loved Taormina because we were ready to relax after a week of tours.

We have been to Sicily several times and drove a lot in the rest of Italy and in my opinion driving in Sicily is not scary whatsoever!

I've posted a message on another thread but will repeat what I've written there: I should only avoid driving in Palermo and Catania. The only thing is that if you visit the East part of Sicily in high season, driving can get a bit stressy if you're not used to it.

A good alternative is visiting the other side of the island (area Palermo - Trapani) which is not crowded whatsoever and driving is no worse than in many other countries. From there you can take a one day or two day trip to see Mount Etna and Taormina. Another advantage: prices for holiday homes, lunches, dinners and tourist attractions are a lot lower than on the other side of the island!

I'm another one who doesn't think it's difficult.

We've visited Sicily three times for 2-3 weeks at a time, sometimes driving & sometimes not. We've found driving outwith the towns very easy (especially compared to the UK) - the roads were good and quite empty. In towns, as in towns everwhere in Europe, it's a bit more stressful; and we did drop off the car as soon as we arrived in Palermo. But we found even Taormina, with its very narrow streets, was not too bad once we realised that the one way system meant we could only go one way and all the hotels were signposted.

Aren't you planning on staying in Palermo at all ? We think it's fantastic, spent a week there, found so much to do we never even made it to Monreale and would love to go back.

I also love Taormina and have included several days there in each trip (including our honeymoon). Yes it's touristy but in a good way - it's incredibly beautiful, full of flowers and has lots of nice restaurants. I actually find it more relaxing than most Italian towns since the main drag and the little alleys off it are more or less car-free, due to the slope.

If I only had 8/9 nights, I'd spend half in Palermo and half in Taormina - or at a push, 1/3 each in Palermo, Siracusa and Taormina.

The only place I haven't liked is Cefalu.

As I look at your trip plans, you are not planning to go to western Sicily. If that is the case, you can use the city to city train for travel from Palermo to Syracuse and take bus day trips to Agrigento and Piazza Armerina from Syracuse. The train stops at all the locations you are interested in seeing in eastern Sicily. You will be happy you don't have a car in most eastern locations. Parking is a nightmare. My husband drove in western and southern Sicily. We turned in the car in Syracuse. The driving in Sicily is challenging. It is as bad as northern Italy. Traveling by train was much more relaxing. Have a great trip. Sicily is wonderful, and the food is heavenly.

So, it sounds like the drivers are crazy. Of course, driving in the cities is not a good idea, but when you are driving from one destination to the next - what are the roads like? Are they flat? Are they in good condition? Or, at times are the roads along cliffs (like in Santorini or Crete)?

As I said before -

We've found driving outwith the towns very easy (especially compared to the UK) - the roads were good and quite empty.

I agree with Caroline. I am a pretty squeamish driver and we had no trouble driving in Sicily. Leaving Palermo we encountered the usual maze of one way streets and had the same problem entering Ortygia. Other than that, we found the roads pretty empty and the driving far easier than we had imagined. We drove from Palermo to Agrigento, and on to Siracusa and Taormina where we left the car. VERY easy.

great, thanks!

No cliffs, but Sicily is a hilly island, so the roads are definitely not all flat. Most are in very good condition and outside the towns, they are generally pretty wide. Much wider than one may find in Amalfi Coast, Southwest England or parts of Ireland, for example.

If Palermo is uniquely bad for driving, I presume one could just not use the car in Palermo? Or pick up the rental car on your way out of the city. Is there anywhere to park outside the city and take public transportation or a cab into the city?

Mimar, I have not driven in Sicily so I cannot offer advice on that matter. If you folks do decide to take a tour, I suggest looking into INSIGHT'S SICILY & MALTA tour. Looks great to me. I have not taken it but have gone on several other European junkets with Insight and have found their offerings most satifactory, especially the hotels. I have also been looking at STAY AND VISIT tours to Sicily which look promising although I have no direct experience with them.

In any case, enjoy Sicily!

Is it incredibly difficult to get an automatic transmission car in Sicily? Or, just incredibly expensive? Thanks.

Sally30 :

Last October we rented a car for 6 days, dropped it in Cefalu and took the train to Palermo (45 minutes away).

We dropped our car when we got to Palermo. We had planned to drop our bags at our hotel then drive to the car hire office which wasn't far away, but the hotel offered to take the car back for us and we gratefully agreed ! Having said, that, it's the same as driving in any big, busy city with which one is unfamiliar. (And on the 'wrong' side of the road, for us.)

Tengohambre, I think I picked up an automatic in the Catania airport.

Sally30,

Yes. One thing you can do is use the airport drop-off and take public transportation from there into Palermo.

I do think Palermo is the worst, but the Sicilian way of driving really does a greater amount of assumption that the other driver is prepared to make room for the fastest car on the road. So it gets quite aggressive on open roads. In urban congestion, it's just every man for himself, but since what we're most often talking about is gridlock, all you are going to risk is a fender-bender. That's not the problem.

Also, I tend to be somebody who uses a car when traveling to almost literally "go off the map." I tend to just plunge into the countryside. I'm used to dealing with bad roads in Italy. What I wasn't used to in Sicily was the number of drivers who entered onto roadways (from side roads or gas stations) without stopping to see if there was oncoming traffic. I never quite got used to it the whole time I was there.

I lived in Sicily for a few years, not far from Palermo. The driving is very erratic. Hardly anyone stops at junctions and the parking has to be seen to be believed. You need to be an assertive driver to cope. I found that Panda drivers were the worst, so look out!!!

PS Vis-a-vis not stopping at junctions, the reverse is true on roundabouts where drivers often stop midway despite having right of way!!