Sicily - Help with our Itinerary!
 

My husband and I are going to Sicily for the first time in early November. We will have 7 nights in Sicily and plan to rent a car. I don't think this will be our
last trip to Sicily, so I don't want to cram too much in; nonetheless, I am torn about how to divide our time. Here are the options I have narrowed it down to - please chime in with your suggestions as I would welcome some advice:

Option 1:
Fly into Palermo
2 Nights in Palermo
Pick up rental car as we leave Palermo
2 Nights in Agrigento, including a day trip to Caltagirone
3 Nights in Ortigia, including day trips to Noto and Modica
Fly out of Catania

Option 2:
Fly into Palermo
2 Nights in Palermo
Pick up rental car as we leave Palermo
1 Night in Agrigento
2 Nights in Noto, including stops in Modica and Caltagirone
2 Nights in Ortigia
Fly out of Catania

Option 3:
Fly into Catania
3 Nights in Ortigia
2 Nights in Agrigento
2 Nights in Noto
Fly out of Catania

I'm leaning toward Option 1 or 2, but again would appreciate your thoughts.
Thank you in advance.

Palermo has two amazing buildings to see the cathedral in Montreale and the Parliament building in Palermo (you can get to the Montreale one by city bus, cheap and as affective as hiring a car which you would have to find a place to park). Those two need a day, then there are a bunch of museums and the market to visit so not going there is crazy. Plan 1 looks best to me.

I don't think that Caltagirone takes a full day, unless you are really into ceramics and shopping. You should include Villa Casale in your itinerary.


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I would select Option 1. Our first visit to Sicily included bases in Palermo and Taormina, and, although it was 10 years or so ago, we found Taorrmina to be a real gem. It is disliked understandably by many Fodorites because of the crowds in season. But we didn't experience that in November. And, we did a day trip by rail to Siracusa/Ortygia from Taormina. We have returned multiple times and seen other parts of Sicily. This fall, we will base ourselves in Ragusa and Ortygia for longer periods.

Some pros and cons for your consideration:

Option 1: A cursory view of a few of Sicily’s major destinations, but not necessarily enough to cover any of them except Agrigento and Caltagirone (which, as Michael said, can be seen in a few hours).

Option 2: Very, very little time for Ortigia / Siracusa and less flexibility if you aren’t enamored of the Baroque Towns.

Option 3: Sufficient time for Ortigia / Siracusa, Agrigento, and Noto (which only takes a few hours / half a day), but skipping a huge proportion of Sicily’s highlights.

Unless you are a serious fan of the Baroque, consider limiting the time you will spend in the Baroque Towns and, as Michael suggested, consider adding the magnificent Villa Romana del Casale.

Hope that helps!

We are returning to the Baroque towns for a longer stay this fall because they seemed so enthralling to us on an earlier glance. Here is a good review of these cities: The baroque towns of the Val di Noto: a walk in Sicily's flamboyant past

Our son was in Ortigia and Noto last November, and they were swimming on Thanksgiving. Lots of choices. All of them great.

I think with only seven nights in Sicily, you will be travelling around too much and spreading yourselves too thin. If you are landing in Palermo, leave from Palermo and stay in the western part of Sicily. This way, travel times are diminished and you can comfortably see Palermo, Monreale, the Temple of Segesta and/or the Selinunte Archaeological Park, Erice, and Trapani, and maybe even take a day trip to one of the Egadi islands. If this won't be your last visit to Sicily, next time, you can fly in and out of Catania and see the eastern part of Sicily.

I agree with much of the advice above, including flying into Palermo rather than Catania, except that I would only visit Taormina for at most one night, while I would spend as much time as possible in Ortygia. I agree that Caltagirone just needs a couple hours, and that if you can possibly add the Villa Casale you should do so.

I am not a fan of baroque, so a day trip just to Noto was more than enough for me, but this is definitely a YMMV issue.

Thank you all for your input and suggestions. I have given it some more thought and have done a bit more research, and am now thinking of an itinerary
that looks like this:

Rome to Palermo - 2 nights in Palermo

Pick up rental car

Drive to Ragusa - 3 nights in Ragusa, with visits to:
-Agrigento
- Caltagirone
- Modica
- Noto

Drive to Ortigia - 2 nights in Ortigia

Fly out of Catania

I think we would enjoy visiting and immersing ourselves in the Baroque hill towns. Does this itinerary make sense?
Thank you in advance!

I think we would enjoy

That would definitely be an itinerary geared to immersing yourself in the Baroque Towns.

Thank you for your comments and assistance. Because of the time of year (second week in November), I decided to skip northwestern Sicily (Trapani, Erice, etc) and save that for a future trip. (We are confident this is not our last trip to Sicily!) I know I am planning an overly ambitious itinerary and am sure we will not get to all of these places this trip, but I like the idea of visiting the Baroque hill towns for more than just a drive-by and I also like the idea of limiting our hotel switches to just 3.
I am assuming the drive from Palermo to Ragusa will take 4.5 hours, not including any stops along the way. Is this a crazy plan?

You said you want to stop in Agrigento? I spent about 7 hours on site (which is vast), plus time in the museum and roaming the town. So for me, stopping en route from anywhere to anywhere would not have worked -- I wanted a night there. YMMV.

It’s been a number of years, but I think we spent about three hours in Agrigento. From Italy Heaven, a good online guide: “To explore both halves of the Valle dei Templi site, with breaks for refreshments, reading background information, dodging tour parties, or visiting the gardens, you should allow at least three hours and try to avoid setting a deadline.”

Yes, you can drive from Palermo to Ragusa in about 4 hours.

If it were me, I would leave Palermo very early, plan on fours hours in Agrigento and an early evening arrival in Ragusa. The other option is using one of your Ragusa days to drive a couple hours each way to Agrigento.

Interesting. According to The Rough Guide to Sicily, which many of us consider the single best resource available on that island, one should plan on a full day for the archeological site and museum. I guess it really depends.

Of course, the Rough Guide (last published two years ago?) is often one person's viewpoint. You can see some of its results on Agrigento at this link: https://www.roughguides.com/destinat...ior/agrigento/ As @kja said YMMV.

Its most recent author, Ros Belford, curiously is being sued by the city of Agrigento under Italy’s lack of our first amendment) libel laws for saying (and this a translation from an Italian news source):

"Government statistics indicate that Agrigento is one of the poorest cities in Italy and it is no surprise to learn that mafia-type attitudes are well established here", and yet the city "has a poor sense of identity". Then he observes: "No danger for tourists only a greater tendency among restaurateurs, compared to the rest of Sicily, to perpetrate small scams such as the addition of price increases for the cover or to present themselves with tastings that you have not ordered and then put them in the account ».

A spokesperson for the city’s restaurants said : "Everyone can commit to do better and more to make Agrigento more beautiful and welcoming, but the city does not correspond at all to how it is described.”

I can't say I see the relevance of the information, but maybe others do. Whatever.

As I said, it took me about 7 hours to visit the site. Others take less time, and I'm sure others take more. Only the OP can decide how to approach the variation in times spent based on how much they want to see Agrigento and how to prioritize it in the context of the rest of planned trip. The OP might want to read some trip reports on this forum to get a better sense for how long different people take.

Perhaps a long day trip to Agrigento from Ragusa would make sense, allowing us time to explore and experience the Valley of the Temples. I am estimating 1.5 hours driving each way - is that about right?
Thank you all for your input - very helpful!

Google shows it as 2 and 1/4 hours; Michelin, which is usually more accurate in Europe, shows it almost 3 hours each way.

Ugh! So maybe what makes more sense is an itinerary that looks like this:

Fly into Palermo
2 nights in Palermo, incl visit to Monreale
1 night in Agrigento
2 nights in Ragusa
2 nights in Ortigia
Fly out of Catania

Thoughts?