Taormina to Palermo
 

Does anyone know how long it takes to drive from Taormina to Palermo? Or more specifically the airport to return a car?

About three hours if using the Catania/Enna/Palermo route. It may be a little less going the Messina/Palermo route on the newly opened autostrada.

FYI, you can also travel by bus in about 3 hrs., 45 minutes, with a bus change in central Catania. Service is roughly hourly during the summer, slightly less frequently in winter.

www.interbus.it (Taormina to Catania)
www.saisautolinee (Catania to Palermo)

The closest airport to Taormina is CATANIA and not Palermo.

thankyou-
we are renting a car (in late sept) from Palermo and driving around the perimiter of sicily in about 5 nights.
i'm thinking of staying the night in Palermo/Monreale area, Agrigento, Syracuse, and 2 in Taormina. then we return the car and take a ferry to naples.
Any other good HINTS?

It would be a good itinerary if you had 2-3 weeks !! You won't have time to see anything except for your one day in Taormina when you are not packing/driving/unpacking. Are you sure this is really how you want to do it ? Have you already booked your flights to Palermo ? Given only 5 nights, I'd either stay the whole time in Palermo or fly into Catania & stay the whole time in Taormina, and forget the car.

i have given this a lot of thought.
seeing how Sicily in no bigger than Vermont i figured it was very feasable.
Out plan was to wake up each day leave the hotel and drive to the next hotel w/ tourist stops on the way. ie...
see segesta from Palermo to Agrigento. Wake up,
leave the hotel,
see Valley of the Temples
and drive to Syracuse,
Sleep.
Wake up,
Do syracuse
drive to Taormina
Sleep.
etc...
i appreciate the concern and appreciate anymore comments on the subject.
kim

Well, chacun a son gout...

But, for example, I'd say it takes a whole day to see the archaeological park in Siracusa; plus there are the other 'must-sees' (IMHO) of a tour of the catcombs and walking all around the island of Ortygia, seeing the duomo etc.

And we spent an entire week in Palermo & still didn't see it all - we never even went to Monreale.

Interesting discussion as I'm also trying to decide how long to stay in Sicily. Only I'm trying to decide between 2 weeks versus 3 weeks. I certainly wouldn't want to do it in 5 days (but kim has a point about how large it is) but I'm wondering if 3 weeks is too much, given that I don't want to lounge by a pool or beach. Any thoughts.

Isabel, not to hijack Kimberlina01's thread but, I'd say you could easily fill 3 weeks in Sicily. Branch out, spend a few days hopping the Aeolian Islands or just say in Sicily. If you have a car you will be busy the entire time. Check out Insight Guide to Sicily. That was always my favorite guidebook for Sicily. Spend a day or two at Gangivecchio and take a private cooking class, taste wine in marsala, see palermo and monreale, The market and elephant square in Catania, etc. Believe me 2 weeks is good, but 3 is great! If you got bored you could always take the ferry over to the mainland.

Your mind is made up and to each his own. But I'd be curious how you feel about Sicily after you return. I'm guessing you will say, "I have no desire to return to Sicily. We went there and didn't find it to be much". You can't BEGIN to see or experience the island in two days of driving.

The comparison of Sicily to Vermont is interesting. They may be similar in size, but any other similarities between them totally escape me. I know of no major ruins or sites in all of Vermont that require a full day's worth of sightseeing. Even Ben and Jerry's (I recently read it was the number one tourist attraction in Vermont) can be thoroughly covered in an hour.

I may get some bad comments for saying this, but I think that 5 days would give you an idea of what Sicily is like and if you want to see more you can return one day. If you are not lounging around the pool or beach I think that your plan is a good one, wake up drive and sightsee, sleep, repeat.I found the driving to be very fast from place to place. Yes, there are endless Greek ruins,and they have survived many many thousands of years, but quite frankly, at the end of my 3 weeks on Sicily, I couldn't wait to leave, and two years later I still feel that I have seen enough of them and have no desire to return. For me, it was too much of the same.

well you have all given me something to think about.
1. i was only comparing Sicily to Vermont in size. I would never think anything else.
2. 5 days is all i have. I will only be in italy for 2 weeks. I also plan on spending time in Rome and Amalfi too. Of course i would love to spend more time but i dont have it.
I wanted to know if the driving times were feasable. I know i wont be seeing EVERYTHING but i will get the gist of it. With the price of car rentals i am now thinking of just spending 2 days in Palermo and 3 in Taormina w/ day trips out to the other stuff. Although i think i will see even less this way.

I think that your driving times are feasable, it's very easy quick driving outside of the cities. Here is my suggestion for your 5 days...2 Palermo seeing the sights in Palermo/Monreale,train or car over to the east coast and see Taormina/Syracusa/Mt Edna and anything else you could squeeze in, 1 night Agrigento and then back to Palermo to drop off the car any fly to the next stop. For such a limited time I would skip the west coast.

Fly into Palermo, stay 3 nights. Stay in Taormina for 2 nights and fly out of Catania. Sicily is to be savored, not done as a drive-by.

thankyou guys-
yes, i would love to "savor" sicily. i am actually looking foward to it more than Rome. It is very overwelming.
Im jusst thinking that in a car i might see/experience more than in a train or having to rely on time tables etc...
i think i will concentrate on the east like susanna sugested.
What really funny and i know I'll get crap for saying this but I am not really that interested in Palermo. Except for the Duomo in Monreale, nothing really peaks my interest. I would rather save that city for the last squeeze. Im DEFINITLY into all the greek stuff. And i probably won't be spending anytime at the beaches givin I live in Ft Lauderdale.
If anyone can convince me otherwise, please do.

x