Hi everybody!<BR><BR>I am planning a trip to Sicily, and I would really appreciate some info regarding driving on the island. I am considering spending five days in Taormina and making it my home base for Sicily day-tripping. Are day trips from Taormina to Palermo and Agrigento do-able? Does anybody know the approximate drive-times? Thanks for any feedback on this topic.

In doing research for my upcoming trip to Sicily, I have found viamichelin.com great to estimate miles/distance. <BR><BR>The feedback that I have received is that it is not really all that desirable to have a car in Taormina, and Palermo is supposed to be even worse. Driving from Taormina to Palermo sounds like it could be a hair-raising experience. It depends where your hotel is in Taormina as well, and also do they have parking?<BR><BR>From Taormina to Agrigento would probably be a very long day, you may want to try and do an organized tour of some sort. I am sure GAC will respond to your post, he has provided a website where you can look at organized tours &amp; prices.<BR><BR>For my 11 night trip I will be staying in Palermo 3 nights, Sciacca 4 nights, and Taormina 4 nights. That way, no day trip is really too long. I am also only having a car for the Sciacca leg of it because I will be doing day trips to Agrigento &amp; Selinunte from there.<BR><BR>Good luck!

A day trip from Taormina to Palermo is doable, but quite taxing. Expect driving time to be at least six hours round trip. Furthermore, there will not be a great deal of time to appreciate all that Palermo has to offer. If you are determined to do this, you might seriously consider taking the organized bus day trip offered by Compagnia Siciliana Turismo, and avoid the six hours of driving yourself:<BR><BR>www.compagniasicilianaturismo.it< BR><BR>The same is true for Agrigento: at least six hours driving round trip. CST also offers an organized bus day trip to Agrigento which stops as well at Piazza Armerinaa-Roman Villa of Casale.<BR><BR>The bus tours to Palermo and Agrigento are offered only once a week, so your need to plan accordingly. Also, the tours are subject to cancellation for lack of paying passengers (most likely during off-season).

In doing research for my upcoming trip to Sicily, I have found viamichelin.com great to estimate miles/distance. <BR><BR>The feedback that I have received is that it is not really all that desirable to have a car in Taormina, and Palermo is supposed to be even worse. Driving from Taormina to Palermo sounds like it could be a hair-raising experience. It depends where your hotel is in Taormina as well, and also do they have parking?<BR><BR>From Taormina to Agrigento would probably be a very long day, you may want to try and do an organized tour of some sort. I am sure GAC will respond to your post, he has provided a website where you can look at organized tours & prices.<BR><BR>For my 11 night trip I will be staying in Palermo 3 nights, Sciacca 4 nights, and Taormina 4 nights. That way, no day trip is really too long. I am also only having a car for the Sciacca leg of it because I will be doing day trips to Agrigento & Selinunte from there.<BR><BR>Good luck!

Thanks so much for the responses. Looks like I'll have to re-think my plan.

Dear Sciences - Having a car in Sicily is a Jekyll &amp; Hyde story. Outside the major cities, the roads are well maintained and the major highways will remind you of any four-lane freeway in the U.S. The downside is, driving in the major cities is a nightmare and parking is near impossible. Whatever stories you've heard about driving in Rome or Paris are child's play compared to driving in Palermo. I would arrange your trip so you tour Palermo and Taormina via public transit or taxi and save the rental car for your countryside adventures, which should be very pleasant. Hope that's some help.

Sicily driving, my .02<BR><BR>Can't help you with information on Taormina, but in April 2002, we drove around Palermo and western Sicily for 7 days. We were married in Palermo so we did quite a bit of city driving and also drove back into the city each night from our day trips. <BR><BR>If you're confident with driving in different situations, you'll find that cars are very useful in Sicily. There are busy times in Palermo, but mostly you can get around. Outside the cities, the roads are easy going. <BR><BR>Finding street parking in Palermo better earlier in the evening rather than later. Similar to Chicago's neighoobhoods, you might have to drive around and around farther and farther from your hotel looking for a spot or you could use one of the many parking garages.<BR><BR>One bizarre driving aspect we noticed was accelerating into the intersections. Mostly seen on smaller side streets, an example would be a car driving pretty fast into the intersection and playing a bit of chicken with other cars approaching. Usually someone backs down, but sometimes you'll see an accident. <BR><BR>If you move cautiously into the intersection, you shouldn't have any trouble. We've seen this more on the side streets, main roads have a more &quot;rules&quot;, but sometimes I'm not sure what they are.<BR><BR>In some countries, &quot;crazy&quot; driving is almost &quot;safer&quot;. If everyone is so scared of what will happen, you'll find the drivers are paying much more attention to the road. Not sure if this is true in Italy.<BR><BR>In Viet Nam, the rule is to only look ahead, never ever behind you. A glance behind will almost certainly put you into the rear of the moto ahead.<BR><BR>This style works pretty well. When someone cuts you off, you move and cut off the person behind you and so on. I've often joked that you could go through a round-a-bout in Viet Nam blindfolded and not have an accident. The drivers are paying that much attention to the road.<BR><BR>In the states it's so much the opposite. The last thing people are thinking about is the road.<BR><BR>If you can, I'd get the car, especially if you want to get out of town. <BR>

Wow. Thank you for the feedback. You have all been so informative. Many of you are describing such detailed and well...longer trips. You are giving me great ideas and making me wish I could stay longer than five days. Actually, I am thinking of adding three days in Malta. Have you been there? What do you think about dividing my time in that fashion?

I've also been to Malta and enjoyed it, but for your limited time, if you wanted to add an island atmosphere, I'd make it Lipari -- much closer and easier.

I've been to Sicily three times for more than 5 days at a time and still feel like I have not seen everything. Why would you want to spend half of your time on another island? We've spent 5 days in Palermo alone and can't get enough of that city. As to your driving question--driving in Sicily was the easiest of all of Italy, except for Palermo which was very well described by scubatv. My husband manages well, though, perhaps because he drove military transport in Vietnam.

Hi,<BR>I don't know what everyone is talking about, but I just returned from 4 days in Sicily and did the exact plan that Sciences wants to do.<BR>We arrived in Palermo, looked around for 2 days, then took the rental car through the island to Taormina. Rather than take the coast, we took a more direct route of a straight line. The drive was absolutly beautiful and amazing. Green rolling hills, cows, an occasional farm, an occasional car, just the perfect 2 and a half hour trip. You can and really should do it. There is a major highway (2 lanes in each direction) that will bring you there. There is only one, and your car or hotel people will tell you where to catch it.<BR>After spending New Year's 2003 in Taormina, we packed up, and went back to Palermo (2 days later) to come home to Milan. Super easy and highly reccommended. <BR>Driving in the cities is a little more difficult, but in Taormina, you park the car and go everywhere on foot anyway. <BR>Good luck

Last Spring we used a car in Sicily for two weeks. We did not pick up the car until we had toured Palermo. Do not take a car into the city. The rest of Sicily was wonderful, though we did get lost in the cities and towns. Getting lost was half the fun. <BR> We stayed on the out skirts of Taomina and used the bus to go into town, that worked for us.<BR> Sicily so beautiful in the Spring with the mountains full of flowers. The archaeology ruins are just spectacular and are every where.<BR> They have good roads and the distances are not far. <BR> Agrigento should be seen both in the day and at night. The ruins are lighted at night and are something not to be missed.

We're renting a car for 2 weeks. Most people have said not to drive in Palermo. Does anyone have a suggestion as where to stay outside Palermo and take public transportation into the city?

We used Emilio Terrazzino as a guide and driver for a week in Sicily last April. The cost was comparable to renting a car. He is an American, living in Agrigento, so he knows American customs and speaks Italian. He was great at getting directions!!!<BR>[email protected]