Sicily: See it in 10 days

How to spend the perfect 10 days in Sicily

Tip 1: This is a counter-clockwise circuit of Sicily that takes in the island's greatest hits. (Why counter-clockwise? I honestly couldn't tell you. It just seems to work out best that way. On my last visit I tried, just for an experiment, to do it the other way around and my timing was off the entire trip.)

Schedule at a glance
Day 1 - Palermo
Day 2 - Palermo
Day 3 - Monreale, Segesta, Erice
Day 4- Marsala, Mozia, Selinute, Agrigento
Day 5 - Agrigento, [Piazza Armerina or Caltagirone or Ragusa], Siracusa
Day 6 - Siracusa
Day 7 - [Noto or Etna], Taormina
Day 8 - Taormina, Cefalù
Day 9 - Cefalù, Palermo
Day 10 - HomeNow that so many low-cost airlines can fly you direct from many Italian and European cities into Palermo (in the case of Eurofly, you can even fly direct from New York), this trip starts in Palermo.

However, if you're arriving the old-fashioned way—via train and the Straits of Messina—you could just as easily start this tour in Cefalù, proceed to Palermo from there, and just keep going around.

Or you could fly into Catania, grab a rental car there, and head up the coast to start in Taormina, continuing around and ending in Siracusa.

It really works any way you slice it. (Just don't try it clockwise.)

Tip 2: Sicily is best explored by car—trains are often slow and frequently require connections, and many towns are serviced only by infrequent buses. That said, Palermo is one of my least favorite Italian cities in which to drive.

Don't forget to pay attention to the "Before you Leave Home " box at the end of the itinerary covering all the details you need to take care of before leaving home—and be sure to read the "Foolish Assumptions" page about how these itineraries work along with more time-planning tips.Best advice: If you're arriving by air, head into Palermo using public transportation, see the city, and then pick up a rental car on your way out of town.

If you arrive by train from the Italian mainland, and starting in Cefalù, there is excellent train service from there on to Palermo, so I would do that and wait to pick up the car until you're ready to leave Palermo.

Trivia
This is the actual itinerary I drew up for Arthur Frommer when he took his first trip to Sicily. So, yeah: I put a lot of thought into this one!Bonus: not only will this save you the aggravation of driving, it will also save you a lot of money (fewer rental days, no pricey gas to buy, no cost to garage it in Palermo, etc.).

DAY 1 - PALERMO

DAY 2 - PALERMO

DAY 3 - PALERMO TO ERICE

DAY 4 - ERICE TO AGRIGENTO

DAY 5 - AGRIGENTO TO SIRACUSA

DAY 6 - SIRACUSA

DAY 7 - SIRACUSA TO TAORMINA

DAY 8 - TAORMINA TO CEFALù

DAY 9 - CEFALù TO PALERMO

Before you leave home:
 Book plane tickets
 Book hotels
 Check train times
 Learn more about Italy
 Practice your Italian

Day 10: PALERMO TO HOME

Tips & links

Details

Hotels in Sicily
www.booking.com
www.hostelworld.com

Don't overplan

I will freely admit to being as guilty as anyone of this, but: Please try not to overplan your trip to Italy. That's a two-fold plea:

  1. Plan everything, but don't feel compelled to stick to the plan. I think it's a fine idea to work out all the details of what you plan to do—if nor no other reason than it will help you get a handle of what you are able to get done, and start making the hard choices of what you have time for and what you should leave for the next trip to Italy. (Always assume you will retrun!)

    But then do not book absolutely every second in advance (that leaves no room to adjust things as you go to accommodate changing interests, sudden festivals, or unexpected invitations), and please do not attempt to stick to the schedule if it turns out to be overly ambitious and startrs making you miserable.

    Rememeber Clark W. Griswold, the Chevy Chase dad in the Vacation movies, always bound and detemrined to get to WallyWorld come hell or dead aunties? Yeah, don't be that guy. No one in that family was having any fun.
  2. Don't try to pack too much in. A vacation is not meant to be all about checking sights off a list or dashing from place to place to fit in as much as humanly possible. It's about enjoying yourself.

    So do that. Enjoy yourself. Take a hint from the Italian concept of la bel far' niente—the beauty of doing nothing—and take a break from the sightseeing every once in a while.

    Leave some time to stop and sip the cappuccino.
Useful links
  • Car resources
  • Emergency service/tow: tel. 803-116
  • Highway agency: Autostrade.it (traffic info, serivce areas, toll calculator, weather)
  • Italian automotive club (~AAA): Aci.it
  • ZTLs: Ztl-italia.blogspot.com (lightly outdated, but handy, links to cities' traffic-free zones)

Lodging: Booking.com, Bedandbreakfast.com, Airbnb.com, Rentalo.com, Vrbo.com, Belvilla.com, Hostelworld.com, Hostelbookers.com, Couchsurfing.com, Homeexchange.com

Packages: SelectItaly.com, Gotoday.com, Orbitz.com, Expedia.com, Travelocity.com

Maps & guides: Amazon.com, Maps.google.com, Tuttocitta.it

Consider a tour

I'm all for planning your own trip‚ and this website is set up to help you do just that—but some people might just as well prefer to leave all the planning, logistics, transportation, lodging, and gathering of information to the professionals and simply sign up with a guided tour.

Nothing wrong with that. Just take my advice and choose a tour that emphasizes small groups over large crowds, local transport over big tour buses, and fun cultural experiences over sightseeing checklists. You'll have a better time, and probably spend less for it. Here are a few of my favorite tour companies who emphasize just that.

1-5 days

1-2 weeks

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