Our 12 Day Sicily Road Trip Itinerary 

Sicily has to be one of my favourite places I’ve ever visited. For a relatively small island it has such a varied landscape, and whilst you can easily enjoy short weekends in Palermo or Ortigia, the best way to see it is by car. If you’re planning a trip, hopefully our 12 day Sicily road trip itinerary, from where we stayed, to what we visited, and where we went will come in handy planning your own adventure!

The general outline of our trip was planned for us by Original Travel, who I can 100% recommend if you’re planning a trip somewhere but you don’t know where to start. With a bit of back-and-forth about how long we wanted to go for, what we wanted to spend and what sort of activities we enjoyed they sorted out put flights, hotels, car hire and private tours for us, but left plenty of time (with a few suggestions from them) for us to also do our own thing, which meant I also planned a few of the below activities and destinations, as well as everywhere we ate. They also provide you with an in-country concierge at the end of WhatsApp, and Heloise was fantastic also helping out with the parts of the trip I’d planned myself but needed a little extra assistance with, for example booking us restaurants where I could not book online, and obviously as I also don’t speak Italian calling the restaurant also would not have helped! Even if you’re a massive planner like me, let them build you a trip that you can embellish, taking the parts of the admin from you that you find stressful. I know my parents will be using them again for general travel, and I will for destinations where I think a little extra help would be useful like the Thailand trip we keep talking about and never planning!

Day 1: Arrive in Palermo

You can fly into Palermo from London Gatwick via EasyJet, and London Stansted via Ryanair. It’s a 30-45 minute transfer into the heart of Palermo, and if you take one of the flights that leave at a reasonable hour (aka after 6am) by the time you get your bags dropped at your hotel (we stayed at Palazzo Planeta, which I found a bit dark, but which you should book if the penthouse with it’s own private roof terrace which we really enjoyed is available!) it will be time for a late lunch.

There are plenty of different food options in my full Palermo guide, but I’d recommend for something light heading to Farinelli on Via Maqueda for a few chickpea fritters (a delicious local speciality), mini arancini and spritz, or to Mercato Ballaro for some street food. Depending on the time (and how hungry you are) take a leisurely walk around the middle of the city or down by the port to get your bearings, and either hand a proper dinner later or dip into some more apero and street food options a bit later on.

Day 2: Palermo Walking Tour & Exploring the City

Spend the morning really getting to know Palermo with a walking tour. Ambra (who you can book here – please do, she’s brilliant!) spent 4 hours taking us through the history of Palermo and it’s key locations, including the cathedral, before a walk through Mercato Ballaro at the end.

For lunch, head to Salamino Pane & Vino for wine or spritz in the shade along with some bruschetta topped with mortadella, pistachio pesto, burrata and fresh tomatoes, or a pinsa (a type of Roman flatbread) topped with the same to share, before heading to Chiesa e Monastero di Santa Caterina d’Alessandria to explore the stunning frescos, take in the view from the roof, and if the queue is not too long enjoy a couple of Sicilian pastries made to historic recipes from the bakery.

If you did not go there the night before (or you don’t have a table booked for the next night, because you do need to book!) head to Seven Restaurant on top of the Hotel Ambasciatori to take in the sunset views over Palermo with a cocktail before enjoying their fantastic modern-Sicilian menu.

Day 3: Palazzo dei Normanni, Palatine Chapel & Boat Trip

Get up as early as you can muster to be at Palazzo dei Normanni as it opens at 8:30am to beat what will become epic queues, especially if you’re visiting in high season. Tickets cost €19.00, and it will be worth the early start, especially if you head to the Palatine Chapel on the first floor as soon as you arrive; we were lucky to only have to queue for half an hour (about 10am on a Monday in May) to see the stunning Byzantine mosaic interiors of the Palatine Chapel, and then the palace apartments (note on Tuesday-Thursday the regional Parliament sits in the apartments so you’ll get a cheaper entry ticket… but you also won’t be able to explore them!) on the floor above. However, don’t stress if if you don’t make it or you have something else planned in the morning, as I’ve got another stunning, similar church for you on the way out of Palermo, though I promise you’ll be happy to do both.

Book a boat trip for the afternoon, and head along the coast both to admire the coastline with a glass of local white wine in hand, and to drop anchor somewhere where you can take a dip in the Mediterranean. This is the boat Original Travel booked for us, at €90 per person for a half day.

Day 4: Monreale Cathedral & Segesta Archaeological Park

It’s time to pick up a hire car and head out of Palermo. We used Avis Car Rental, located by the main train station, and for enough luggage for 3 people over the trip we had an MG 4X4.

Driving In Sicily

Similar to in Naples, Sicilian drivers drive differently to drivers in the rest of Europe, or indeed in other parts of Italy. Both speed limits and traffic lights are considered as advisory by the locals, and parking can be a bit of a free-for-all with cars often left parked on zebra crossings. I only did a little bit of the driving but I was in the passenger seat for the rest of it and my main tips are to pay attention, get the person in the passenger seat to pay attention, and to not take it too personally the amount of times you’ll get hooted at for not going fast enough or trying to squeeze yourself into a small enough gap. At the start of the trip we thought we’d made a mistake getting a small 4×4 for all the luggage, and it seemed too big for Palermo’s streets, but once we hit Marsala and discovered how badly Sicily’s rural roads cope in a thunderstorm, we were glad!

As you head out of town, stop off in Monreale to visit the cathedral, which like the Palatine chapel has some of the most incredible Byzantine frescos I’ve ever seen, and in a setting with a lot less queues than you might have experienced in Palermo (we just walked in!) Tickets start at €6, but you can add on trips to the roof (do this), into the cloister, side chapels and museum.

I’m afraid I don’t have any lunch recommendations, but I do have somewhere for something a bit smaller! Gelateria Mirto it turns out has horrendous Trip Advisor reviews, but we loved their excellent gelato, both in cups and served inside brioche, a typically Sicilian ice cream sandwich. Rich, indulgent, and very delicious you need to eat one on your Sicilian road trip, but perhaps only one: I don’t think I’ll feel the need to eat another one for at least a decade!

Segesta Archaeological Park is a tricky one, and I think I’d only recommend it in certain circumstances. Both my own research and Original Travel recommended it, but we were a bit disappointed both there, and even more so once we’d visited two more archaeological parks.

It’s the perfect stop-off between Palermo and Trapani, but entry is a steep (especially if you can’t see the whole site) €16,00 with an add-on of €2,50 to use the shuttle bus to get to the bulk of the site (the amphitheatre, the city ruins and the museum) from the unfinished Doric temple. The shuttle bus is supposed to be every 30 minutes, but we did not see it once in the 45 minutes we were there. It’s a 30 minute uphill walk if you don’t pay, yet it did not seem like you could rely on the bus, so you’re potentially paying to see lots of things you can’t access if you can’t manage the walk, or it is too hot to do so. So on balance, plan to go to Segesta if you love that sort of thing (or you’re not planning to visit other better organised parks) and you’re happy and able to walk), but give it a miss if the walk puts you off. Usually I’m up for a hike to anywhere (our trip to Lokrum Island in Dubrovnik was hot, and involved a lot of walking and I loved it!) but even I did not fancy the look of the Segesta path.

If a town hotel is more your thing stay in Trapani, but we’re more countryside hotel kind of people and Sicily has those in spades, typically agrotourisms where you stay on a farm. Baglio Sorìa Resort is in the middle of vineyards in the old winery buildings which I can highly recommend for the food, especially the wine, but also the staff and it’s good location for exploring the area without the need to put up with town driving.

Day 5: Erice & the Trapani Salt Flats

Head up into the mountains (no really, look at the Google maps route from our hotel, some of those bends the car would not take in one go!) to explore the pretty Norman town of Erice, build on the site of ancient Eryx of The Aeneid fame. You have three options in Erice, two of which I can recomend.

The first, the most relaxed plan is just to head there to walk the streets, enjoy and very good lunch and shop for some locally-made pottery before heading back down the mountain again (though, you will miss out on this view!)

Ristorante Monte San Giuliano is a lovely trattoria where the locals actually eat, and which in summer also has a sun-drenched terrace to enjoy. Starting with some complementary chickpea fritters to go with our half carafe of local white, we moved onto some stunningly simple Involtini di Melanzane (aubergine rolls stuffed with Sicily’s wonderfully light ricotta, finished with tomato sauce and a dusting of parmesan).

Then, the trattoria is the perfect place to try Trapani’s famous Pesto alla Trapani (tomato and almond pesto) tossed with busiate (the local spiralled pasta shape) and served, as is typical (though less common elsewhere in Italy when the pesto is served) with fried potatoes and diced aubergine.

Don’t order dessert though, as next door you’ll find the famous Pasticceria Maria Grammatico, named after it’s owner who learned how to make Sicilian pastries in the convent she was sent to with her sister when their mother could not afford to keep them after the death of their father, and who went on to become an icon of Sicilian baking. All of the almond and ricotta-heavy bakes seemed like a good idea, but I went for a simple canolo: very reasonably priced compared to elsewhere at €1,50, crisp, just sweet enough, and with just a hint of mini dark chocolate chips inside.

As for exploring Erice itself, you can simply explore the town on foot and take in what you can see (recommended), or buy one of the combined Erice tickets, one for the castles and one for the churches. We purchased the castles and museum ticket (The Erice Card) which you can buy from the tourist office in the car park by the main gates. For €16,50 you get entry to all the castles (except for the Venus castle which is currently closed – I’m writing this based on our May 2025 trip, by the way), the museum, the Spanish fort (outside which I took these pictures of stunning views) and entry to the ‘Erice in Miniature’ museum (which we skipped!)

The churches ticket costs €6 per person and includes entry into 5 different churches (looking online which churches sometimes vary) and can be purchased at the Torre di Federico, on the left as you enter through the old gates to the town. However, none of the churches in Erice are massively notable, and we did not feel the need to visit any after taking in the splendour of the churches in Palermo and Monreale.

Honestly, I’d pay for lunch and skip both tickets, instead using Google Maps to tour the outside of the castles (obviously I can’t speak for the Venus one, but the insides were all a bit of a let down) – though I warn you it is a bit walking intensive – and go to the museum only if you have decent Italian. The audio-video guide section with the history of Erice was brilliant, but the rest of the museum for translations on the exhibits you have to scan a QR code… then pay extra for the information!

Parking In Sicily

Erice was the first place we encountered public car parks in Sicily (we used a private one we spied on the way into Monreale) and it was really simple by downloading the EasyPark app which we used in a few more locations (it’s the Italian Ringo / PayByPhone / MiPermit); the app automatically knew my phone was in English, and once we’d added the number plate of the rental and a payment card the did not charge for foreign currency transactions (I love my Chase card for travel!) it was just as easy to park than at home. Don’t be alarmed if you top up parking out and about you get charged a service fee with every parking extension; we are at home too, they’re just not up front about it when you come to pay!

From Erice, you get a fantastic view of the Trapani salt flats. Driving down to them via the SP21, they have a salt museum there, and whilst we were lucky that the rain that was setting in eased off enough for us to walk around the outside of the museum and take in the flats, sadly the restaurant you can see under the windmill we’d planned to go to that evening was a no-go with the weather. Bookmark Trattoria del Sale, however (online reviews can’t decide if the food is fantastic, or simply average and a little overpriced, but you can’t beat the location) as the flats are tinged bright pink as the sun goes down.

Day 6: Marsala

Honestly, with our plans sent slightly askew by the amber weather warning, thunderstorms and torrential downpour, Marsala was a bit of a wash out. We sheltered in the Museo Archeologico Baglio Anselmi and managed to walk around the town a bit between showers (with a Marsala gelato of course – sweet, aromatic and very unusual), but honestly I’d only include it on your itinerary (use the day otherwise to properly explore Trapani) if you’re really interested in Marsala, as in the drink.

We did a fantastic Marsala tasting at Martinez with one of the family, which I can highly recommend (we did the ‘Gormandizer’ tasting at €23 per person) where we were really surprised by how much variety you could get in marsala (simply used to the basic Marsala Superiore common in the UK for cooking) as well as the pairings. Vergine is a dry marsala, made with just wine and alcohol aged for 5 years which went beautifully with Sicilian pizza, a sort of focaccia topped with tomato, slow cooked onions, anchovy and just a little cheese. Their S.O.M, aged for a minimum of 2 years and made with wine, alcohol and partially fermented grape juice went beautifully with parmesan, and if you chewed a piece of dark chocolate in your moth whilst drinking their Garabaldi marsala (aged for a minimum of 3 years and made sweet with the addition of boiled grape must) it tastes just like my favourite Mon Cherie chocolate cherry liquours!

Day 7: Selinunte Archaeological Park

After the disappointment of the Segesta Archaeological Park, Selinunte Archaeological Park was a much better experience! It is one of the biggest and most extensive archaeological parks in Europe, and whilst you can take the day and hike, the three sectors are reached by golf carts that leave every 15 minutes (or as soon as a cart is full!) and you can pay for different levels of ticket depending on how much of the site you want to see. There is not much to see at the third site, so rather than get the full ticket I’d recommend adding only the €8 shuttle to the Collina Acropoli (pictured above) from the temple you can walk to (On the flat! Which this time also includes the museum!) from the entrance below to your €14 entry ticket.

The only thing to keep in mind visiting Selinunte (aside from to remember to look out for the cute lizards exploring the ruins!) is to try and get there as close to the 9am entry time as possible, because the free car park there is frankly inadequate in size for the amount of visitors the site attracts; around 10:30am we could not get a space, but joined some others in a frankly Sicilian-display of parking along the entry wall rather than in official bays. If you’re happy with a bit of a walk, however, there is free street parking around the entrance, and other local parking elsewhere.

Lido Zabbara

After you’ve had your fill of exploring the park, head down into Marinella, the beach town by the ruins where at the every end of the waterfront nearest the temples you’ll find Lido Zabbara, whose terrace has a temple view, where you can hire sun loungers if you fancy an afternoon on the beach, but where, most importantly you can get a simply excellent lunch.

If you order the pasta you’re doing it wrong, instead get the salad plate (€18 seems a lot but it is all you can eat) where you can fill up from the massive salad bar, refilled through the afternoon by the chef as each plate is emptied, packed with local salads and antipasti; it’s a great way to try a lot of different dishes, including a traditional Sicilian salad, citrus marinated sardines, and plenty of different grilled vegetables. Enjoy this whilst your fish is cooking, chosen from the glass cabinet priced by weight at market prices (balancing out the slightly pricy salad), simply grilled and served with a sauce of lemon, local extra virgin olive oil, and dried oregano.

As our next stop is the famous Valley of the Temples, you’ll want a hotel near Agrigento and for me, Azienda Agricola Mandranova just outside Palma di Montechiaro is the only option in my mind. Set in the middle of an olive oil farm the hotel is beautiful, the rooms are comfortable, the is food literally some of the best I’ve ever had, and the pool is a true oasis to spend an afternoon, which we did after our temple visit the next day, after a quick dip on arrival.

Day 8: Valley of the Temples

I’d recommend another early start to visit the Valley of the Temples, not just to beat the crowds but also to beat the heat! On visiting it is obvious why this is the agricultural park at the top of everyone’s ‘to visit’ lists. As you drive past them they look majestic from the road, even more so once you’re actually there with the largest still standing (rather than reconstructed) temple in Europe, saved because the Byzantines turned it into a church (the Bourbons turned it back again) and with another set of semi-constructed ruins that one man – retired Brit Captain Alexander Hardcastle – did almost solo just with the help of a few local labourers with no specialist expertise in the 20th century.

Whilst there is also a shuttle bus from the end of one site to the other, you don’t need to take it at the Valley of the Temples as everything is rather flat, and you’ll also miss out on seeing the early Christian catacombs build into the walls of the site.

Entry costs €17, but it is free to visit on every first Sunday. We did have a private guide (who sadly I can’t find online) who was brilliant, so if you want to get the most out of the site without using a guide book I’d recommend looking online to find a good one (or using Original Travel and asking them for one!)

Day 9: Ragusa Ibla

Take one last morning dip in the hotel pool before making your way to Ragusa, or more accurately, Ragusa Ibla, the quiet, charming half of Ragusa rebuilt on top of old Ragusa after it was destroyed in the 1693. It’s a lovely, UNESCO-recognised town for it’s unique (well, unique when grouped together with a few other similar towns that were destroyed and re-built like Modia, Noto, Syracuse, and Catania) new-Sicilian baroque style.

Be aware when you pick somewhere to stay in Ragusa (or even if you’re just visiting for the day), Ragusa Ibla is a ZTL zone, which means driving is limited at certain times, as is parking for non-residents, so be sure to choose a hotel that takes care of your car for you if you’re driving there.

No pictures again (it was a very comfortable hotel with a lovely finish, it was just not particularly unique unlike Baglio Sorìa or Mandranova!) but I can still highly recommend Locanda don Serafino where the staff are lovely, the breakfast good in their dining room across the street, and where our arrival, car drop off and return was all super smooth and sorted by Whatsapp! The location was great, not in the middle of Ragusa Ibla so quiet, but still an easy, short stroll down to the main street. Literally our only complaint was it was not clear when we booked that their restaurant is not in the hotel, but a 10 minute walk away!

Once you’ve refreshed yourself after the drive stop at Officina 31 the Piazza Duomo for a couple of relaxed spritz before heading out for dinner. You can find all our recommendations (as well as recomendations we did not make it to!) in my Ragusa guide!

Day 10: Ragusa Ibla & Modica

After leisurely breakfast, again the best way to see Ragusa Ibla, as well as the neighbouring town of Modica is via a walking tour; ours was 5 1/2 hours between the two towns, which was about right. Again, if you’d rather self-guide you can find all you need to know in my Ragusa and Modica guide.

Returning to Ragusa Ibla, enjoy a late lunch of Scacciata – the local double crusted street food snack stuffed with vegetables or sauce-layered pasta – at Enoteca Il Barocco, an excellent local wine bar. Then, relax for a bit with a good book before dinner, either somewhere else from my guide, or at Scale del Gusto where the food can’t be missed whilst you’re in Ragusa and which has a terrace with lovely views of Ragusa Ibla as the sun goes down.

Day 11: Noto

I’m including Noto in my Sicilian road drip guide with a slight reluctance, because it is another lovely, UNESCO new-Sicilian baroque town (which also happens to be about halfway between Ragusa, and our final stop of Ortigia), but it is one that is an absolute nightmare to drive and park in, and as I’ve mentioned before we were there in May just before the season properly gets started!

It’s quite small, but if modern art is your thing look up if they have any street exhibitions on (there were several when we visited which I gather is a common occurrence) in which case a trip to Noto will be well worth the stresses getting situated and parked – just prepare to leave early to get there before everyone else! Otherwise, press on straight to Ortigia and stop off in Syracuse (which you drive through to get onto the island) for a bit of an explore.

Visit the churches that are free to enter (but skip those you have to pay to go in as they’re the same style as what you’ll have seen for free in Ragusa and Modica), and pick up some local pottery (including one of Sicily’s lucky pine cones) from Le Maioliche Artistiche di Sebastiano Caristia, a lovely little shop on the main Corso Vittorio Emanuele (so you’ll be buying them from a craftsman rather than from a mass produced-tourist shop!)

We also enjoyed lunch on the square at Trattoria Fontana D’Ercole (the traditional Sicilian pasta with fennel and sardines is good, as are the mixed bruschetta) before cooling off with the cantaloupe melon granita at Gelateria L’Artigianale Noto just across the square – literally the best granita we had all trip!

From Noto, you’ll be a 40 minute drive from Ortigia. Drop your bags at your hotel, and head out for a few spritz on the waterfront before heading to Cod da Saretta for dinner. It’s literally the best seafood restaurant I’ve ever eaten in, but plan to get there earlier than the Sicilian dinner time of 8:30pm as you can’t book, and it is popular enough that people queue to get in!

Day 12: Ortigia

Ortigia – the tiny island off the coast of Syracuse – is the perfect final stop for your Sicilian adventure, and not just because it is only 50 minutes drive from Catania Airport. Taking roughly 25 minutes to walk the length of it, and about 10 to walk the breadth, surprisingly there is plenty of space to escape the really busy bits around the Cathedral, including quieter places near the water.

Like Ragusa Ibla, Ortigia is a ZTL zone which restricts driving and parking at certain times of the day and week, so if you’re driving to Ortigia (driving is allowed on the island if you are booked in a hotel there) be sure to sort out your parking arrangements in advance with your hotel. We stayed at the Algila Ortigia Charme Hotel on the quieter coast of the island (a lovely hotel with great staff and comfortable rooms, though aside from the excellent almond granita the breakfast was a bit lacklustre) and they have a concierge service for your car which you can arrange in advance where they take it away and drop it back for you when it is time to leave at a pre-arranged time.

Start your day at Ortigia market, then take a slow pace seeing all the island has to offer including the natural fresh water spring populated by papyrus and water fowl, and the Norman fort at the very tip looking out to sea, stopping for a good pizza and a Sicilian salad halfway through, and granita later in the day. Also as with Ragusa Ibla, I’ve put all my Ortigia tips into a handy guide, which includes a rough order to do them in as you meander.

Once again, grab (semi-early) table at Cod da Saretta for some of their excellent seafood before either heading straight to bed (if like us you’re absolutely exhausted from the adventure!) or seeking out one last spritz or cup of granita.

Day 13: Depart from Catania Airport

Leave extra time getting to the airport and the car-hire drop off to fill up: Italian car hire places charge you for a full tank of fuel if almost any is missing! Use Google Maps to identify the closest one, and as a final Sicily highlight as you hit the road, look out for Mount Etna looming over you as you get closer and closer to Catania!

I hope you’ve found our 12 Day Sicily Road Trip Itinerary helpful! To view all my posts from Sicily together do check out my Sicily travel section, and if you really want to drill down on the food head over to my newsletter editions on Everything We Ate In Palermo and Everything We Ate On Our Sicilian Road Trip!

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