Sicily is bigger and wilder than people expect, and it does not give itself up to public transport — the trains are slow and skip half the good stuff, and the Greek temples, the Baroque hill towns, and the coast roads all argue for a car. The catch is the cities: Palermo, Catania, and Syracuse are no place to drive, between the chaos, the one-way labyrinths, and the camera-enforced limited-traffic zones. The rule that makes a Sicily road trip work is simple — pick the car up when you leave a city, drop it before you enter the next one. This loop covers the western capital and the eastern half, the best of the island in a week.

I drove it in July, hot and bright, the sea the only relief. Seven days, Palermo to Taormina and the east.

Days 1–2: Palermo (no car)

Start in Palermo without a car. The capital is a glorious, decaying, layered mess of Norman, Arab, and Baroque Sicily, best walked. See the Cattedrale di Palermo, a pile-up of architectural styles, and the dazzling Cappella Palatina inside the Norman Palace, its ceiling a masterpiece of golden Byzantine mosaic and Arab muqarnas woodwork. Wander the street markets — Ballarò and Vucciria — where the fish and the shouting and the fried street food (panelle, arancine, the sandwich of spleen called pani ca’ meusa if you dare) are the real Palermo.

Take a half-day out to Monreale, just above the city, for the cathedral whose interior is wrapped in some of the greatest Byzantine mosaics in the world — over six thousand square metres of gold-ground glass telling the whole of scripture down the nave walls, the most complete medieval mosaic cycle in Italy. The Norman cloister beside it, with its 228 paired columns each carved differently, is the quieter half of the visit.

Palermo’s other ritual is eating in the street. The markets fry and grill all day: panelle (chickpea fritters), arancine (the stuffed fried rice balls Sicilians will argue about the gender of), sfincione (the spongy Palermo pizza), and the famous cannoli filled to order so the shell stays crisp. Eat well, sleep central, and only pick up your hire car on the morning you leave — driving in Palermo is a rite of passage nobody needs, and the city’s limited-traffic zones will photograph your plate and post a fine to wherever you rented the car months later.

Day 3: Palermo to Cefalù to Taormina

Collect the car and drive east on the A20 coast motorway. Stop at Cefalù, about an hour out (70 km), the postcard fishing town under a great rock headland (La Rocca), with a Norman cathedral on the square and a crescent of beach below the old town. Climb the Rocca if the heat allows for the view over the rooftops to the sea, swim, eat lunch on the front.

Then the long eastern run — roughly 210 km and around two hours forty on the autostrada — down the coast to Taormina, the cliff-top resort town that has been Sicily’s glamour address since the Grand Tour. Drop the car at your hotel or a garage; Taormina’s centre is largely pedestrianised. Settle in for the evening on Corso Umberto.

Day 4: Taormina and Etna

A full day based in Taormina. The set-piece is the Teatro Antico, the Greco-Roman theatre carved into the hillside with Mount Etna framed perfectly through its ruined stage — one of the most spectacular sightlines in the Mediterranean. Walk the Corso, drink a granita with a brioche for breakfast as the Sicilians do, and take the cable car down to the beach and the little island of Isola Bella below.

In the afternoon, drive up to Mount Etna, Europe’s largest active volcano, behind the coast. You can reach the Rifugio Sapienza base at around 1,900 metres by car, then take the cable car and a 4x4 higher toward the summit craters, or join a guided tour onto the lava fields. Check the volcano’s activity status before you go — Etna erupts often, and access changes with it. Back to Taormina for the night.

Day 5: Down to Syracuse and Ortigia (drop the car)

Drive south past Catania — Sicily’s gritty second city under Etna, worth a stop for its black-and-white lava-stone Baroque and the wild fish market, but not worth driving into; park outside — and continue to Syracuse (Siracusa). Once the most powerful Greek city in the world, its ancient core is the island of Ortigia, a dense, golden warren of Baroque palazzi, a Duomo built inside a Greek temple (the Doric columns are visible in its walls), and the freshwater Fonte Aretusa spring beside the sea.

Drop or garage the car before Ortigia — the island is tight and partly ZTL. See the mainland Neapolis Archaeological Park too, with its huge Greek theatre and the Ear of Dionysius cave. Stay the night on Ortigia, which is enchanting after the day-trippers leave.

Day 6: Baroque Noto, then west toward Agrigento

A day in the Baroque hill towns of the south-east, rebuilt in a single golden style after the catastrophic 1693 earthquake — a UNESCO-listed ensemble. Noto is the showpiece: a honey-coloured stage set of churches and palazzi along the Corso, best in the late-afternoon light. Ragusa Ibla and Modica are the other two worth the detour if you have the legs for the winding roads — Ragusa for the dramatic split between the old lower town and the newer upper one, joined by long flights of steps, and Modica for its grainy, cold-worked chocolate made by an Aztec-derived method the Spanish brought over, sold in the historic Antica Dolceria Bonajuto that has been making it since 1880. This corner of Sicily is also the backdrop to the Inspector Montalbano television series, and fans will recognise the Baroque facades and the beaches.

Then drive west across the island’s interior toward the south coast and Agrigento, a few hours over the hills. Stay near the temples.

Day 7: The Valley of the Temples, and out

End at the Valle dei Templi (Valley of the Temples) at Agrigento — not a valley but a ridge, lined with the best-preserved Doric Greek temples outside Greece itself, the Temple of Concordia standing almost whole against the sky. Go early or late to beat the heat and the light; the temples lit at dusk are the image you came for. From Agrigento it is a manageable drive back across to Palermo (roughly two hours) to close the loop, drop the car, and fly out — having driven the great Greek, Norman, and Baroque layers of Sicily in a single week, and stayed out of every city centre while doing it.

When to go, and the heat

Sicily’s summer is long, bright, and genuinely punishing inland — July and August routinely sit in the high thirties Celsius, the Valley of the Temples offers almost no shade, and the cities swelter. If you go in high summer, do the archaeology at opening time or in the last hour of light and surrender the middle of the day to the coast and a long lunch, as the Sicilians do. The better windows are May–June and September–October, when the sea is still warm, the light is kind, and the crowds at Taormina and Ortigia thin out. Etna can be climbed most of the year, snow and activity permitting, and the island’s festivals — Saint Agatha in Catania in February, the Infiorata flower-carpet in Noto in May — give the shoulder months an extra reason. Whenever you come, treat the driving as the relaxed part and the cities as the on-foot part, and the week balances.

What it costs, roughly

The car is the central expense, and a four-to-five-day hire rather than a full week keeps it down since you skip it in the cities — budget for autostrada tolls and the eye-watering Sicilian summer fuel. Parking outside the historic centres (and avoiding the ZTL fines that arrive by post months later) is a small recurring cost worth paying. Accommodation runs the full range: Taormina is the priciest by far, while Syracuse, Noto, and Agrigento are gentler. Food is a bargain and a joy — street food in Palermo, seafood on the coast, granita everywhere. The fixed extras are the Cappella Palatina, the theatres at Taormina and Syracuse, the Etna cable car, and the Valley of the Temples, none of them large against a week that is mostly open road and very old stone.

Verification

Reported and fact-checked against primary sources (verified 2026-05-31):

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a car for a week in Sicily?
For this loop, yes — the temples at Agrigento, the Baroque hill towns, and the coastal drives are far easier with a car. But don't drive inside Palermo, Catania, or Syracuse; pick the car up when you leave a city and drop it before you enter the next one.
How far is Cefalù from Palermo?
About 70 km and an hour by the A20 coast motorway. From Cefalù east to Taormina it is roughly 210 km and around two hours forty by autostrada — the eastern coast is well served by motorway.
Is it safe to drive in Sicily?
The open roads and motorways are fine. City driving is the challenge — Palermo in particular is chaotic, with loosely observed stop signs and aggressive flow. The ZTL (limited-traffic zones) in historic centres carry fines for unauthorised cars, which is the main reason to park outside and walk in.
Can you visit Mount Etna from this route?
Yes. Etna sits behind Catania and Taormina on the east coast; you can drive up to the Rifugio Sapienza base (around 1,900 m) and take the cable car and 4x4 higher, or join a guided crater tour. Always check the volcano's activity status before going up.