An Eastern Sicily Itinerary: 7 to 10 Days, Slowly

Seven days is enough for eastern Sicily if you sleep in two places: four nights in Taormina, for Mount Etna and the coast, and three in Ortigia, the island at the heart of old Syracuse, for Greek ruins and baroque towns. With ten days, add a free day in Taormina and two nights in Modica. This Sicily itinerary plans one main thing a day and leaves Palermo and the west for another trip.

How many days do you need in Sicily?

Sicily covers about 25,800 square kilometers (9,970 square miles), a little more than Vermont. To see the whole island without spending your days in a car, plan two weeks or longer.

The east is more compact. Taormina, Etna, Catania, Syracuse and Noto all lie within about an hour and a half of Catania airport by car, so seven nights cover them at an easy pace, and ten leave room for the southeast and for rest.

Is 7 days in Sicily too much?

No. Seven nights in the east allow one change of hotel, one main plan a day and no single drive longer than about an hour and a half. You unpack twice, on day 1 and on day 5.

Two bases: Taormina and Ortigia

Catania airport sits between the two bases: about 68 kilometers (42 miles) from Taormina and 64 kilometers (40 miles) from Ortigia, roughly an hour by car to each. From Taormina, Etna, the Alcantara gorges and the hill villages of the coast are all within about an hour. From Ortigia, where Greeks from Corinth founded Syracuse in the 8th century BC, Noto is 35 minutes away and Modica about an hour and a quarter. You change hotels once, halfway through the week.

A 7-day Sicily itinerary, day by day

The plan counts seven nights, four in Taormina and three in Ortigia, with the flight home on the morning of day 8. Driving times are for normal traffic, without stops.

Day 1: arrive in Taormina. From Catania airport, Taormina is about an hour by car. The airport also has its own railway station, and in the fall 2026 timetable, regional trains reach Taormina-Giardini, on the coast below the town, in roughly 50 to 80 minutes. Our guide from Catania airport to Taormina compares every option. From the United States, Delta has flown a seasonal daily nonstop from New York JFK to Catania since May 2025. In August 2026, United announced a nonstop from Newark, four times a week from May 28, 2027. Other routes connect through Rome, about an hour and a quarter away by air, or through another European hub. Keep the first evening for a walk along Corso Umberto, the main street, and an early night.

Day 2: Taormina on foot. Start at the ancient theater, early. Greeks built the first theater on this ridge in the 3rd century BC; what stands today is the Roman rebuilding of the 2nd century AD. Its seating bowl measures 109 meters across, second in Sicily only to the theater of Syracuse. After lunch, the cable car drops about 170 meters to the sea at Mazzarò. A short walk away, a narrow path often links the beach to Isola Bella, a small island protected as a nature reserve since 1998. If you would rather climb, Castelmola sits at 529 meters on the rock above Taormina. It was Taormina's acropolis in antiquity, and the ruins of a medieval castle, with Norman walls, remain at the top.

Day 3: Etna. Drive about an hour up the southern slope to the Silvestri craters, two cones left by the eruption of 1892 at about 1,900 meters, next to the Rifugio Sapienza. The road runs between them, and visitors walk along their rims. They sit well below the summit zone, which begins at roughly 2,500 meters. Up there, the mayors of the towns around the volcano decide by ordinance where you may walk on your own and where an alpine or volcanological guide is required, and they change the rules with the volcano's activity. The Etna park publishes the current ordinances. Bring a jacket and closed shoes.

In the afternoon, follow the same road down to Zafferana Etnea, one of the 20 towns of the Etna DOC. Created in 1968, it was the first wine appellation recognized in Sicily. Etna Rosso is at least 80 percent Nerello Mascalese and Etna Bianco at least 60 percent Carricante, and the vineyards run from the southern and eastern slopes around to Linguaglossa, Castiglione di Sicilia and Randazzo on the north side. Nerello Mascalese ripens late, and the harvest usually comes around mid-October. From Zafferana, Taormina is about 40 minutes away. Our guide to visiting Mount Etna covers the rest of the mountain.

Day 4: the Alcantara, or nothing. About half an hour inland from Taormina, the Alcantara river runs through a gorge of basalt columns, formed when a lava flow from Etna cooled quickly in its water. A river park has protected it since 2001. North of Taormina, 20 to 30 minutes by car, the hill villages of Savoca and Forza d'Agrò stood in for Corleone in The Godfather (1972). After three full days, this is also the right day to plan nothing at all.

Day 5: Catania, then south. Check out and drive to Catania, under an hour down the coast. The fish market fills the streets behind Piazza del Duomo on working-day mornings, so go before noon and not on a Sunday. In the square, a black basalt elephant carries an obelisk on its back; Giovanni Battista Vaccarini designed the fountain between 1735 and 1737, and the elephant is the symbol of the city. Catania was rebuilt after the earthquake of 1693, and its center is one of the eight late baroque towns of the Val di Noto on the UNESCO World Heritage list. After lunch, Ortigia is about an hour to the south.

Day 6: Syracuse. Walk Ortigia in the morning. The cathedral was built into a Greek temple of Athena from the 5th century BC, and the temple's Doric columns can still be seen in its walls, inside and out. A few streets away, papyrus grows in the Fountain of Arethusa, one of the few places in Europe where it grows. In the afternoon, the Neapolis archaeological park, a short drive from Ortigia, holds the Greek theater and the Ear of Dionysius, a cave cut 23 meters high into the limestone. In May and June, the Greek theater stages ancient plays in the evening; the 2027 season is the 62nd.

Day 7: Noto and Vendicari. Noto is 35 minutes from Ortigia. The earthquake of 1693 destroyed the old town, and Noto was rebuilt on a new site closer to the sea, about 8 kilometers south of the ruins. The dome of its cathedral collapsed in 1996, and the church reopened in 2007. In the afternoon, the Vendicari nature reserve, protected since 1984, is 15 to 20 minutes' drive south. Our guide to Ortigia, Noto and Modica goes further into the southeast.

Day 8: fly home. Ortigia to Catania airport takes about an hour.

A 10-day Sicily itinerary: what to add

Keep the first week and add three nights: one more in Taormina and two in the southeast.

A free day in Taormina. Put it after Etna and leave it empty. The cable car down to the sea and a long lunch are plan enough.

Two nights in Modica. From Ortigia, Modica is about an hour and a quarter by car. The town is built in two parts, Modica Alta on the ridge and Modica Bassa in the valley below. In 2018 its chocolate became the first chocolate registered as a Protected Geographical Indication in the European Union. It is made without added cocoa butter and without conching, a long heated mixing stage. Ragusa Ibla, the lower and older part of Ragusa, is 15 to 20 minutes away; its cathedral of San Giorgio was designed in 1738 by the architect Rosario Gagliardi and completed in 1775. Noto, Modica and Ragusa are three of the eight Val di Noto towns that UNESCO listed together in 2002, all rebuilt after 1693.

On the second day, drive up onto the Hyblaean plateau, where olive groves, almond trees and dry-stone walls cover the hills below Monte Lauro, 986 meters high. If you prefer archaeology, the Necropolis of Pantalica, with more than 5,000 tombs cut into the rock, most of them between the 13th and the 7th centuries BC, shares Syracuse's UNESCO listing and is a little over an hour from Ortigia.

The last morning. Modica to Catania airport takes close to two hours, so book an afternoon flight.

What to leave for another trip

Palermo, Agrigento and the west need a trip of their own. The A19 motorway from Catania to Palermo is 192.8 kilometers (120 miles) long, about two and a half hours of driving without stops. The Valley of the Temples at Agrigento, on the UNESCO list since 1997, is a drive of two hours or more from Catania airport, each way. A day trip to either one costs a full day of the slow pace this plan is built on.

What is the best month to be in Sicily?

For this itinerary, May, June, September and October. At Messina, on the same coast north of Taormina, the average high is about 74°F in May, 89°F in August and 75°F in October. Inland, on the plain of Catania, the average August high is 94°F. Rain returns in autumn: Messina averages about 2 days of rain in August, 8 in October and 11 in November, according to the World Meteorological Organization's climate normals for 1991 to 2020.

In May and June, the Greek theater of Syracuse has its season of plays. In October, the Nerello Mascalese harvest is under way on Etna. In July and August, plan the outdoor hours for early morning. Our 2027 Sicily departures fall outside July and August: April and October for Amber Sicily, June and September for Sicily, the Magic of Jasmine.

Getting around: train, car or driver

By train. The coastal line between Catania and Taormina works well: regional trains take between 40 minutes and a little over an hour, several times each morning. South of Catania, service thins out. For a weekday in October 2026, Trenitalia's planner lists a handful of trains from Syracuse to Noto, about 35 minutes each, and 1 hour 40 minutes or more by train from Syracuse to Modica, a drive of about 1 hour 15 minutes. Works on the line between Catania and Syracuse also put replacement buses on that route for some dates in the fall of 2026, so check the timetable for your own dates.

By car. The U.S. Embassy in Italy advises Americans who plan to drive to get an International Driving Permit before leaving the United States. Taormina and Ortigia both restrict cars in their historic centers with limited traffic zones, known as ZTL. In Italy these zones are often watched by cameras that record plates, and the fine is mailed to your home. As of September 2026, a hotel in Ortigia can register a guest's car to drive through the zone, but not to park inside it.

With a driver. A driver takes care of parking and the ZTL, and everyone gets to look out of the window. On our group journeys, the transfer from Catania airport is arranged and the group is always accompanied.

Is the Amalfi Coast or Sicily better?

They suit different trips. The Amalfi Coast, on the UNESCO list since 1997, runs along the southern side of the Sorrentine Peninsula: fifteen towns, with terraced vineyards and citrus groves above the sea, along one stretch of coast. Eastern Sicily spreads a volcano, Greek theaters, baroque towns and a working fish market over a wider area, most of it within about an hour and a half of Catania airport. For one coastline and little driving, the Amalfi Coast is the simpler choice. For days that each look different, choose eastern Sicily.

Eastern Sicily with Italy Authentica

Taormina, which our founder Maria Grazia Nardoianni calls "the Sicily that adopted me," is the base of both our Sicily journeys. Each lasts eight days, takes up to eight guests and is always accompanied. Both include a farm day in the Hyblaean countryside, the Etna & Wine day, Castelmola, and a Cinema & Sea day of film locations and coast. Amber Sicily ends in Catania, with the fish market, street food and a puppet maker's workshop, and leaves in April and twice in October 2027. Sicily, the Magic of Jasmine spends its last full day in Syracuse and Ortigia, closes with a clay workshop back in Taormina, and leaves in June and September 2027. The Sicily page sets both side by side.

For ten days, two bases or a trip with only your own people, design your trip starts with a few questions about how you travel. Maria Grazia reads every request herself, and within seven days you receive a proposal with real names: places, houses, tables, experiences and costs. A 30-minute call in Italian or English follows if you want one.