Getting there

Planes

There are three main airports: Palermo (gesap.it), Trapani (aeroportotrapani.com) and Catania (aeroporto.catania.it). For the south coast, Catania is 30 minutes nearer by car than Palermo, a little over two hours away.

Boats

Sicily can be reached by boat from the Italian mainland. The shortest ferry crossing (20 minutes) leaves the mainland at Villa San Giovanni for Messina (carontetourist.it). Sailings from Naples and Salerno take more than eight hours; there are also occasional services to Sardinia (tirrenia.it).

Trains

Though the system is quintessentially Southern Italian – ie, unreliable and a bit haphazard – Sicily’s trains are an affordable and easy way to get between the island’s major towns and cities (trenitalia.com). It’s possible to take the train from mainland cities to Messina, via the train ferry from Villa San Giovanni in Reggio Calabria; island intercity trains link Messina, Palermo, Taormina, Catania and Siracuse (trenitalia.com).

Automobiles

Thanks to mountain hairpins and a carefree regional attitude to bumps and scrapes, driving in Sicily is not for the faint-hearted. But wheels are essential for exploring, especially if you want to see the rugged interior, and well-maintained motorways link major towns.