Sicily by Car

Lots of people are scared by the idea of driving around Sicily and I’m afraid I have done nothing to reassure them. Yet everyone I know who who has actually tried it found it fine in the end. Some of them actually became addicted to the adrenaline rush.

Before you Start Touring Sicily by Car

You need to book your car at whichever airport you land at. Check out the Trip Tipp car hire page for more practical infomation on car hire at each airport. It’s written by sensible Germans who don’t exaggerate.

If you hire a car I personally would stick to the larger, international companies. The smaller and more “local” they are, the less recourse you will have if they treat you badly. There’s one company in particular, called “Sicily by Car” coincidentally enough, which has enough long, ranting, very detailed bad reviews to make me think they are well worth avoiding.

Collecting your Hire Car in Sicily

You must plan on queueing for at least 2 hours to pick up your car at the airport, even though you have already done all the paperwork online. Sicilians have no sense of haste in any situation so you may as well get used to it as soon as your plane touches down.

There is often some unexpected extra charge for more insurance. You will always end up paying more than you thought you would.

They do not take you to examine the car, they just give you papers and a key and send you off to find it in the colossal airport car park. If there is any damage when you find the car, or if the tank is not as full as indicated on your papers, mark the corrections and photograph any scratches, cavernous dents or breaches in the body work, and return immediately to get these extras countersigned. This may be your first ever experience of barging to the front of a queue, but now that you are in Sicily you will be able to enjoy doing this many more times before your holiday is over.

After your holiday, you may be pleasantly surprised at the degree of devastating damage the rental company will happily write off as “normal wear and tear.”

Depending how your road trip holiday went, it may be enough to make your two hour wait feel completely worthwhile.

How to Drive Around Sicily by Car

Interacting with other drivers

Sicilians are very communicative people. As drivers they often stop when they see a friend coming the other way, and have a long chat whilst holding up both traffic lanes in both directions till they have gone through all their mutual friends and relatives for a thorough gossip update.

When it comes to getting past potholes and other obstacles, they tend to shout and gesticulate out of the window more often than resorting to impersonal technology such as indicators or brake lights.

Use of indicators is generally regarded as optional. Most Sicilians see them as giving ther other drivers an advantage, just like letting them see your hand in a game of poker. They feel it gives them more power if they retain the element of surprise.

Letting people out of side roads in front of you is usually a sign that you’re a wimp who can be pushed up the kerb as soon as you start driving too slowly. Do it if you like, but face the consequences.

Car Headlights

You must turn on the car headlights whenever you drive on a motorway in Sicily. It’s the law, even when the sunlight is so intense it’s melting the tarmac into sticky goo.

If you find the headlights of your hire car don’t work, let other drivers know you’re coming by turning the stereo up really loud. So loud that the windows vibrate and stray cats piss themselves.

Parking in Sicily

Double parking is fine, but triple parking is better! If you find yourself boxed in by souble parkers, beep on the horn with gusto then wait patiently for someone to appear with half a haircut or a loaf of bread, apologising, and let you out.

It’s fine to park on yellow lines or in the middle of a cross roads, for example, or on a level crossing – anywhere, so long as you turn on your hazard lights. That lets everyone know you’re doing it, but not for too long.

It’s also fine to park diagonally up the pavement, if you can’t find a parking space that’s actually big enough for your vehicle.

Sicily by Train or Coach

If it’s all too much for you, you can get around just great using trains or coaches instead. Germans think Sicilan trains are old and slow. Sicilians moan about them like mad.

If you’re from England you’re likely to think you’ve time travelled into the space age. Their doors have handles on the INSIDE as well as the outside. They floors are clean. They even have toilets on their trains that you can use without needing wellington boots and a friend to hold the door shut.

General Tips on Touring Sicily by Train

1. Coaches are much faster for long distances, but trains cut through the urban traffic jams and are ideal for shorter journeys.
2. Trains in Sicily often go along the coastline and you can enjoy some fabulous views on certain journeys.
3. I love the Trenitalia website, which is available in English and has a brilliant feature showing exactly where the trains are, so you can monitor how late they are in real time. To be perfectly honest, Sicilian trains are usually punctual and I think you may be pleasantly surprised.
4. If you choose train travel, so good bases to position yourself include Palermo, Cefalu’, and Catania. Be sure to check the available lines from your chosen bases because some areas are well served by rail whilst others are not.
5. Touring Sicily by public transport is usually best done using a combination of trains and coaches.

Practical detailed information on Sicily by Train

• Trip Tipp advice on using Trains in Sicily  (including how to use the Trenitalia website to see how late your train is.)
• Trenitalia official website