renting a car in Sicily?

[Rockin' Robin]

Has anyone rented a car in Sicily? My husband & I want to see some of the ancient ruins, such as The Valley of the Temples. The island looks pretty large . . . don't know how much you can see in a day. Is it easy to drive . . . ?

[winewanderer]

We did this in Messina in May. It was a Thursday. Not sure I would recommend it. Gas is very expensive and traffic is a nightmare, there's a lot of it.

 

It took a while to get out of Messina. We were going to stop in Taormina but it was so packed (tourist wsie) we decided to skip it.

 

We went to Murgo Winery a short way from Taormina and to a distillery. After that it was time to go back.

 

It was fun but we spent a lot of time in traffic. We took another couple from the ship so cost wise it ended up being about $25.00 pp. Not too bad.

[Capsu78]

It is not a single day destination. If you were doing a port of call in Messina, The Valley of the temples is over on the other side of the isle, I believe, closer to Palermo.

We have stayed and driven on the the western side (Catania- Messina- Cefulo) and did not find the driving to be too difficult compare to major US cities.

If your port of call is Messina, even Syracuse would be beyond the range of a single day in port,

IMHO.

For a single day, it is Taromina, Mt Etna or the wineries on most cruise ship excursions.

[disneydavid]

We rented from Argus in Messina last month and drove to Taormina. It was a very easy drive. It is a straight shot on the freeway. There was plenty of parking in Taormina. The only problem we had was finding an attended gas station in the afternoon. Apparently, many of them close up and I couldn't get the unattended ones to accept my credit card.

[Rockin' Robin]

Our ship docks in Taormina . . . do any of you think the ancient sites are doable from there. How hard was it to rent a car? Did you set it up ahead of time . . . what company did you use?

Thanks!!