Travel Italy: Vacation Packages, Tips, Tours of Italy

If your trip to Valley of the Temples starts from the archaeological sites of Eastern Sicily — Noto, Taormina, Siracusa — the bus is the option you should consider for your transfer needs.

First, many tourist places in the area are not served by rail, secondly the trains are very slow. An example: from Siracusa to Agrigento it will take 5 to 7 hours by train.

Travelers who plan to start their trip to Sicily from east, are flying into the airport of Catania — Fontanarossa airport.
From airport of Catania to Siracusa you have Interbus buses (http://www.interbus.it/) ; from airport of Catania to Agrigento, the city closest to the temples area, you have the bus service of SAIS Trasporti company (http://www.saistrasporti.it/).

Below we listed links to websites of bus companies you need for your transfer when visiting the archaeological sites of Eastern Sicily or when traveling from this area to Valley of the Temples.
– Interbus http://www.interbus.it/ ,
– SAIS Trasporti http://www.saistrasporti.it/ ,
– Etna Trasporti http://www.etnatrasporti.it/ ,
– AST http://www.aziendasicilianatrasporti.it/ ,
and in the area of temples: Autolinee Lumia (http://www.autolineelumia.it/ ) and Autoservizi Salemi (http://www.autoservizisalemi.it/)

(See also “From Palermo’s Airport to Valley of the Temples“).

Most of those who plan to visit the Valley of the Temples in Sicily, usually opt to fly into Palermo and then from there travel to Agrigento, the city closest to the temples area.

If you opt for public transportation, you can take advantage of a direct bus running from Palermo’s airport to Agrigento. It will take around two and half hours (follow this link http://www.autolineesal.it/Punta.html for the timetable).

You also have other options: take the train or bus from “Falcone e Borsellino” airport to the city of Palermo (see schedule) , and then bus or train from Palermo to Agrigento (see train timetable.

From Agrigento you travel to the Valley of the Temples with most of regular city buses (1, 1/, 2, 2/, 3, 3/) leaving from Piazzale Rosselli.
In order to visit the Valley of the Temples, from Agrigento, you could also hire a car, or arrange for a private transfer with your hotel.

Many people vacationing in Umbria usually tend to consider Siena as a destination to plan a day trip.

However, Siena is not so well connected to Umbria by public transport, so a day trip from the towns of Umbria — Perugia, Assisi, Gubbio, Todi etc… — would not be a so good idea.

As an example, traveling from Perugia to Siena — the shortest and best connected route you could consider when planning a trip to Siena from Umbria — it will take you 3 to 4 hours if you make the trip by train, also requiring you to change a couple of trains.

Better if you go by bus. A bus trip from Perugia to Siena will take you one and half hours.
However the timetable does not fit your trip needs. Bus leaves Perugia 5.30PM. For return trip, it leaves Siena at 11.40 AM.
That means you’ll have to spend a night in Siena — or in Umbria if you are planning a day trip in the opposite direction.

Bottom line: a day trip to Siena from Umbria is not a possibility.

If you are planning day trips from Siena to the hill towns in the surroundings, renting a car is the way to go.

The other option you have, transfer by bus, will limit the number of towns or places a day you can visit.

If you are not afraid of driving there — driving there is easy if you use common sense driving habits — in a couple of days you could visit the major places in the surroundings.

Strongly suggested the following hill towns: San Gimignano, Colle Val d’Elsa, Volterra, Certaldo, and towns located along major wine roads such as Montalcino, Pienza and Montepulciano or in the Chianti area: Castellina in Chianti, Gaiole in Chianti, Greve in Chianti and Radda in Chianti. (See map of Chianti area and countryside of Tuscany).

Renting a car is an option you definitely have to consider if you are planning trips to the countryside while staying in Tuscany.

That gives you the freedom you need to visit hill-top towns as well as to plan other activities Tuscan countryside offers, such as visiting wineries, dining at agritourism etc…

Is it dangerous driving in Tuscany?

Even if the roads are sometimes steep and with lots of curves, driving is not so dangerous there. You are not going to face a lot of traffic.

Also even if  steep and curvaceous, the roads are good and usually offer room on the side to stop and enjoy the scenery.
A major reason why you should consider renting a car, is the freedom to take pictures and enjoy the view of the scenery you’re driving through.

– A couple of suggestions
Italians tend to drive fast, don’t be scared from that. Relax and take it at your own speed.
Also watch out the speed limits. When driving across the hill towns, especially in the Chianti area, you’ll find the speed limit set at 30km/h.