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Guide to renting a car and driving in Sicily

Driving in Italy, in general, seems to be stressful for many tourists. When I mentioned to people that I’m renting a car in Sicily, every single person, with no fail, said I must be crazy. That includes Italian, who admit that they think twice before renting a car and driving in Sicily.

I knew already before the trip to avoid driving in big cities, so I purposefully rented a car at the Palermo airport (after my visit to the city) to start the road trip along the coast all the way to Catania, where I dropped it off at the airport again, without the need to drive in the centre. It was a good call.

Alternatives to driving in Sicily:

While using buses in Sicily can slow you down, it is a good option if you have the time. There’s a decent bus network between the main cities.
Trains are also available, and when I was planning the trip (scared by comments about driving there), I considered using the train. The downside is that you won’t be able to get to all the smaller places, but overall, it’s a great option.

BOOK A TRAIN AND BUS TICKETS HERE

Join an organized tour or hire a private driver. It’s a good option for places that are difficult to reach or you just cannot be bothered driving yourself. It was a perfect solution for me in Catania and Palermo to see places around without the hustle of driving in these mad cities.

How to rent a car in Sicily

I like to use Discover Cars website when searching for car as it compares many different providers (including local companies), so you can pick the best price. It’s like Skyscanner, but for cars. It’s also a good idea to reserve a car online beforehand as it is a popular option in Sicily and you might not be lucky to have a car available without prior booking.

Pick the right car

https://www.traditionrolex.com/29

With all the narrow and curvy roads throughout the island, with lots of hilly towns and villages, the best option might be an automatic car for more comfortable driving.

Documents needed to drive in Italy

To be able to legally drive in Italy you need to be at least 18 years old, however, many car rental companies won’t rent you a car if you are not 25 and have your driving license for at least a year. They also have the maximum age of a driver, it’s usually 70 years, sometimes 75.

If your license has been issued by a European Union country, you don’t need an international license. Otherwise, you must plan for it before coming to Italy and bring it with you.

Insurance for car rentals- choose carefully

As I’m saying below in more detail, be careful what kind of insurance you buy. Mine was the highest possible with full coverage, but it was never mentioned to me that the interior of the car is not insured, so any part of the car that gets damaged or missing, is not covered by the insurance. Make sure that you ask this question; it might save you a lot of money.

Be aware of scams

I wrote this in another post about reasons why Sicily disappointed me. A huge scam by a rental company that cost me hundreds of dollars. I usually do not name companies that are bad, but this time I will because they are on the line of fraud. As advised by staff, I purchased extended insurance and was told that don’t need to check the car for damages etc. since the insurance covers it all. I received a car with a broken mirror and suspiciously working automatic gear. I was not too worried since all was covered, so you can imagine my surprise when upon returning it, the agency staff went (filming with her mobile) straight into the boot saying that the cover is missing. Hmmm, how did she know it wasn’t there? Of course, it was never there in the first place, but apparently, expensive full-cover insurance doesn’t apply to the car interior and that piece of plastic was estimated to cost over $1000. The money was immediately and automatically withdrawn from my card and since I had no proof that the piece was never in the car, I could not argue.

A few emails were sent without a resolution or response from their side. This company is called Sicily by Car and I would advise you not to rent from them. If you read reviews online, you’ll realize that this is their standard practice.

Driving in Italy

Driving in Italy: the basic stuff

Just a few basics to driving in Sicily (that would apply to many other places in Italy). In the whole country, you drive on the right-hand side of the road.

While technology such as Google Maps or Waze comes in handy, don’t solely rely on them in Sicily. It happened once or twice that Google Maps tried to take me through a very rough street, against the traffic, or through the ZTL zone (entering those zones might get you a fine), so pay attention to the signs to avoid problems and possibly traffic violations and fines.

Similarly to driving in Poland, in Sicily, drivers may flash the lights at you. Sometimes it might be a warning that there’s something wrong with your car (like you don’t have lights on or one is broken), but it usually means that the police might be somewhere along the road measuring the speed or doing random controls.

The speed limit

Although people do not seem to abide by the traffic rules, obeying the speed limit was something most drivers respected (I guess the fines are hefty). There are speed cameras everywhere, but what’s important to remember is that in Sicily there are many distance speed cameras that calculate the average speed between spot A and spot B.

ZTL zones

ZTL (Zona Traffico Limitato) is an area with limited traffic or only for pedestrians. Do not enter those zones as most likely you’ll get a fine. There are cameras at entrances that will scan your plate number (and the ticket might arrive even a few months after your trip). The police usually send the ticket to the rental company which will additionally charge you a fee for processing the fine. And they never lose an opportunity to charge customers (as I learned the hard way in Sicily).

Pay attention to the timings of ZTL entries as well.

In some places, the ZTL zone is only accessible to the residents. In one city, I booked a hotel that was within a ZTL zone and in order to enter with my car without risking a fine, the landlord needed to send a plate number, a photo of the car, and the dates of my stay to the local police. That way, it was registered as a hotel guest’s car.

Parking in Sicily

Like in most places in Italy, parking spaces in Sicily are rather difficult to find. The cities and towns are old, which means that the roads are often narrow with little space for parked cars. If there are designated parking spaces on street, make sure that you notice the colours of the line in the parking:

White line- free parking
Blue line- paid parking (search for the ticket machine, sometimes they are quite far)
Yellow line- reserved for disabled people and residents only

Don’t leave any valuables in the car, especially visible. Not even an empty sunglasses case. The broken window might cost more (if not covered by insurance) than what gets missing. It’s not uncommon in Sicily for cars to be broken into, even during the day. When you leave your car in parking overnight or for long hours, if possible, park near a CCTV camera– this was a tip I got from the locals.

Don’t underestimate the distances

Sicily is such a small island. While many people aim to see the whole coast in a week or ten days, it involves rushing from place to place. I spent ten days in Sicily and only visited the places on the coast and some away from the coast between Palermo and Catania driving anticlockwise. In many places, the roads were with potholes and cracks, making driving much slower. Also, the speed

Watch out for crazy drivers

The most heard tip I got from Italians and those, who visited Sicily was: the only traffic rule you need to know is that there are no traffic rules. This loosely translates as having your eyes around your head and ears wide open as whatever you don’t expect, is most likely to happen.

Indicators seem to be broken in most cars, they simply do not indicate. Of course, Im joking, but it’s true that drivers do not use the indicators as they should.

Avoid driving in big cities

Driving in big cities in Sicily is a nightmare. The roads are busy with traffic (where two lanes suddenly because wide enough to fit five lanes of cars), parking spaces are scarce and GPS is not always reliable, so you can keep driving in circles. The most stressful time of driving for me was in the outskirts of Catania (although apparently, Palermo is even worse), so I’d recommend seeing the cities without a car and only renting it once you’ve done visiting them.

Trapani wasn’t as bad, but at some point, after coming back to the same spot for the 5th (or 7th) time, my patience was slowly disappearing.

Petrol stations in Sicily

The petrol stations are rather frequent. There are two types of stations: self-serviced called fai da te and serviced called servito. I only used the serviced ones for comfort, but in some cases, it’s cheaper to use the self-service pumps. You will see sometimes two prices for these options.

The prices between petrol stations vary, so pay attention and compare to fill your tank cheaper.

A few terms that might be useful:

benzina– petrol
senza piombo– unleaded petrol

Favourite travel resources:

Hotels Combined for searching best prices on accommodation.

Discover Cars is a great website as they search both local and international car hire services, so you can choose the best deal for yourself. Make sure though, that the company has a good reputation and reviews.

Get Your Guide is my place to go for searching and booking tours and excursions, especially when I travel solo.

Go City is a great activity booking website that offers 50% off on city attractions and sightseeing.

World Nomads travel insurance. I like them because they have quite extensive coverage of different activities.

Jack’s Flight Club is a service that can save you hundreds of dollars on flights, it works especially well in Europe.

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