How to get from Catania to Palermo via the Valley of the Temples (Agrigento) - in 1 day by bus, train, and foot!
Looking at a map of Sicily, the town of Agrigento, home of the Valley of the Temples, appears like a midway point between Catania in the east, and Palermo in the west. It seemed to be a good idea to travel there from one side of the island, and then continue to the other side, in order not to backtrack and make the most of the time.
The question is, how to do it by public transportation? A lot of people who visit Sicily rent cars, as it doesn’t have the best reputation for travel by train (infrequent, sometimes unreliable), or bus (people say it’s more reliable than the train, but still need to adhere to fixed timetables).
But, since I strongly prefer not to drive, I wasn’t left with much choice!
The first challenge was buying the ticket from Catania to Agrigento. The bus company is SAIS. When I came back from a day trip to Siracusa, the bus actually didn’t make a stop at Piazza Borsellino Capolinea where I had gotten on in the morning. Its only stop in Catania was the main bus “station,” which is not really a station but rather a series of parking lots with ticket offices scattered around in surrounding buildings. It didn’t seem like a great part of town…
At the SAIS ticket office at Via D'Amico 179, I bought a one-way ticket to Agrigento.
Note that the ticket specifies the date, but not the time, so you can take whatever bus you’d like. Also, note on the timetable that I was given by the ticket agent, that the trip time should be 2 hours 50 min (compared to 2 hours by car).
The next morning, I walked back to the station, but tried to stay along Via VI Aprile along the railway tracks. It seemed a bit more savory than walking through the part of town to the west of the bus station.
Here’s the SAIS parking lot.
The ticket agent from the day before told me that the bus to Agrigento would be at the very end. But there was no bus waiting there!
Thankfully, I asked a driver of a bus nearby where the Agrigento bus was, and he indicated that his bus was going to Agrigento. So I climbed aboard. It was quite large: a double decker.
The first stop was actually this outlet mall, the “Sicilia Outlet Village” at Agira. This wasn’t listed as a stop on the SAIS website.
We passed this cool hilltop town, Enna, shrouded in clouds.
Then we made a stop at Caltanissetta.
We then made a stop at Canicattì. There were some burning of crops in the outskirts, and it was here where we encountered a lot of traffic.
Finally, we arrived in Agrigento, 30 minutes late. So in total, this trip took 3 hours 20 minutes. Much slower than the 2 hours it would have taken driving directly by car.
But my travel travails didn’t end there. I stopped by the tourist information kiosk in the public gardens (Giardino Pubblico) down the hill from the bus station, asking where I could store my backpack for the day. She recommended a souvenir store just a block away and up the stairs. I went there about 5-10 minutes before 1pm, but it was closed. I then went to a photography store I had read about on TripAdvisor forums, which also offered baggage storage. But it was also closed! So I had no choice but to carry my backpack the whole day!
Then I proceeded down the hill further to the city bus stop by the train station, to take the bus to the Valley of the Temples. But it was full, with the driver not letting on more passengers!
So I decided to walk. The tourist information lady said that it was an easy walk. But that was maybe without carrying all of my belongings with me!
Agrigento city is high up on a hill, so there were lots of steps to get to the Valley of the Temples.
Lots of steps…
Loooots of steps!
At the bottom of the steps was this supermarket, which was handy for buying some snacks.
Also came across some local life, like this guy selling cactus pears by the road.
Then there was lots more walking. You can see this wasn’t a path that many people chose!
Google Maps actually says you have to walk through these fields.
I thought taking the paved sidewalk along the road was safer.
Finally, after about 35 minutes, I arrived at the turnoff to the archaeological museum of the Valley of the Temples, right after this gasoline station sign.
After visiting the museum, it was a quick hop across the street to the ruins of the Hellenistic-Roman Quarter (not much here).
And then it was a long walk to the ridge along which the temples were arranged. Once the Temple of Concordia comes into view, it really seems magical, and all of the travel burdens seem worth it!
They say the Temple of Concordia is one of the best preserved Greek temples, partly because it was consecrated as a Christian church at some point in its history, so it was well taken care of.
Temple of Juno was pretty nice too. I liked the cacti all over Sicily. Just like in Mexico!
Walking all along the road of the temples to the west side, and seeing the town of Agrigento in the distance, I could really appreciate how far I walked!
The kind lady in the archaelogical museum bookstore where I bought the ticket and map, along with a kind staff near the exit, pointed out the best bus top to take to get back to town. It’s by the exit near Temple of Hercules
From the stop, all of the buses 1, 2, 2/, and 3/ come by, so there is more likelihood of a bus passing by. There is a timetable, but it didn’t bear resemblance with reality. The crowd of others waiting for the bus gave me reassurance that I was waiting in the right spot.
Eventually a bus did come, which made for a much nicer return to town.
I got off near the Agrigento Centrale train station. Though there is also a bus from Agrigento to Palermo, I decided to not step on another bus this day!
The station is actually kind of neat. You enter at the top floor, and have to descend by staircase or elevator to the ticket hall and tracks. The building was constructed during Mussolini’s time, in a neoclassical style of the fascist era.
The graffiti on the trains reminded me of the trains around Naples (but a bit less severe).
The train had plenty of space to relax, and was a decently smooth ride. Much less nausea-inducing than the bus!
There were even power outlets at the seats.
Nice views topped off a good ride.
So, is it possible to travel by public transportation, from Catania to Agrigento, to the Valley of the Temples, and on to Palermo? Yes. Is it the best way? I don’t know. Next time, I’d probably look into some small group tour that takes you from Catania to Agrigento, and then just ditch the return trip back to Catania and ask the driver to drop me off in Agrigento city. That way, someone could probably drive you directly to the Valley of the Temples, and you could probably leave your bag somewhere in the vehicle. I don’t know if this option exists, but if it did, it would be worth the cost vs. the effort I spent on the 3 hr 20 min bus ride from Catania to Agrigento, and carrying my bags with me the whole day.
