Transport in Sicily: airports, trains, buses and ferries

Getting around Sicily without a car is possible if you base yourself in a city and plan longer trips around buses and a few train lines. Getting around quickly is another matter. This chapter covers what we could verify in early November 2026: the four airports and how to reach town from each, city transport in Palermo and Catania, the main intercity links, ferries, the restricted-traffic zones (ZTL) that catch out drivers, and Etna's habit of closing Catania's sky.

Timetables in Sicily change often, and works on the Palermo rail network are under way as we write. Treat every time below as a starting point and check the operator's site on the day.

Airports at a glance

Palermo airport (PMO)

Palermo's airport is at Punta Raisi, west of the city. On the departures board of 4 November 2026 we saw ITA Airways, Ryanair, Wizz Air, Aeroitalia, Transavia France, SWISS and DAT (for Pantelleria and Lampedusa), with flights to Rome, Milan, Pisa, Venice, Paris and Zurich among others.

By train, and the night closure until 17 January 2027

Trenitalia normally runs 2 trains an hour (1 an hour in some slots) between Palermo Aeroporto, Notarbartolo and Centrale, and the adult fare is €6.80. The fastest trains take 34–36 minutes to Notarbartolo. To Palermo Centrale count on 50–65 minutes, sometimes with a change at Notarbartolo: only the early-morning "Genio Express" covers airport–Centrale in 34 minutes (Trenitalia's booking engine, Wednesday 11 November 2026).

From 4 November 2026 to 17 January 2027 the line closes at night. The RFI and Trenitalia works notice, published on the airport's website, suspends the Palermo Centrale–Aeroporto and Notarbartolo–Politeama lines from 21:30 to 05:00 every night except Sunday to Monday. Replacement buses stop only at Centrale (Piazza Francesco Cupani), Notarbartolo, Isola delle Femmine, Capaci, Carini Torre Ciachea, Carini, Piraineto and the airport's "Arrivi" bus bay. Trenitalia's booking engine shows the same thing: on Tuesday 10 November 2026 the last trains from the airport leave at 20:26 and 20:45, and every later departure is a bus taking 1h39 to 2h10, for the same €6.80. On Sunday nights trains run normally. RFI's separate notice for 4 November–12 December 2026 only concerns the new Politeama and Porto stops and the holiday timetable from Sunday 8 November, so it doesn't change the picture.

In practice, if you land in the evening, the Prestia e Comandè bus (about 50 minutes, €6 online) or a taxi will get you to town faster than the replacement bus. Trenitalia's timetable changes on 13 December 2026; later dates weren't on sale yet when we checked.

By bus

Prestia e Comandè runs a bus every 30 minutes that takes about 50 minutes to Stazione Centrale, stopping on Via Libertà, at Politeama and on Via Roma. Fares: €6 one way or €10 return online, €6.50 / €11 on board (cash or card). A weekly card of 12 rides costs €30.60 and a monthly one of 60 rides €97.60. The timetable caption suggests a service from about 05:05 to 01:05; check the current PDF timetable before relying on the last run.

By taxi

The airport publishes fixed fares to the city: €39 to the Viale Michelangelo/Viale Lazio area, €44 to Corso Calatafimi/Corso Vittorio Emanuele, €50 to Stazione Centrale/Brancaccio. There's also taxi sharing at €10 per person with at least 4 passengers.

Palermo's new stations: Politeama and Porto

On 4 November 2026 RFI opened a new 1.6 km section of Palermo's rail ring (anello ferroviario) from Palermo Giachery, with two new stops:

• Palermo Politeama, underground, with three entrances on Piazza Castelnuovo and a lift;
• Palermo Porto, near Via Crispi.

The ring runs 60 trains on weekdays, every 30 minutes from 06:00 to 21:30, and 38 trains on Sundays and holidays, hourly, with the last departure from Politeama at 00:35. For the first time the ring also runs on Sundays and holidays. This first phase cost about €178 million and includes Palermo Libertà, opened in October 2024. Phase 2, from Politeama to Notarbartolo (another 1.6 km, with an underground stop at Turrisi Colonna), is under way with no date given. The stated goal is to link Punta Raisi airport with the port.

For a remote worker this matters mostly if you live around Politeama, Libertà or the port: it gives you a rail connection towards Notarbartolo and, once works end, a cleaner route to the airport.

Getting around Palermo

AMAT runs buses and 4 tram lines. A 90-minute ticket costs €1.40 (€1.80 bought on board), a day ticket €3.50, two days €6, three days €8, seven days €16.50. The 30-day personal pass costs €32 (impersonal €42), and the annual personal pass €300. Strikes happen: AMAT's site flagged one on 30 October 2026, so check the site if a bus doesn't show up.

Catania airport (CTA)

Bus to the city

The AMTS Alibus links the airport and the city for €4, and the ticket is valid for 90 minutes on other AMT urban lines. You can buy it on board (cash or card), in the AMT Catania app or at resellers.

Train and shuttle

There is no metro to Catania airport at the end of 2026. The rail option is a Trenitalia regional train to Catania Aeroporto Fontanarossa station, then the AMTS shuttle bus to the terminal. The bus leg costs €1.40 on top of the rail fare, and you can buy it on the same Trenitalia ticket by choosing "Catania Aeroporto Fontanarossa Bus" as origin or destination. Regional trains from that station go towards Catania Centrale, Taormina and Messina; the line south to Siracusa has been closed since 30 September 2026 (see below). Trenitalia doesn't state the shuttle frequency.

Direct buses to Taormina, Siracusa and Palermo

Interbus/Etna Trasporti runs direct buses from the airport to Taormina and to Siracusa, every 30 minutes. We could not find the fares on their site. SAIS Autolinee connects the airport with Palermo for €14 one way (stop "Terminal Bus", or Via S. Giuseppe alla Rena 69).

Catania's metro

The FCE metro has 12 underground stations on one line: Stesicoro – Giovanni XXIII – Galatea – Italia – Giuffrida – Borgo – Milo – Cibali – San Nullo – Nesima – Fontana – Monte Po. It is 8.7 km long and takes about 18 minutes end to end; Fontana and Monte Po opened on 22 July 2024. A new bus terminal opened at Fontana station on 5 October 2026.

Official hours: Monday to Thursday 06:00–22:30, Friday and Saturday 06:00–01:00, Sundays and holidays 07:00–22:30, no service on 25 December and Easter Sunday. Frequency is only in the timetable PDF.

On extensions, our only source is secondary (it.wikipedia): an updated executive project for the 6.8 km Stesicoro–Airport extension, with six new stations, was approved on 24 October 2026, with tenders by the end of 2026, works from July 2027 and service "by 2031". Treat those dates as plans, not promises.

The MetroBus City pass (€35/month) covers the metro and all AMTS buses except Alibus and 524S. Single tickets cost €1.40 (€2 on board), day tickets €3.50 (€4.10 on board).

Trapani (TPS) and Comiso (CIY)

Trapani Birgi lists 12 routes for winter 2026-27 (25 October 2026 to 27 March 2027): Pantelleria, Rome Fiumicino, Milan Malpensa, Venice, Bergamo, Bologna, Pisa, Turin, Malta, Verona, Pescara and Bratislava. Terminal hours change from 5 November 2026 (for example Monday 06:00–23:00, Tuesday 06:00–20:00), so check them for early or late flights. The airport's bus page lists three operators: Autoservizi Salemi for Palermo, Palermo airport and Marsala, Autolinee Lumia for Agrigento and AST for Trapani town. Salemi's timetable (valid from 25 October 2026) has Birgi to Palermo's Via Fazello bus station in about 2 hours for €11, Birgi to Palermo airport in about 1h10 for €8.40, and Marsala 20–30 minutes away for €2.50 (fares from Salemi's booking system for 10 November 2026). On weekdays buses towards Palermo leave from about 06:05 to 19:30, with fewer on Sundays: check the PDF timetable for your day. We couldn't verify AST and Lumia times or fares.

Comiso, near Ragusa, has a small winter schedule from 25 October 2026: Aeroitalia to Rome Fiumicino (14 flights a week) and Milan Linate (7 a week), Wizz Air to Milan Malpensa (3 a week), and twice-weekly Aeroitalia flights to Pisa, Naples, Venice and Malta. Those last four are funded by a €3 million regional tender (Regione Siciliana, 4 September 2026); the weekly frequencies come from an aviation blog quoting the airport operator, so confirm on aeroportodicomiso.eu before you book. The airport lists AST, Tumino, Autolinee Giamporcaro and Autolinee SAL as bus operators; we couldn't verify their times or fares.

Palermo to Catania

By bus. SAIS Autolinee runs about once an hour: 18 departures Monday to Friday, 16 on Saturday and 18 on Sunday, most between 07:00 and 19:00, from the bus station on Via Tommaso Fazello (five minutes later from Via Oreto 385). The trip takes 2h33–2h50 depending on the stop in Catania (Via Domenico Tempio, Piazza Martiri della Libertà or the Via Archimede bus station) and costs €14 one way (SAIS booking system, week of 4–17 November 2026). Discounted returns exist. You can buy online, in the SAIS app, by phone on 091 2776999, at resellers, or on board if seats are free (single tickets only).

By train. The direct line reopened on 14 September 2026 after works between Termini Imerese and Caltanissetta Xirbi (RFI). On weekdays Trenitalia sells five direct Regionale Veloce trains from Palermo Centrale (07:29, 09:29, 13:29, 15:29, 17:29) and six from Catania Centrale (05:00, then 07:32, 09:32, 13:32, 15:32, 17:32). They take 2h57–2h59 and cost €17.20 in second class. On Sundays and holidays only three run from Palermo (07:29, 15:29, 17:29). Routes via Messina take 5h15 to 7 hours. The line was closed for works from 14 June to 13 September 2026, and summer closures may come back: check Trenitalia's planned works page before you book. The bus is a little faster and far more frequent; the train is the calmer ride.

Catania to Siracusa: buses only, for now

There have been no trains between Catania and Siracusa since 30 September 2026. RFI closed the line between Catania Aeroporto Fontanarossa and Siracusa, as well as Catania–Caltagirone–Gela, for upgrade works (the Augusta bypass and the Gornalunga variant). Trenitalia replaces every Messina/Catania–Siracusa train with buses from Catania Aeroporto Fontanarossa to Siracusa, with a change at Catania Centrale; in Siracusa they stop on Via On. Giuseppe Rubino. For Wednesday 11 November 2026 Trenitalia sold Catania Centrale–Siracusa at €8.80, taking 53 minutes on a direct bus or 2h03 on a stopping one. Bus times changed again on 1 November 2026 and no reopening date has been published, so check Trenitalia's works notice before you travel. The other option is the Interbus coach from Catania airport.

Regional buses and trains

Buses do much of the intercity work in Sicily. The operators we could verify:

On rails, Trenitalia's regional Sicily page is the place to start. A combined Trenitalia + FCE ticket connects Giarre-Riposto with the Circumetnea stations around Etna, such as Linguaglossa and Randazzo.

Ferries and hydrofoils

Tirrenia's website lists no Sicilian port (checked 4 November 2026), so we don't count it as a Sicily option: for overnight ferries from the mainland, look at GNV and Grimaldi.

Driving and ZTL zones

Several historic centres limit traffic with a ZTL (zona a traffico limitato), usually watched by cameras. What we could verify:

• Siracusa – Ortigia: active Monday to Saturday 11:00–15:30 and 17:00–02:00, Sundays and holidays 10:00–02:00. If you're staying in a hotel or B&B, the property registers your plate on the Connect Pass platform (in use since 11 June 2026) within 48 hours; you may drive in only to unload luggage, without parking. ZTL office: Via del Porto Grande 56, tel. 347 711 3122.
• Palermo – ZTL Centrale: managed by AMAT. Non-residents buy a daily pass in the PalerMobilità app, and the portal has a guide for foreign mobile numbers. Call centre 328 987 1083 (Monday to Friday 08:00–13:00). Hours and prices aren't shown on the portal page, so check in the app.
• Catania: the ZTL and the pedestrian areas are in force 24 hours a day, every day of the year, and cameras check every plate against a list of authorised vehicles. The pedestrian areas include Via Etnea from Via Dusmet to Piazza Stesicoro, Piazza Duomo and Piazza Bellini; the ZTL covers the area around Piazza Scammacca, Via Sant'Orsola and Via Birreria. Hotels and B&Bs inside the zone can register a guest's plate for up to 12 hours to load and unload luggage on arrival and departure days. If you live there with a registered lease you're entitled to one free permit, requested online via AMTS. If you drove in legitimately but weren't registered, send the "Modulo Avvenuto Transito" to ztl@amts.ct.it within 48 hours. These are the operating rules issued by the Comune and AMTS in 2022 and still published; we found no newer version, and fine amounts aren't stated. Resident permits for the Castello Ursino, Pardo, Sciuti and Crociferi zones are a separate scheme.
• Taormina: since 1 January 2010 only vehicles with a coloured pass may circulate in the historic centre; the green pass is for tourists and requires an application with documents. Hours and fines aren't stated on the Comune's page, last revised in 2023: confirm with the Polizia Municipale (0942 610201). The simplest option is to leave the car in a car park: Porta Catania (650 spaces, 0942 683829), Lumbi (850 spaces, with a shuttle to Porta Messina, 0942 683801), Porta Pasquale or Mazzarò (0942 682408). Tariffs aren't listed.

Etna ash and flight disruption

Etna eruptions can close or limit Catania airport. During the Etna emergency of 7–17 August 2026, Palermo airport handled 710 extra flights diverted from Catania or rescheduled, with more than 112,000 extra passengers. In early July 2026, 20 flights were diverted from Catania to Palermo.

If you fly in or out of Catania:

• Check your airline and the airport's site the day before and the morning of departure.
• Keep in mind that a diversion may land you in Palermo: SAIS runs Palermo–Catania airport buses at €14.
• Avoid booking a tight connection on the same day as an important call or a non-refundable onward flight.

Before you travel: checklist

• Landing in Palermo in the evening before 17 January 2027? From 21:30 trains are replaced by buses taking up to 2h10 (except Sunday nights): take the Prestia e Comandè bus or a taxi.
• Staying in Catania? Buy the Alibus in the app or on board; there's no metro to the airport.
• Going on to Siracusa? Until the works end it's a replacement bus or the Interbus coach, not a train.
• Staying a month or more? Compare the AMAT (€32) or MetroBus City (€35) pass with your actual trips.
• Driving? Catania's centre is camera-controlled around the clock: ask your accommodation to register your plate, and ask about the ZTL wherever you stay.
• Heading to the islands? Check Liberty Lines and Caronte & Tourist for winter timetables.

For the cost of transport passes compared with other monthly expenses, see the cost of living chapter; for the best months to travel, the climate chapter.