Airfare to Sicily

Sicily is one of Italy's 20 regions and the biggest island in the Mediterranean. It takes about four hours to drive from Trapani in the west to Messina in the east, so the airport you pick shapes your whole trip. Fly into the wrong end and you spend your first day in a car.

The short version: fly into Catania for the east (Taormina, Etna, Siracusa, Noto), into Palermo for the west (Palermo itself, Cefalù, Monreale, Trapani and Erice), and if you're seeing both, fly into one and out of the other.

Sicily's airports

Sicily has six passenger airports. Four are on the main island; the other two serve the small islands of Pantelleria and Lampedusa.

Catania is Sicily's main gateway and one of the busiest airports in Italy. Catania to Rome Fiumicino is the busiest air route in the country, so there are flights all day. The airport now has its own stop on the national rail line, about 700 meters from the terminal and linked to it by an AMTS shuttle bus that takes about three minutes. Catania Centrale is under 10 minutes away, and Siracusa and Taormina are about an hour by train. One quirk: when Etna erupts, ash can close the airport, usually for no more than a day. It's one more reason to buy travel insurance and not to book a nonrefundable onward connection for the same evening.

Palermo, officially Falcone Borsellino Airport, sits on the coast west of the city at Punta Raisi and handled over 9 million passengers in 2025. The airport station is the end of Palermo's suburban rail line, with trains to Palermo Centrale roughly every half hour on weekdays until around 10pm. Coaches also run to the city center.

Trapani is a joint civil and military airport between Trapani and Marsala. Most of its flights are Ryanair, which announced a new base there for 2026, plus the island flights to Pantelleria. A new airport rail station has been under construction; until it opens, you're on the bus. It's the obvious airport for the Egadi Islands, since the ferries leave from Trapani.

Comiso is small, but it's the closest airport to Ragusa and Modica. In 2026 Aeroitalia flies to Rome, Milan Linate and Turin, with seasonal flights on Neos, Volotea and a few others.

Flying to Sicily from North America

For years there was no way to fly nonstop to Sicily from the US. That has changed, at least in summer:

• Catania: Delta flies from New York JFK, and Air Canada flies seasonally from Montreal. United has announced Newark to Catania from 29 May 2027.
• Palermo: United flies seasonally from Newark, and Neos (an Italian leisure airline) flies seasonally from New York JFK.

These are summer-only routes and schedules change from year to year, so check the airlines' own sites for your dates. The rest of the year, and from anywhere else, you connect. ITA Airways flies to Catania and Palermo from Rome Fiumicino and Milan Linate, and Lufthansa, KLM, Air France, Turkish Airlines, British Airways and others connect through their hubs, some only in summer. Two tips:

• Keep it on one ticket. Fly to Rome, Milan, Frankfurt, Munich, Amsterdam or Istanbul and have the Sicily leg on the same booking. If your transatlantic flight is late, the airline rebooks you.
• Fly open jaw. Into Catania and out of Palermo, or the reverse, rarely costs much more than a round trip and saves you a four-hour drive back. It's also the natural way to fit Sicily into a longer trip. AirTreks builds multi-stop and open-jaw tickets if your trip goes well beyond Italy. If you rent a car, check the one-way drop fee before you commit.

Cheap flights to Sicily from within Europe

This is where Sicily gets cheap. Both Catania and Palermo are big low-cost airports, with Ryanair, easyJet, Wizz Air, Volotea, Aeroitalia, Vueling, Jet2 and Transavia all flying in from around Italy and Europe. If you're already in Italy, a flight from Rome, Milan, Bologna, Pisa, Venice or Naples is often cheaper, and always faster, than the train.

• Book the carry-on and checked bag when you buy the ticket. The cheapest fares include only a small under-seat bag.
• Summer, especially August, is expensive and crowded. May, June, September and October give you warm seas without the peak fares.
• Our guides to budget airlines that fly to Sicily and flying budget airlines in Italy go into more detail, and there are separate pages on airfare to Catania and airfare to Palermo.

Not flying?

You can reach Sicily without a plane, and it can be part of the fun. Intercity Notte sleeper trains run from Milan, Bologna, Rome and Naples to Palermo, Catania, Messina and Syracuse, with the train rolled onto a ferry across the Strait of Messina. Overnight ferries sail to Palermo from Naples, Livorno and Civitavecchia (compare operators on Ferryhopper). If you're driving down, Caronte & Tourist ferries cross from Villa San Giovanni to Messina in about 20 minutes. The long-promised bridge over the strait is approved in principle, but construction hasn't started.

Other Sicily resources

• Sicily Guide
• Hotels in Palermo
• Hotels in Catania
• Hostels in Palermo
• Hostels in Catania

photo by gnuckx