Not even close. Sicily demands 2 weeks to see well.

hi Catherine,

<<I will have nine days of travel time. We were thinking of going to Sicily for four days and Greece for five days. Is this enough time for those places or will the trip be too hectic/rushed?>>

that, as they say, depends.

what would you be doing? if you fly into Palermo and base yourselves there, and then from there fly to Athens, and stay in that area, there's no reason why you shouldn't do this.

you won't have a whole 9 days. by the time you've got to the airport, caught your flight, [3 hours to Palermo, from memory] retrieved your luggage, got to Palermo, settled in.....it'll take a whole day. flying to athens will take at least 1/2 day, depending on the flight time.

but you can't see the whole of Sicily and Greece in 4-5 days each, you can only just scratch the surface. or you could see some of Sicily in that time, OR some of Greece, but not both.

I don't know where else you've been, but if you want to see more places, you could see some of Venice, Florence and Rome [just] in the time you've got. fly into venice, then train to florence and train to Rome.

I think it's hard for us to help you decide at this point. Do you have just one place in each destination or many places in each destination? I suggest you decide where/what in these two very large and very diverse destinations you want to visit/do and then ask for help trying to decide if it will be too much or not.

<<I'd like to see as many places as I can because I think this is likely my last trip there for a while.>>

Sometimes, seeing less is seeing more.

Thanks for the input. I have already seen Rome and Venice, and someone suggested I check out southern Italy. I am interested in seeing Florence, too, but I thought Sicily might be more of a different experience.

As far as Greece, we were planning to see Athens and one of the Greek islands (we haven't picked which one yet -- any suggestions?)

However, I've heard getting to the islands includes a lot of travel time. Would five days be enough for those two destinations?

If you pick a Greek island with an airport it will be less than an hour's flying time from Athens. Add to that, of course, transfers, checking in/out of hotels, etc. and you have used most of a day. If your 4/5 days in Greece doesn't include arrival and departure days, Athens and one island will be rushed but doable.

However, I've heard getting to the islands includes a lot of travel time. Would five days be enough for those two destinations?>>

frankly, no. I agree with sassafrass - less can be more.

9 days should be long enough to see Athens and an island or two, or you could fly straight to an island from london. but you lose too much time moving from one place to another to make 4-5 day stays worth while.

Would there be somewhere else to go in Italy that would have easier travel to Greece? I've already been to Rome and Venice, but would be interested in seeing pretty much any other part of Italy. I was just looking at Sicily because of the weather.

Does anyone have suggestions of the best place in Italy to go?