Catania Fontanarossa Airport to Syracuse
About 65 km south; Interbus coaches run direct from the airport for around €7–9 in roughly 70 minutes, and a taxi is €100–130.
Once the largest city in the Greek world, now an island quarter called Ortigia joined to the mainland by two bridges — a Doric temple built into the cathedral wall, and a freshwater spring rising beside the sea.
Every way to get there
Our verdict: for Syracuse, a private transfer is the easiest door-to-door option (from €90). Travelling light on a budget? The bus is cheapest (from €7) but slower, with a change in the city.
What it costs for your group
The bus is charged per person, while a taxi or private transfer is one price for the whole car — so the more of you there are, the better door-to-door value looks.
| Group | Bus (per person) | Private transfer | Best value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solo · 1 traveller | €7 | €90 | Bus |
| Couple · 2 travellers | €14 | €90 | Bus |
| Family of 4 · 4 travellers | €28 | €90 | Bus |
Which option should you choose?
| If your priority is… | Our pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest price | Bus | From €7, though slower with a change in the city. |
| Speed & comfort | Private transfer | Door-to-door, fixed price, a driver waiting for you. |
| A group of 3–4 | Transfer or taxi | One flat fare splits cheaper than several bus tickets. |
| A late-night arrival | Transfer or taxi | Both run 24/7 when buses and the tram have stopped. |
By transport mode
Bus / shuttle
Around €8 for seventy-five minutes on the motorway. From the bus terminal it is a fifteen-minute walk or a short taxi to Ortigia, where nearly all the hotels are.
Where to catch it: Direct coach from the airport bays to Siracusa's bus terminal near the railway station; buy at the desk or on board.
Best for solo & budget travellersTaxi
Ortigia has a limited traffic zone and narrow lanes; a taxi will usually stop at one of the bridges or the Piazza Pancali edge rather than at the door.
Where to catch it: Agree the price in advance. Seventy minutes down the A18 and E45.
Best for small groups in a hurryCar rental
Sensible if Syracuse is a base for the Val di Noto — Noto, Modica and Ragusa are an hour away and awkward by bus. Park outside Ortigia and walk in; residents' permits cover most of the island.
Where to catch it: Easy motorway run with paid car parks on the mainland side of the Ortigia bridges.
Best for travellers who want to explorePrivate transfer
Check the last Interbus departure before dismissing this. A flight landing at 22:00 in July can easily miss the final coach south.
Where to catch it: Booked mostly by people arriving late, since the coach service thins out considerably after early evening.
Best for families, groups & late arrivalsSyracuse & Catania in photos
Buying tickets in Catania
The AMT Alibus is the whole system here: a flat €4 from outside arrivals to Catania Centrale railway station and on through the centre, 20–25 minutes, every 20–25 minutes with a reduced night service. Buy from the machine or the tobacconist inside the terminal — on-board tickets cost more. For the rest of eastern Sicily the airport is a coach hub rather than a city airport: Interbus runs direct from the terminal bays to Taormina (€7–9, 70–90 minutes, roughly hourly) and to Syracuse (€7–10, about 75 minutes), with partner services to Messina, Ragusa and Palermo. Buy at the Interbus desk or on board. Sunday timetables are noticeably thinner and evening departures stop earlier than most arrivals expect — a flight landing at 22:00 in July can miss the last coach south. Note the trap with the train to Taormina: the station is at sea level, three hundred metres below the town, so the coach that climbs the hill is the better answer for the same money.
Taxi scams & safety in Catania
The thing to plan around at Fontanarossa is not a fare but a volcano. Etna's ash grounds flights here several times most years, sometimes for more than a day, and it is the standard reason people miss Sicilian cruise sailings and onward connections. Leave a buffer on departure day, especially in the weeks after an eruption. On the ground, taxis are straightforward but not cheap — €25–35 into the city, €90–120 to Taormina, €100–135 to Syracuse — and on the long runs you should agree the figure before setting off rather than rely on the meter. Use the official rank. Car hire is genuinely useful in eastern Sicily, unlike in Naples or Venice, but collect the car on the day you leave Catania rather than on arrival: the city centre is a camera-enforced ZTL with scarce metered parking. If you plan to take a hire car on a ferry off the island, read the contract first — it is a common exclusion with significant penalties.
Getting from CTA to Syracuse
Syracuse was, for a stretch of the fifth century BC, the largest and richest Greek city in the world — bigger than Athens, which sent a fleet against it and lost the fleet. What survives is a Greek theatre still in use, a Doric temple with its columns built into the wall of the cathedral, and an island quarter called Ortigia that you can walk across in fifteen minutes. Interbus runs there direct from Catania Airport for about €8.
The journey
Direct coaches from the airport bays, seventy-five minutes down the motorway, around €7 to €10, roughly hourly through the day. They set down at the bus terminal near the railway station on the mainland. From there Ortigia is a fifteen-minute walk across the bridges or a short taxi. Evening departures stop earlier than you would expect — a late flight can miss the last one.
Ortigia, and why everyone stays there
The island is the old city, joined to the mainland by two short bridges, and it holds almost all the hotels, restaurants and things worth seeing. It is compact, largely pedestrian, and surrounded by water on every side. The mainland part of Syracuse is an ordinary modern town and there is little reason to be in it.
The temple inside the cathedral
The Duomo was built by converting a fifth-century BC temple of Athena — the Doric columns are still there, embedded in the walls, visible from inside and out. It became a church in the seventh century, a mosque for a period, then a church again, and the baroque facade was added after the 1693 earthquake. Very few buildings anywhere show three thousand years quite so plainly.
The freshwater spring by the sea
The Fonte Aretusa rises a few metres from the harbour, fresh water beside salt, with papyrus growing in it — the only place in Europe where papyrus grows wild. The Greeks built a myth around it and the papyrus was probably a gift from Ptolemaic Egypt. It sits on the seafront promenade and takes two minutes to see.
The archaeological park, on the mainland
Neapolis holds the Greek theatre, the Roman amphitheatre, and the limestone quarries where the defeated Athenian prisoners were held — including the Ear of Dionysius, a tall narrow cave with acoustics that carry a whisper. It is a twenty-minute walk or a short bus ride from Ortigia and needs half a day.
Taxis and the ZTL
€100 to €135 from the airport, agreed in advance. Ortigia has a limited traffic zone and lanes too narrow for most cars, so a taxi will generally stop at one of the bridges or the Piazza Pancali edge rather than at your door. That is a five-minute walk in a town where everything is a five-minute walk.
The market, mornings only
Ortigia's market runs along Via Trento most mornings and is a working food market rather than a tourist one — tuna and swordfish, capers from Salina, cheese, and a stall or two that will make you a sandwich the size of a forearm. It winds down by early afternoon.
Hiring a car here
Worth it if Syracuse is a base for the Val di Noto — Noto, Modica and Ragusa Ibla are each within an hour and awkward to link by bus. Park on the mainland side of the bridges; the parking on Ortigia is largely residents-only and enforcement is real.
Swimming
There are ladders into the sea directly off the Ortigia rocks at several points along the eastern side, which is how locals swim. Proper beaches are further out — Fontane Bianche and Arenella to the south, and the Vendicari nature reserve twenty-five minutes down the coast, which has both beaches and a Greek tuna fishery in ruins.
The evening
Ortigia empties of day visitors around six and then fills again with people who live there. Piazza Duomo is lit and largely empty at that hour, which is the single best thing about staying overnight rather than coming for the day from Taormina.
