TIPS FOR TRAVELING TO SICILY (AND NOT SHIT)

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We just arrived from a 2-week trip to Sicily, which left us freaked out: we knew it was going to be a beautiful destination, but we didn't imagine it was going to be so complete! We climb a volcano, we navigate between islands, we visit medieval villages and baroque churches, we bathe in crystal clear waters, and to top it off, we gain a few kilos with ice cream, cannolis and rich food. If you plan to visit this Mediterranean island, read on, because we are going to give you a few Tips for traveling to Sicily (and not screw it up).

What is the best time? We went at the end of September until mid-October and we definitely recommend it: the weather is good, the prices are lower, most parking areas are free from October 1 and, although there was a lot of tourism, we imagine that in The months of July and August will be even more crowded.

As for the weatherIt has hot summers in mild winters, generally with little rainfall. We leave you annual charts from Palermo:

As we anticipate, get ready because there are places where you will find a lot of tourism. In our experience, you will "suffer" especially in:

Tour to the Aegadian Islands
Valley of the temples
Etna
Taormina
Cefalu

How much Time is needed to get to know Sicily? Obviously, the more the better! We were two weeks And we believe it is perfect time to get to know the main places. Below we tell you our itinerary. If you only had 7 days, we recommend dividing the island into two parts: this one with Catania airport, and west with Palermo airport, and focus only on one (you will return to see the other one).

How arrive from Spain? The best thing is that there are many routes available at a good price (live Ryanair!). The ideal would be to reach Palermo and leave from Catania, or vice versa, and make a route of only idea with car. Here are the flight options from Spain:

So, which is the best route? We made a 2-week roadtrip through Sicily, and we toured practically the whole island, but if time were limited ... maybe we would stay with the east coast, making base in Catania.

Rent a car: The public transport means have a bad reputation (there are few and do not always meet the schedules) and it would take much longer to make the visits. In addition, the freedom to go where you want and when you want, is priceless. We rented a fiat panda with Auto Europe (for 12 days) and left for about € 250 in total.

But it's not impossible tour Sicily with public transport. The train network links several of the most interesting places, and you can always use local bus companies for short trips. If you do not drive or do not want to use public transportation but want to see as much as possible, perhaps a multi-day tour it could be a good idea. This is very good as it includes hotel, meals, tickets, guide in Spanish and takes you to know many essential places ... but I repeat, if you drive do it for free!

The driving on Sicilian roads It is somewhat chaotic, but a little better than we expected. The worst is in the big cities, where there are crossings in which the law of the strongest prevails, and on the road they usually advance in a continuous line and run a lot. But in general (removing specific cases and traffic jams in large cities) we had no fright and are not stressed.

The Gasoline in Italy is quite expensive and Sicily was not going to be an exception. When we traveled (Sep / Oct 2018) the liter was around 1,65€ (unleaded).

By the way, a curious thing we find is that in many gas stations (especially from large urban areas) have a part “self service”Where you put the gas yourself, and part where an employee is in charge of refueling. The price difference is up to 20 cents per liter! If you want to save a little money, put your gasoline on your own!

Sicily is always associated with the subject mafia. You don't have to worry: today the thing is much quieter than in the past, but we do advise you to inform you. We have prepared this post with a (not so) brief history of the mafia in Italy because we want you to know all aspects of Sicilian reality.

Forget the diet: in Sicily you eat fancy (and quite fritanga hehe). In this post we tell you all the typical Sicilian dishes that you have to try.

We have always stayed at Airbnb less in Taormina, where we stayed at this Floridia B&B run by a lovely family. After doing so, we believe it is the best way to stay in Sicily. B & Bs are usually very clean, clean and offer free breakfast! In addition the prices are not usually high, about € 40-50 per night on average. Find your accommodation here in Sicily. Of course, for long stays we always prefer Airbnb, so having kitchen hehe.

We had read that best beaches in Sicily They are on the islands and it may be so, but we also saw some very cool in our car tour. Specifically we are left with the coast that goes from Taormina to Cefalù, which is characterized by calm waters and a clarity that we had rarely seen: it seemed to be swimming in a river! Those of San Vito lo Capo Y Mondello (near Palermo) They are also very pretty. And in the Syracuse area, if you have time, we recommend exploring the Vendicari Wildlife Park, where apart from beautiful beaches, you can see flamingos and other protected animals.

If you like the history, Sicily is going to be your little paradise. It is land conquered by Greeks, Phoenicians, Romans, Arabs, Normans, Spaniards ... There is no city that does not stop the passage of one culture and another. The sites where this is still observed are: Saliunte, Gets pregnant and the Valley of the Temples (to enjoy amazing Greek temples), the Syracuse Neapolis (to see the Greek and Roman ruins, and enter the ear of Dionysus, especially) and stroll through the most important cities of the islands: Palermo, Trapani, Ragusa Ibla, Ortigia in Syracuse and Catania.

We do not regret having made a day tour in the Aegadian Islands, but we do know that, to know them thoroughly, we will have to go back and spend several days, devoting more time to each of them: Favignana, Levanzo Y Marettimo. The day tour simply gives you an overview and leaves you wanting (much) more.

For this reason we decided not to do any Aeolian Islands excursion: We only had 1 day of time and we prefer to dedicate it to the beaches of Milazzo and leave the visit to this volcanic archipelago for the future. We have been recommended to spend at least one week here, as it is made up of 7 islands: Alicudi, Filicudi, Lipari, Vulcano, Stromboli, Salina e Panarea.

Did you know Palermo is considered the European capital of street food? Strolling through its streets will soon be hungry and the whole city smells like specialties such as arancini, panino with milza, pane e panelle, octopus….

Take advantage that Sicily is a cultivation area for buy in street markets: the prices of fruit and vegetables are much lower than in supermarkets and it is fresher and healthier (and at KM O: it is the farmers themselves who sell it in their carts).

If, like us, you like to meet beautiful villages full of charm, you have to write down these two: Erice, located on top of a mountain next to Trapani. Y Cefalu, one hour from Palermo and famous for its urban beach. Although it was Ragusa Ibla (the old part of Ragusa) the one that completely fell in love with us, mostly because we had not heard much about it and upon arrival it was like moving to the villages of Tuscany. Amazing. Another super nice town is Marzameni, a fishing corner that you can visit before arriving in Syracuse. And of course, Taormina, the Saint Tropez Sicilian, elegant and chic (and with a lot of tourism). Unlike, I notice, which everyone talks about wonders, left us somewhat cold ... let's see, it's pretty, but it is that Ragusa Ibla was such a surprise that completely eclipsed her baroque sister hehe.

Another of the greats Sicilian attractions is Etna, the largest active volcano in Europe. You can climb to the top by funicular + off-road vehicle (with a payment of a few € 65) or stay at the height of the Sapienza Rifugio and do a couple of trekkings through the craters there. It is the option we choose and the ones we talk about here. You also have the option to visit it on a day tour, look:

In all trips we recommend taking the Bnext card (which does not charge commissions) and the N26 card in case the flies: we had no problems in getting money at ATMs with it, but sometimes we did not get it when paying at gas stations (Maybe it's something widespread with foreign cards).

Eye to Google Maps: It has happened to us more than once that it has put us on secondary roads, when we could have gone quietly on main roads. Check the path you are going to take before getting going.

In Sicily there are toll roads, although only the E45 is paid from Catania to Messina, and the E90 from Messina to Buonfonello. In this case Google Maps the function of “no tolls” of Google Maps works well. If you want to calculate tolls, you can look at this website

When we travel we run into a cyclone (yes, what a bad luck!) And the Google meteo I never guessed right :-p On the other hand this page did not fail once.

If you are concerned about the subject security Neglect! They told us that if you leave the car outside, your antenna may be stolen ... But come on, we never felt insecure, moreover, the Sicilians seemed very nice people. Of course, as in each destination have common sense.

You know what Roaming has been removed and therefore you can use your Spanish data and flame rate, with no additional costs. To do this you will have to enable the “data roaming” option on your phone.