We have nothing but praise for Sicily as a bike touring destination. About three days into our ride we started fantasizing about returning some day; and by the end of the tour we were talking in terms of when, not if. This is such a diverse island, and appealing in so many different ways - it feels like a distillation of all of our favorite things about cycle touring in Europe.

If you've followed along on the journal, you've of course seen already much of what we saw - the range of spectacular historical and cultural attractions, the striking landscapes, the rich network of all but deserted minor roads through the interior. I won't go through that again, but here are some overall impressions to add, in no particular order.

We found the people here to be very open, helpful and warm. I can't think of a single frustrating personal encounter, but a number of very positive ones come immediately to mind.

By Western European standards, this is a very inexpensive place to visit - more so than other places in Italy we have toured. Cost-wise, it feels similar to Greece and Iberia. I think it would be quite easy to fashion a very budget oriented tour that stayed in low cost but satisfactory B&B's or inns, ate out of markets and so on. We aren't really budget travelers, but just to use our own experience as an example: we stayed primarily in B&B's, and the typical cost for a double with breakfast was about 70 euros. In smaller and less touristy spots 50 euros was about the norm. We were staying at highly rated places that could be booked online, so I assume that less expensive options were generally available also.

In general we found the lodging quality to be very high. Many of our stays were in interesting centuries-old structures, often recently renovated, in the heart of the historical part of town. A number of them had exceptional spreads for breakfast, but the norm was more typical Italian breakfast fare - coffee, croissants, sweets, fruit, the usual. We would return to nearly all of them, but these in particular stood out as ones we recommend:
Realmonte: Villa deal Saraceno
Licata: Grangeola B&B
Enna: Antica Dimora Hotel
Piazza Armerina: Antichi Quartieri Hotel
Taormina: Hotel Victoria
Siracusa: Salotto di Maria Pia
Petralia Soprana: Hotel Rezidenza
Randazzo: Ai Tre Parchi Bed and Bike
Mazara del Vallo: Cortile Sant Agustino B&B
Palazzolo Acreide: Kalura B&B

If you do stay at any of these, you might show them our photo, say hello for us, and let them know we recommended them:

Heart

0

Comment

0

Link

Log in to comment or reply