sallier

I am planing a trip to Sicily in the spring of '07 but not sure if I (actually "we&quotshould join an organized tour (to get the most into our 9 day trip) or try it on our own. Have heard good things about Club ABC as they offer many various tours. Please let me know if you have used Club ABC in Sicily or have used another tour group that you could recommend. Thanks much.

RU1996

My parents swear by Club ABC Tours. They went to Sicily this past summer with them and loved it.

nessundorma

You sound like you are already leaning toward an organized tour, so what makes you hesitate?

And what do you mean by "getting the most" out of your 9-day trip? I gather some people like tours because they like the information the guides give them. Other people like tours because they more efficiently get you from place to place to place to place.

If you don't take a tour, you will need to plan a realistically doable 9-day trip, which means at best you will see one half of the island. For me, I'd rather see one-half on my own, pick my own restaurants, stay in B&Bs and be able to stop and enjoy the countryside or whatever caught my fancy.

Does the Club ABC tour include Ragusa/Noto or the other baroque towns of Sicily?

totp99

We went to Sicily as a group of 6 friends needing to arrange a tour locally. We booked an airport transfer then did a private deal with the driver to take us around the island.

I think the official price was 500 euros, the driver did it for 150

i think the company was:

http://www.palermoairporttransfer.co.uk

Jed

Did you make a deal with the driver who took you to your hotel from the airport? Did the driver just take you from place to place around the island for a few days, or was he knowledgeable with good info? What did the 150€ include?

isabel

Sicily is very easy to do on your own as long as you rent a car. There are a lot of very good roads, and even the secondary roads are not bad. We found it one of the most pleasant places to drive around. We did 11 days and felt we saw alot. We rented the car as we were leaving Palermo (I would not drive and park IN Palermo, but driving out of it was not that bad). We did two days Palermo with a half day trip by train to Cefalu. Then we drove to Erice, stopping at Segesta on the way. The next day we drove to Selunite, the following day to Agrigento. None of those days did we spend more than a couple of hours in the car. Then we spent a day driving through central Sicily, something you might want to skip if you have less time but we wanted to see some of the small hill towns. Then we spent 3 nights in Siracusa and then 3 in Taormina.

With only 9 days you could easily cut one day each from Siracusa and Taormina and maybe cut out one of the ruins. Finding lodging was no problem.

kja

And much of Sicily can be seen without a car!

infinitesicily

It really depends on your travel needs and the style of trip you want to take. There are some larger tour operating companies that will run you around the island in a 7 day/ 8 city format, which gets you to the main spots. However, there are also smaller, local companies that provide great services, a slower pace and can organize almost anything from cooking classes to olive oil harvesting/making. It is my personal opinion that these "slower" experiences are the best way to travel and get to know Sicily.

carmar

I can't imagine why anyone would take an organized tour but to each there own. We did 9 days in Sicily this past Oct. and it was easy getting around with our rental car.

3 days Palermo (we loved it!)
1 nt. Marsala (toured the winery)
1 nt. Agrigento (Valley of the Temples)
2 nts. Siracusa (very relaxing)
2 nts. Taormina (Mt. Etna was a highlight)

We had no reservations except in Palermo and it was no problem.

Sicily was wonderful but very different from the rest of Italy. Trust me when I say not much English is spoken there but that's the fun of travel.

Have a wonderful trip.

Jed

I haven't been to Sicily, but I feel that an advantage of an organized tour is that you get guiding and info that you would not get just by getting out of the car and looking, or reading a guide book.

Are there local guides that you can pick up at each spot?