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Rick steves reviews & ratings, this is about the store not the tours.

We purchased two backpacks from Rick Steves Europe. One of them arrived damaged and unusable. Their website says that you must contact them if you receive damaged me...

A Perfect 10

Sicily is Pure Eye Candy :: Will Leave You Wanting More :: Seamless Way To Travel The Island

A perfect "10" for the Rick Steves' Best of Sicily 11-Day Tour. My 1st tour with any company. This was a perfect combination of scheduled time and free time .. with ...

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Terrible Covid Experience

We are in Ireland now, traveling with Rick Steves Tours and a group of 27. Two days ago a member of the group tested positive for Covid, and we had all been exposed....

the best tips

All Steve’s travel books are the best tips.

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Editoral Review of Rick Steves

What makes rick steves stand out.

Rick Steves is the new Arthur Frommer, the current-day guru of European travel. Steves has parlayed a successful series of well-produced public TV and radio shows and guidebooks into a European tour business that thrives on his personal brand.

His folksy, easy-going manner and easily digested practical advice breed trust, and the public has responded. (Don’t expect Steves himself to be leading the tours, however.)

Who Will Enjoy Traveling with Rick Steves?

The general customer tends to skew older, but not in an exclusionary sense. Families, solo travelers, and multi-gen groups are all welcome and will all enjoy a trip with Rick Steves.

The tours generally involve walking however; hotels are centrally located and are often the kind of “quirky, family-run” places that Steves himself prefers.

He advises that many do not have elevators, and you may have to climb several flights of stairs -- so those who pack light and “stay in shape,” as Steves puts it, will be the happiest campers.

Top Destinations

Steves’ tours are concentrated mostly in Western Europe, though he does offer some Eastern European trips as well. You can also book special family trips. And along with single country and regional tours, you can choose to stay an entire week in Rome, Paris, London, or Istanbul, for a more intensive single city experience.

Rick Steves Travel Style

In keeping with the perspective of his famous and well read guide books, the Rick Steves travel style is about having fun, steeping yourself in rich history, and relishing in good food and wine.

Rick Steves made a name for himself bringing accessible European travel to America’s living room. Traveling on a Rick Steves tour brings the well known brand and personality to life as you experience Europe how Steves does.

You’ll probably do a lot of walking, so make sure your feet are up to the task!

Why Choose a Tour with Rick Steves?

For the peace of mind that you’re traveling with an experienced guide who knows Europe inside and out. This provides a fun, informative, enjoyable experience with little to no worry about logistical headaches - you’re free to just have a splendid vacation.

Steves offers two types of tours to Europe: fully guided, which include hotels, sightseeing and admissions, bus transport, and some meals (breakfasts and half of the dinners), and unguided “My Way” tours that appeal to more independent travelers.

The latter are less expensive and include hotels and bus transport between destinations but don’t include lunch, dinner, or sightseeing -- though escorts are available to offer advice. In both cases, groups are limited to 24-28 travelers.

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About the company.

Our mission is to inspire, inform and equip Americans to have European trips that are fun, affordable and culturally broadening. We value travel as a powerful way to better understand and contribute to the world in which we live. We strive to keep our own travel style, our world outlook and our business practices consistent with these values.

About Rick Steves

Guidebook author and travel TV host Rick Steves is America's most respected authority on European travel. Rick took his first trip to Europe in 1969, visiting piano factories with his father, a piano importer. As an 18-year-old, Rick began traveling on his own, funding his trips by teaching piano lessons. In 1976, he started his business, Rick Steves' Europe, which has grown from a one-man operation to a company with a staff of 80 full-time, well-travelled employees at his headquarters in Washington state. There he produces more than 50 guidebooks on European travel, America's most popular travel series on public television, a weekly hour-long national public radio show, a weekly syndicated column, and free travel information available through his travel center and website. Rick Steves' Europe also runs a successful European tour program. Rick Steves lives and works in his hometown of Edmonds, Washington. His office window overlooks his old junior high school.

--We research and write European guidebooks, produce a public television series and a public radio show

--We organize and lead energetic tours throughout Europe

--We sell select travel bags, guidebooks, maps, DVDs, and other travelers' supplies

--We offer travel consulting and trip planning services

--We teach do-it-yourself travel seminars

--We provide a wealth of free information about travel in Europe via our Travel Center and Website

--We travel a lot

What we don't do

--We are not travel agents, so we don't book flights, hotels, or rental cars

Rick Steves Trips & Specials

Best of Ireland in 14 Days Tour

Best of Paris in 7 Days Tour

Best of Sicily (Off-Season) in 11 Days Tour

Best of Italy in 17 Days Tour

Heart of Belgium & Holland in 11 Days Tour

My Way: Europe in 14 Days Tour

Family Europe: London to Florence in 13 Days Tour

Best of Venice Florence & Rome

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• You choose budget, destinations, activities, transport & lodging type
• Expert designs the itinerary for you, and once approved, takes care of logistics

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Review Of The Rick Steves Sicily Tour

Thinking of booking the Rick Steves Sicily tour? I just went on the 11 day October tour and I’m here to give you a review and the full scoop on what to expect.

Rick Steves is America’s leading authority on travel in Europe. His company has been organizing tours for over 30 years. Rick’s ethos is to immerse you in the local culture.

On his Sicily tour, you’ll see all of the star studded attractions. But he also adds in hidden gems and unique experiences, all the while ensuring you eat like royalty.

This was my first Rick Steves tour and only my second organized tour (first one was a Backroads bike tour in Tuscany .) I signed up because I love Rick’s books and was, frankly, just too intimidated to drive solo in Sicily. Everything I read suggested it was more difficult than other places in Europe, and I’ve had some harrowing experiences in my days.

The Sicily tour lasted 11 days, beginning in Palermo and ending in Catania. I arrived a couple days early, but also wish I had stayed a couple days after the tour to unwind.

One couple in our group were spending a few days relaxing on a beach in Cefalu at the end. It sounded very appealing after a whirlwind tour. I just had to get back for another gig.

Review of Rick Steves Sicily Tour

Here’s my honest review of everything you can expect on a Rick Steves tour of Sicily, with detailed information on the guides, hotels, itineraries, etc. This was not a sponsored trip; I paid for it myself (as I always do).

1. Arrival In Palermo

Because the Rick Steves tour starts in Palermo, you’ll want to fly into Palermo Airport. You can fly into Palermo from Rome, London, Paris, Milan, Munich, New York, and Barcelona. 

The set taxi rate for getting from the airport to the city center is 40 euros. However, drivers sometimes take advantage of tourists by increasing the price, so decide on a price before you leave. To avoid negotiating, you can  book a private transfer  from the airport to your hotel, which is what I did.

You can also get to Palermo by train using the train ferry across the Strait of Messina. Palermo Centrale Station is fairly central, about 15 minutes walk from Palermo Cathedral. There are buses, taxis, and trams to get to your hotel.

I would plan to arrive at least 2 days in advance, in case there’s an airline snafu, to recover from jet lag, and/or to see some of the Palermo sites Rick’s tour doesn’t cover. Or, perhaps plan to spend a few days in Rome first.

By arriving early, I was able to see some amazing sites not on the tour, including:

• the trio of Piazza Bellini churches
• the Capuchin Catacombs
• the Palatine Chapel
• Palermo Cathedral
• Massimo Theater
• Capo Market

You could also squeeze some of these sites into your free afternoon on day 2 of the trip.

I noticed in his book, Rick says you can skip the Palatine Chapel if you’re seeing Monreale Cathedral. I respectfully don’t agree, though I concede that it’s a pricey attraction by Sicily standards. I also recommend climbing to the cathedral rooftop at sunset before dinner.

2. The Guides

You can expect to have outstanding guides. This is the best thing about the tour.

Our principal guide was David Tordi. He has to be one of the friendliest, most knowledgable, and entertaining guides I’ve ever had. And I go on a lot of tours in my job as a travel blogger.

David was extremely professional and provided flawless execution. You won’t have to spend a second worrying about the logistics of your tour or the hassle of getting to and fro.

More importantly, on top of being a cool guy, David has a unique and valuable talent that we all covet — the “power over rain.”

Day 3 of our tour began with a heavy downpour as we headed to Segesta. Without an umbrella, I was pondering whether I would even have the gumption to get off the bus.

But, after some top secret incantations, David miraculously “stopped” the rain the moment we pulled into the parking lot. Perfecto !

David also regaled us with delightful vignettes. One afternoon, on a longish bus ride, he delivered a primer on Italian dialects, doing imitations of the linguistic variations of each region of Italy. Lucca, he claimed, is where the most perfect Italian is spoken.

Another time, we learned all about Italian hand gestures, including the ways to say someone is crazy, really crazy, and SUPER Italian-style crazy. Being married to an Italian American, I found this information quite useful.

As our tour manager, David squired us around each day, gave us orientation tours, and historical commentary about the attractions and towns. But we also had some excellent local guides. I had two favorites.

I was particularly taken by Jackie Alio, our guide in Palermo and Monreale. It was almost like having an art professor lead your tour. When she mentioned the Baroque artist Artemisia Gentileshi , one of my favorites, I was sold.

I also enjoyed the elegant man who toured us around the Valley of the Temples in Agrigento, “Professor” Michele Gallo.

3. Who Goes On A Rick Steves Tour?

There will be 24-28 people on your tour. On ours, in mid-October, there were 28. Quite a few of these people were loyal repeat customers from the Pacific Northwest.

Before I left for Sicily, I had worried that 28 people would seem like a very large group, especially because I usually travel independently and set my own schedule. But it didn’t take that long to learn names and make friends.

This tour was for couples, solos, and friends. There were also two adult children on the tour. The age of people skews older, from maybe 50-70.

I was the only solo traveler on this tour. But it was no issue for me because I frequently travel solo and everyone was very friendly (and well traveled!).

Rick has a “no grumps” policy for his tours, which apparently attracts high quality people who steadfastly refuse to complain about minor inconveniences.

I will say that I was relentlessly shamed and mocked on a daily basis for not abiding by a Rick Steves’ “rule” — hand luggage only.

I am not really a hand luggage only kind of person. The notion of doing laundry on a vacation is absolutely unappealing to me. Time spent doing laundry vs. seeing stuff? Plus, I was traveling with guide books, laptop, iPad — travel blogger gear.

But I took my shaming well and was honestly in awe of some of the tiny suitcases people got by with pursuant to his instructions.

4. The Hotel Situation

No review of the Rick Steves Sicily tour would be complete without discussing the accommodations.

Reading the online description of the types of hotels Rick chooses, I was frankly a bit terrified going in.

He warns you in advance that the hotels may be noisy, sends you ear plugs in the mail, and threatens that you may have to haul luggage up exhausting flights of stairs. The latter threat, no doubt, is intended to prompt compliance with his “hand luggage only” recommendation.

As a heat intolerant person, the thing that scared me most was the possible lack of air conditioning. Egad!

Even though I was traveling in mid-October, it was hot, 75-80 degrees. It felt more like Augustober than October.

I’m happy to report, however, that none of these rather alarming potential hotel problems came to pass. Every hotel we stayed in had an elevator and solid AC.

Just expect comfy, not luxe, accommodations. On this tour, our hotels were mostly 4 star hotels. However, some of them seemed a bit less than that quality level.

Your rooms will be quite small, as is typical for Europe. I may have gotten the smallest rooms as a solo traveler. But I couldn’t see how some of the rooms could comfortably fit a couple and their luggage. You wouldn’t want to hang out in them.

We only stayed in one apartment style hotel, in Trapani. It was a super nice to have a large room to work in and an Nespresso maker on the shelf.

Not that the hotels were disappointing. They were perfectly fine, just not a highlight of the trip.

On previous trips to Tuscany and Umbria , I have stayed in some fantastic places and felt that it enhanced the experience. And I really am just more of an Air Bnb/VBRO person.

That said, the hotels were all centrally located for easy OYO sightseeing. They weren’t generic and many came complete with lovely rooftop decks offering panoramic views.

The staff were always friendly and the breakfast spreads were pretty darn delicious. I loved the persimmons!

If you are picky about hotels, I would try to do some research to figure out what hotels X tour uses before booking. (Though this information is not officially released until a month prior to your departure date.)

I did have to pay a single’s supplement since I was a solo traveler, which reduced the value metric of the trip a bit. (Rick, no grown up wants to share a room with a stranger!)

5. Activity Level

Rick bills his tours as extremely active. The Sicily tour, however, was not particularly so.

Sicily is massive. Since we were circling the the whole island, we spent plenty of time on the bus. (Though some of the driving was beautiful, as if you were surrounded by frescos.)

Of course “active” is a relative thing. I am on the busy side and generally prefer to walk 8-10 miles a day when touring Europe.

I’d say, on the guided bits, most days we only walked 2-3 miles. Of course, you’re always able to tramp around during the “free” time.

6. Early Start Times

So, I will say upfront that I am not a morning person and that colors my opinion on this matter. Left to my own devices, I might sleep in until 9:00 am. I’ll often book guided tours that start at 10:00 am or noon when traveling on my own.

But we had early starts every day on the Rick Steves Sicily tour, with breakfast starting at 7:30 am and the bus typically leaving between 8:15-8:45 am.

Before the take off time, you’ll have to gobble down breakfast, inject espresso, finish packing up, check out of the hotel, and get your bags down the elevator. Whew!

To me, this isn’t an ideal way to start the day, very hectic and a tad grueling.

I understand the intent of the early start. We had some long bus rides and the aim is to hit the attractions before the crowds and build in some free time to relax before dinner.

But I would have loved a better balance. It would have been nice to have one day, just one, in the middle of the tour where the “free time” came in the morning. Just to catch up on sleep and reboot. Judging by the people snoozing on the bus rides, I’d say others were a bit sleep deprived as well.

7. Free Time

Rick designs his tour in a 50/50 way. 50% of the time you’re on your own and 50% of the time you’re on guided tours.

I found this to be the perfect combination, at least for me. It’s good to have a bit of time away from the group and people have different sightseeing interests.

Some want to hit the beach, take a nap, or shop for local goodies. Others, like me, will doggedly search out another ruin or Caravaggio painting to admire.

8. What’s Included

Another thing I loved about the tour is that most things were included in the tour price. We didn’t have to waste time standing in lines to buy attraction tickets or figuring out how much to tip the local guides. It was nice for me to have a break from logistics.

As for food, the tour included all breakfasts and about half the lunches and dinners. In general, the food was very good on the trip because, well, Sicily and its fresh food. (Though I won’t crave eggplant for awhile.)

The lunches at local places in the countryside were absolutely scrumptious and a huge highlight of the trip. Casa Bianca was the best!

So, you are basically responsible for the cost of your drinks and free time, though we even had a couple surprise cocktail hours that David arranged.

9. Covid Policy

Rick has a strict Covid policy, which means you definitely need travel insurance for your trip. You have to sign a contract that promises you won’t go on the trip if you’ve had Covid with 14 days of the scheduled departure.

Before you start the tour, you need to take a Covid test within 24 hours and show a photo of a negative result. This had the effect of knocking one person off the tour. And you can’t rejoin the tour if you later test negative.

As of now, you also have to wear masks (N95s) on the bus and in smaller interior spaces.

10. Review of the Rick Steves Sicily Itinerary

The best thing about a Rick Steves tour is the extraordinary care he takes in designing the tour itinerary.

It’s the perfect mix of breathtaking landscapes, ancient ruins, great food and wine at various agriturismos and restaurants, and a hefty dose of culture.

Here’s what we did:

• Day 1 : Palermo

The first day we had a welcome meeting at the Ambasciatori Hotel , did paperwork, and went over the rules.

We also picked “buddies.” This is a Rick Steves’ invention designed to shortcut the process of making sure everyone is in attendance by avoiding a long and tedious roll call.

You pick a buddy that isn’t your spouse. And then check for them at every departure point. A great idea! (I’ll note that our tour did not play the hokey “buddy introduction” or “name game” that I’ve read about, and I was glad of that.)

The first tour activity was positively brilliant. We had a private tour from the reigning contessa of her centuries old mansion, the Palazzo Federico Conte . Her husband is a descendent of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.

The palace is a “lasagna of history.” A visit is like a walk through the layers of Palermo’s history, from the Arab, Norman, and Baroque periods. The bubbly countess was the perfect tour guide. So giddy was she that I almost expected her to break out in song.

This was a unique experience, not one that you would get on your own. It was vintage Rick Steves and a great way to kick off the tour.

• Day 2 : Palermo + Monreale

On day 2, Jackie Alio gave us a walking tour of parts of Palermo, including Ballaro Market and the beautiful Baroque-styled Gesu Church.

Then, we hopped on the bus to visit the spectacular Monreale Cathedral and its cloisters.

Monreale is the world’s most famous Arab-Norman cathedral. There’s an astonishing 68,000 feet of glittering Byzantine mosaics set against 2 tons of gold leaf. It reminded me of St. Mark’s Cathedral in  Venice .

After lunch, we had the rest of the late afternoon and evening free. I had booked a Palermo nighttime street food tour. Since I wasn’t under David’s magical protection, I got poured on!

I tried the required “spleen sandwich.” But I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. I was much happier with arancina, caponata, octopus, and other treats.

Day 3 : Segesta + Erice

On the third day, we had a very busy schedule. We began by visiting the Greek-inspired Elymian ruins at Segesta, which include a well-preserved temple and theater.

Afterward, we had a tasty lunch of local specialties that our host Mark claimed we devoured like “locusts.” We also had a wonderful pastry making demonstration from Maria Grammatico.

Maria is a famous local pastry chef and the queen of Sicilian pastry. She’s led a compelling life. She was raised in the 1950s by strict cloistered nuns and taught the art of Sicilian pastries.

When she was freed from the convent at age 22, Maria launched a thriving business and published a cookbook called  Bitter Almonds .

We sampled her fresh baked goodies, which are made from 400 year old recipes — “nuns’ boobies,” “beautiful uglies,” and cannoli made with fresh sheep milk ricotta. Simply delicious!

We then went to explore the clifftop village of Erice, where Maria has her famous pastry shop.

Erice was socked in with fog, so we couldn’t ride the gondola to the top. We drove up a long winding road instead, which reminded me why I didn’t want to drive in Silicy.

Erice is a fetching medieval hamlet with plenty of cobbled lanes to explore, a temple with a view, and a cathedral bell tower to climb. We were set free to wander on our own, while David held off the rain.

We then took the bus to the seaside town of Trapani and had an orientation walk. The old town is a little art book, with honey colored Baroque architecture.

Day 4 : Trapani + Mozia

On day 4, we visited the Trapani salt flats and the Island of Mozia. For me (others may disagree), this was my least favorite day on Rick’s Sicily tour.

There are so many amazing things to do and see in Sicily. I would have preferred to eliminate this day and instead have spent another night in Syracuse with a day trip to the Baroque cities of Noto and Ragusa. Or had a day in Cefalu.

The Trapani salt pans were only mildly interesting to me (YMMV). We had a delicious lunch on the Island of Mozia, but were plagued by swarms of mosquitos.

Mozia is home to some Carthaginian ruins. But because the settlement was destroyed, there’s just not much to look at. I’m usually an avid ruin luster, but my reaction was mostly “meh.”

Had I known, I would have slept in and done my own thing. But I had FOMO about the Carthaginian ruins, which was unwarranted.

We stayed overnight in Trapani again at Badia Nuovo . I got a delicious pizza to go from Pizzeria Calvino (per David’s recommendation) and caught up on some blog work.

Day 5 : Agrigento

The next day we were off to Agrigento to tour the UNESCO-listed Valley of the Temples . The complex is the world’s largest archaeological site and Sicily’s star attraction with spectacular Greek ruins.

Plus, there’s a well-curated museum you can visit as a starter course. You can admire a giant stone telamon , which once held up the Temple of Zeus, and a huge collection of Greek vases. Three telamons are scattered on the remains of the Temple of Zeus.

After a hot day, we drove to our next hotel in the countryside, Baglio della Luna .

David arranged a cocktail hour and we had a group dinner onsite. The setting was lovely, but the food was not up to snuff compared to other meals.

In general, I would urge you not to eat at hotel restaurants and seek out a real Sicilian trattoria.

Day 6 : Villa Romana del Casale + Casa Bianco

Day 6 was a splendid day. We began by visiting the UNESCO-listed Villa Romana del Casale . It’s an incredibly mosaicked country villa built by Roman aristocrats in the 4th century.

I’ve seen plenty of Roman mosaics in my time, from  museums in Rome  to the  Getty Villa  in Los Angeles. But nothing compares to this treasure chest villa, not even remotely.

Villa Romana del Casale has the world’s largest collection of  in situ  Roman mosaics — 3,700 square feet. It might have been my favorite individual attraction on the tour. This is one place where I think a guided tour would have been preferable to browsing the mosaics on your own.

Then, we headed to the Casa Bianca, a working farm, for a lazy Sunday meal. The owner/Baroness graciously welcomed everyone as we got off the bus.

This was, hands down, the best meal I had on the Rick Steves Sicily tour. Everything was delicious. There were so many courses, I couldn’t do them justice. My table got a nonna -style scolding for not completely polishing off our plates of food.

Then, after another bus ride, we landed in Syracuse, staying in the historic center on the island of Ortigia.

Siracusa was my favorite city on the trip. Founded by the Greeks in 734 B.C., the city has architecture and archaeological sites that span centuries. It’s full of old world charm, ornate Baroque churches, winding streets, and hipster wine bars and trattorias.

We had an orientation walking tour with David. Then, I had dinner at Cantina Rampa , where I dined with one of my fave couples from the tour.

Day 7: Syracuse

In the morning, we had a guided tour with Lilliana. She took us through the Ortigia Street Market, Syracuse Cathedral, the Piazza del Duomo, the Arab Quarter, and the Jewish Quarter.

In the Jewish Quarter, we stopped in for a performance at the traditional Sicilian puppet theater. I admit, I left early because I had the UNESCO-listed Neapolis Archaeological Park on my agenda as a bucket list item.

You can get there via taxi from the Temple of Apollo in Ortigia for 15 euros. Or just take the 30-35 minute walk, which is what I opted to do.

The park is well worth a visit. It features one of the largest and most impressive Greek theaters in existence, as well as an elliptical Roman arena and grottos. There’s not much signage, so I recommend  booking a guided tour .

I actually tried to book a private tour on Get Your Guide myself, but they weren’t operating on Monday. Monday is a tough day to be in Syracuse because all the museums and some churches are closed.

If you are an art lover like me, you can also visit the Church of Santa Lucia al Sepulcro to see the Baroque artist Caravaggio’s magnificent  The Burial of St. Lucia . The Sepulcro is about a 20-25 minute walk from the archaeological park.

The Internet will tell you that the painting is in the Church of Santa Lucia on Piazza Duomo or the Bellomo Museum in the Jewish Quarter. But, in fact, it’s on the mainland in Neapolis, a key tip I got from Lilliana.

READ : Where To Find Caravaggio’s Art In Rome

Day 8: Etna + Taormina

Day 8 was fabulous, one of my favorite days on the tour. We began by scampering over the Silvestri craters on Mt. Etna.

“Mamma Etna” is the world’s most active volcano and one of the four UNESCO sites in eastern Sicily. Mt. Etna has been erupting for 500,000 years. 

She’s perpetually smoking. David called her a “chain smoker.”

There are two craters to hike, an upper and lower crater. If you are a fast hiker, you can squeeze them both in, which I did. But be forewarned, the upper crater requires a very steep uphill hike. I was wearing Birkenstocks, which was not ideal, but I managed.

After the hike, we enjoyed a wine and food pairing at Benanti Winery on the slopes of Etna. Wine, our host Francesco opined, is “an ingredient, not a drink.”

The wine was excellent, with a nice minerality. You’ll be able to order some to be shipped back to the US. (I’m still waiting for mine!)

Once in Taormina, we checked into the Hotel Continental and attended a lecture by the very animated vulcanologist Boris Behncke. He gave us plenty of information on the “grumpy but generous” volcano.

Afterward, we had cocktails at the hotel’s fantastic rooftop sky bar. A group of us struck out to find a good restaurant and settled in at Adduma , a great Sicilian eatery tucked away at the top of Vico Giordano Bruno.

Day 9: Taormina + Castlemola

Day 9 began with a walking tour of beautiful Taormina with our guide Franco D’Angelo. We made it to the Greek Theater, Taormina’s top attraction, before the cruise ships poured in.

In the afternoon, there was free time. Some took the gondola down to hit the beach at Isola Bella. Others of us made the trek up to Castelmola, a cliff hanging medieval village even higher than Taormina.

You can get there by taxi for 30 euros, hike up, or take the local bus. We tried to take the local bus, but it was full and whizzed by us.

So we taxied up, enjoyed the views, and snacked on some gelato. The walk back down took about an hour.

That night, we had a Sicilian pizza dinner at Pizzeria Villa Zuccaria in Taormina.

And the Italian air traffic controllers decided to go on strike. Dio mio! One by one, most of us had our flights home cancelled. David diligently helped people make alternative arrangements.

Day 10: Catania

On our last official day of the tour, we drove from Taormina to the bustling and colorful city of Catania . We first visited the Allied Landings Museum on the edge of town, perhaps of most interest to military history or WWII buffs. We had a brief neighborhood orientation and then were set free to explore.

Most people ate lunch in Catania’s famous Fish Market, which is one of the most wild and rollicking markets that I saw in Sicily. I skipped lunch to dash around town and see the sites, Roman ruins, and other markets.

I was rebooked to leave Thursday night instead of Friday morning. So, unfortunately, I missed the final group dinner, where David — who also has magical musical powers — played guitar and sang for the group.

The Rick Steves Sicily tour is really 10 days, not 11. Day 11 simply ends with breakfast in Catania at Romano House Hotel .

Overall, the itinerary was well balanced to give you a taste of everything from the west coast to the east coast of Sicily.

If I were designing the itinerary for myself, I might do something like this (with less time on the west coast):

• Day 3 : Segesta (AM), Erice (PM)
• Day 4 : Agrigento (AM), Villa Romano del Casale (PM)
• Day 5 : Syracuse
• Day 6 : Syracuse
• Day 7 : Day Trip to Ragusa and Noto from Syracuse
• Day 8 : Mt. Etna & Winery
• Day 9 : Taormina
• Day 10 : Taormina + Castelmola
• Day 11 : Cefalu
• Day 12 : Cefalu

To me, 12 days would’ve better than 10 days, there’s just so much to see in Sicily. But, of course, you can stay before or after to see more on your own.

Alternatively, for less traveling from hotel to hotel, it might make sense to have a base on the west coast (Trapani) and a base on the east coast (Syracuse) and simply day trip from those bases.

You could bookend the two bases with 2 days in Palermo at the beginning and 2 days in Cefalu at the end (to have a vacation from your vacation).

11. Final Thoughts

Overall, the Rick Steves Sicily tour was exceptional. Sicily has long been on my bucket list and the tour met my expectations. Though I usually opt for individual travel, the tour was a carefree way to get around Sicily easily and effortlessly.

What really stood out as pros for me were:

• David, our fantastic tour manager
• the excellent local tour guides
• the unique experiences
• some truly excellent meals
• my fun group of traveling companions

My nit picky cons (keeping it real) were some of the hotels, the unrelenting early start times, and having to change hotels so frequently. But I knew this all in advance, so was prepared.

The cons pale in comparison to the magnificent sites of Sicily and the great tours I had bringing them to life. My one regret is that I did not have enough granita!

I hope you’ve enjoyed my review of Rick Steves’ Sicily tour. You may enjoy these other Sicily travel guides and resources:

• 2 days in Palermo itinerary
• 2 days in Syracuse itinerary
• 2 days in Trapani itinerary
• 1 day in Catania itinerary
• 1 day in Taormina itinerary
• Guide to the Valley of the Temples
• Guide to Villa Romana del Casale
• Guide to Monreale Cathedral
• Guide to the Norman Palace and Palatine Chapel
• Guide To Palermo Cathedral

If you need a review of Rick Steves Sicily tour, pin it for later.

7 thoughts on “Review Of The Rick Steves Sicily Tour”

Fabulous summary! I’m going on this trip in November 2023,and will keep your suggestions in mind. The hand luggage will indeed be a challenge for me! Thank you.

Enjoy! it won’t be as hot in November! Yeah, 2 weeks is a long time for only hand luggage. I didn’t find it to be a problem. All the hotels had elevators.

Excellent info! We’re taking the Feb. 27, 2024 tour, so this has been extremely helpful. Thanx so much! It would be helpful to explain abbreviations, e. g., YMMV, FOMO (I googled them).

Thanks Ray! Have fun in Sicily!

This is such a useful breakdown thank you. I am a 72 yo introverted Aussie (yes they do exist) and am thinking 2024 is probably my last northern hemisphere trip simply because the vast distances are becoming daunting.

I have mostly travelled independently but suspect those days are behind me. I can still walk 3 plus miles at one hit and manage stairs so I am not worried about that. What does concern me though is the relentless nature of the daily grind. I would do as you suggest and miss the tour on day 4 to allow a rested start, but you also suggest the concept of staying independently in the various cities. And travelling to the sights. Do many of the locations offer day bus trips/ tours and thinking about it, would that be any more restful (and probably less fun than with a group)

Did your tour include people from places other than the USA at all? And was there anyone as old as 73 (my age during my desired travel time)?

If you could answer any of these queries I would be extremely grateful. Thanks in anticipation, Elizabeth

Hi Elizabeth! Sicily is hard to get around on your own. That’s why I did the tour myself (as a solo). There were people your age on my tour. I think the people on my tour were just from the US. But I think that’s just bc that’s where Rick Steves is best known. I don’t think it would matter at all you being an Aussie. Everyone was very friendly. But it’s fine to be an introvert too. It was a bit of a grind, but then I’m not an early bird. There was time to rest for a couple hours in the later afternon. But I pretty much kept busy then. You could stay independently at the start and/or end of the trip, not really in the middle. The tour starts in Palermo and there are guided day tours from that city, if you wanted to see Cefalu before the RS tour started for example. You can also book guided walking tours in the city itself.

Thanks Leslie Much appreciated. Cheers E

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Last Updated on November 15, 2022 by Leslie Livingston

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Rick Steves on the Return of Travel and Why It Matters

The travel writer and TV personality is back in Europe, planning itineraries for next year. Travel, he says, can help us understand the world. Here’s how he recommends doing it.

By Paige McClanahan

On a recent morning, Rick Steves was wandering around the ancient Tuscan town of Volterra with a new crop of tour guides. His company’s trips to Europe are set to resume in February after a nearly two-year pandemic hiatus, and the guides were midway through a nine-day trip around Italy to learn “what makes a Rick Steves tour a Rick Steves tour.” One of the stops on their itinerary was Volterra, a medieval hilltop town whose stone walls are 800 years old. Mr. Steves — who has been to Tuscany many times for his popular public broadcasting show and YouTube channel — was relishing being back.

“We’re surrounded by the wonders of what we love so much, and it just makes our endorphins do little flip-flops,” he said during a phone interview.

That unabashed enthusiasm has fueled Mr. Steves’s empire of guidebooks, radio shows and TV programs, as well as tours that have taken hundreds of thousands of Americans overseas since he started running them in 1980.

Along the way, Mr. Steves has built a reputation for convincing hesitant Americans to make their first trip abroad — and that first trip is often to Europe, which Mr. Steves has called “the wading pool for world exploration.” But he also speaks passionately about the value of travel to places like El Salvador and Iran, and he’s open about how his time in other countries has shaped his views on issues like world hunger and the legalization of marijuana.

But Europe remains Mr. Steves’s bread and butter, and he’s back on the Continent now — both to prepare for the return of his tours and to work on a six-hour series on European art and architecture that he hopes will be broadcast on U.S. public television next fall. As he wandered through Volterra, we talked about why he doesn’t count the number of countries he’s visited, why his tour company will require vaccinations and why a world without travel would be a more dangerous place.

Our conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

What does it feel like to be back in Europe?

I’m working with 20 guides here and people are almost tearfully emotional about the rekindling of tourism. Professional tour guides have been on hold for two seasons, and they’re just so filled with joy to be able to do what they do, because guides are wired to enthuse and inspire and teach about their culture and their art and their history. And it’s just so fun to be here and be filled with hope. And while we’re still in the pandemic, we’re also coming out of it and there’s an energy in the streets and in the museums.

Do you think Americans are ready to travel overseas again?

I would say it’s not for everybody, but if you don’t mind being well-organized and if you’re enthusiastic about following the regulations and rules, it’s not a big deal. And Europe is ahead of the United States, I believe, in fighting Covid. There’s a huge respect for masks. More museums are requiring reservations to get in because they want to make sure it’s not crowded. It’s kind of a blessing, actually. I was just in the Vatican Museum and really enjoying the Sistine Chapel because it wasn’t so darned crowded. That was an amazing experience for me because the last time I was there, I had to wear shoulder pads.

You have long held that travel can do a lot of good in the world, but what about carbon emissions, overcrowding and other negative effects of travel?

Climate change is a serious problem and tourism contributes a lot to it, but I don’t want to be flight-shamed out of my travels, because I think travel is a powerful force for peace and stability on this planet. So my company has a self-imposed carbon tax of $30 per person we take to Europe. In 2019, we gave $1 million to a portfolio of organizations that are fighting climate change. We gave half that amount in 2020, even though we stopped bringing people to Europe after the pandemic hit. It’s nothing heroic. It’s just the ethical thing to do.

And in terms of other problems, when you go to Europe, you can consume in a way that doesn’t dislocate pensioners and ruin neighborhoods. Landlords anywhere in the world can make more money renting to short-term tourists than long-term local people . So, if you complain that a city is too touristy and you’re staying in an Airbnb — well, you’re part of the problem.

But we would be at a great loss if we stopped traveling, and the world would become a more dangerous place. We need to travel in a “leave only footprints, take only photos” kind of way. What you want to do is bring home the most beautiful souvenir, and that’s a broader perspective and a better understanding of our place on the planet — and then employ that broader perspective as a citizen of a powerful nation like the United States that has a huge impact beyond our borders.

How do you try to encourage people to travel in a meaningful way?

The responsibility of the travel writer is to help people travel smarter, with more experience, and more economically and more efficiently. And everybody has their own idea of what that is, but for me, it’s about remembering that travel is all about people. It’s about getting out of your comfort zone and trying something new. So we’re trying to help Americans travel in a way that’s more experiential and more thought-provoking and more transformational. You know, you can have transformational travel or you can just have a shopping trip and a bucket list.

You’ve said that you don’t keep track of how many countries you’ve visited. Why is that?

Why would you? Is it a contest? Anybody who brags about how many countries they’ve been to — that’s no basis for the value of the travel they’ve done. You could have been to 100 countries and learned nothing, or you can go to Mexico and be a citizen of the planet. I find that there’s no correlation between people who count their countries and people who open their heart and their soul to the cultures they’re in.

I hear you’re working on a big new project. What’s that about?

Something I’ve been preparing to do for 20 years is to collect all the most beautiful art experiences we’ve included in our TV show and weave it together into a six-hour series of European art and architecture. We’ve been working on the show for the last year, and it’s going to be my opus magnum, my big project. It’s going to make art accessible and meaningful to people in a way that I don’t think we’ve seen on TV before. I’m inspired by people who have done art series in the past, and I’ve got a way to look at it through the lens of a traveler. I’m very excited about it. It’s just a cool creative challenge.

What have things been like for your tour company since the pandemic hit?

Well, 2019 was our best year ever. We took 30,000 Americans on about 1,200 different tours and we were just euphoric. We had 2020 essentially sold out when Covid hit, and then we had to cancel everything, so we had to send back 24,000 deposits. We all hunkered down, and I’ve done what I can to keep my staff intact. A couple of months ago, we decided we’re confident about the spring of 2022, so we opened the floodgates and immediately those 24,000 people that had to cancel two years ago — basically, they re-signed up. And now we’ve got 29,000 people signed up out of 30,000 seats for next year.

So we’re doing really good, but we just have to continue the diligence in our society and in Europe of fighting Covid responsibly. So I’m kind of losing patience with anti-vaxxers. Maybe they’re exercising their liberty, but they’re also impacting a lot of other people. So we’ve just decided to require that people have vaccinations to go on our tours. Here in Europe, unvaccinated people would be standing outside most of the time anyway — because they couldn’t get into the restaurants, onto the train, onto the bus or into the museums. The world is getting progressively smaller for people who want to travel but not get a vaccination.

Do you think travel will ever feel normal again?

There were certain people who decided they didn’t want to travel after 9/11 because they didn’t want to deal with security. You know, those people have a pretty low bar for folding up their shop. I got used to the security after 9/11, and I’m getting used to Covid standards now. But I do think that, come next year, we’ll be back to traveling again — and I hope that we’ll all be better for it.

Paige McClanahan is the host of The Better Travel Podcast .

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