“And anyone who has once known this land can never be quite free from the nostalgia for it.”
Our own Sicilian love affair started on a balcony three-storeys high in Palermo, sipping cold birra Moretti from the bottle as the sun baked everything below. The candystripe blinds on opposing balconies were sensibly pulled down to block out the heat and the light, and the man on the corner bellowed out his melodies to sell greasy lunchtime snacks. To the left, an elderly woman in the quintessential housedress of the nonna lowered her bucket from the fifth floor to her friend on the pavement below, patiently waiting to deliver letters and fresh fruit toward the skies.
With a month ahead of us on this very much, but not quite, Italian island, we knew that Sicily promised so much to the traveller.
And we felt certain it would deliver.
In this post, we've shared our personal pick of the very best experiences and things to do in Sicily. Although it isn't possible to squeeze absolutely everything into a two-week holiday, that's not something to be concerned about; many of the moments and experiences which make Sicily so special are found across the island and in the moments in between destinations or attractions, rather than in one specific place. However, as you’re probably the middle of planning your own itinerary, we've curated this article to help you know exactly where you have to be on the island in order to visit certain places or do certain activities (and included links to our personal guides for all of them so you can find everything you need for your visit).
We had an almost perfect month of road tripping the island together, but we already know we're going to return to Sicily next year. After all, some love affairs should be more than just a summer fling…
These are 13 wonderful things to do in Sicily.
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The Best Things To Do in Sicily
Savour The Scenes & The Stories
Many have fallen for the charms of this land just off the toe of mainland Italy's boot, and all of you reading this in anticipation of visiting will eventually succumb to Sicily's allure too.
The moment may reveal itself when your skin is dry and salty by the azure seaside in the north or as you explore a beautiful Baroque backstreet in the south, in the taste of your first greasy sfincione or on a winding drive towards the stories and ruins of the ancients through a countryside toasted golden. It may be in a fleeting interaction with groups of leathered old men gossiping in sing-song and gesticulation, a cold-blooded reappraisal of its most infamous exports, a glance and nod to a stranger as you gaze in awe at one of several UNESCO sites, or simply as you watch the world go by in a piazza with your obligatory early evening Aperol Spritz in hand.
Trust us though, the moment will come.
Travel slowly, observe the serendipitous scenes of a Sicilian summer, get lost rather than ticking off a bucket list, be curious about the island’s past and its stories, breathe in the salty air and find the magic in the moments in between the destinations.
Your moment will come.
Devour Authentic Sicilian Food
Pack your eating shorts and trousers for this trip, you're going to need them.
Italian food gets everybody excited; but if we told you that Sicilian cuisine was on a whole different level, you'd rightly get very very excited.
The food of this land is simple, local, affordable, and delicious. Travelling to the east or the west brings you to dishes which you will struggle to find on the other side, let alone elsewhere in Italy, and several dishes hint at the influence of North African neighbours through the centuries. Pistachios, almonds, and seafood feature heavily, as well as all the locally produced staples of the Italian kitchen. As a visitor, tapping into Siciliy's food culture is not just a way to fill up or get energy - it's a way to connect with the stories of generations past and future.
And it's an absolute privilege.
Start with pasta con le sarde by the sea, which proves that sardines and sultanas pair surprisingly beautifully. Grab a freshly stuffed and fried arancini, the perfect afternoon rice ball snack, or take to the hectic markets of Palermo to find out why its one of the best cities in the world for street food (seriously, it is). Head west to Trapani for couscous alla trapanese or a lunchtime bowl of deliciously simply pesto all trapanese made with the regional busiate pasta.
Wash everything down with local wines or top it off with a pick-me-up thick, dark espresso. When it's too hot, discover the wonderfullness of a lemony crushed ice granita, a local treat which we wish was global.
Don't go to tourist-focussed restaurants - try out random little local places as much as you can. The best bowl of pasta Emily has ever had was in a almost-closing restaurant in a sleepy village at 2 pm, where they knocked us up a quick pasta alla norma (now our new favourite pasta dish to cook at home) - that's what it's all about in Sicily. And go out of your way to do a cooking class too.
And, did you know that, in Sicily, you can even have a brioche con gelato in the morning and nobody will judge? That's right, ice cream for breakfast!
Get. Very. Excited.
Beaches, Swimming, and Parasol Days
The Italians are capable of making anything a beach. And, if you're flying to Sicily expecting a long stretch of soft, golden sand at every place that’s called a beach, then you’re in for a little bit of a surprise…
However, this is not something to despair about in the slightest - as a few days in Sicily will utter transform your appreciation of what a perfect day at the seaside actually requires.
Photogenic clusters of patterned parasols, plunging into bathwater warm crystal blue waters, and bronzed bodies in bikinis and budgie smugglers lounging on cliffs and sandstone like sea lions.
As the largest Mediterranean island, you’re never going to be that far from a spiaggia (beach), a lido (essentially a private beach club), or a cala (cove). Some will underwhelm, whilst others will be utterly perfect - that’s simply the way things go when everywhere on the coast becomes a beach!
THE DETAILS
There are more than enough stretches of long sandy beach all around the island for those looking for those looking for a more traditional beach day. Keep an out for Mondello, San Vito lo Capo, Castellamarre del Golfo, Giardini Naxos, Pantanello, San Lorenzo, and Spiaggia di San Giuliano on the outskirts of Trapani. There are also gorgeous wild beaches on the south of Sicily which we really liked, like Torre Salsa and Eraclea Minoa.
In terms of our favourites places to spend a day sunning ourselves in Sicily, it was without doubt on the island of Favignana, whilst enjoying sunset with chalky feet on the milky white cliffs of Scala di Turchi is a divine experience.
Conquer The Most Active Volcano on Earth
On the east coast of Sicily, Europe’s highest and most active volcano dominates the skyline.
Billows of thick smoke and sparks of lava from Mount Etna are not an uncommon sight to see, but walking to the summit of this UNESCO World Heritage site is also a very popular activity for all sorts of travellers (not just those who takes risks or are addicted to adrenalin).
Mount Etna's gravelly, dark terrain is otherworldly, and offers up a very different way to spend the day in Sicily beyond the beaches and beauty elsewhere.
The volcano can be fully explored year-round with a summit tour (we did this one) or you can visit certain areas independently via the cable car (the new one - the old one was destroyed by, you guessed it, lava). It’s a pretty easy hike, but not something for your flip-flops and beachwear, especially given the 3,300m altitude at the summit.
THE DETAILS
Located on the eastern side of the island, Mount Etna is easily accessible by car from the popular town of Taormina, the city of Catania, as well as little towns like Aci Reale.
To plan your own trip or find a good tour option, take a look at this post: Everything You Need To Know to Visit Mount Etna.
If one volcano in Sicily just isn't enough, then you can also visit and hike Mount Stromboli - the island volcano just off northern Sicily. This Stromboli sunset trek sounds awesome!
Spend A Few Days in Palermo
The capital of the island, Palermo has recently emerged as a wonderful alternative European city break destination in its own right - and serves as the perfect start point for your own Sicilian summer. Led by a mayor who brought the fight to the mafia, it straddles between the Sicily of yesterday and the Sicily of tomorrow.
Aside from its unrivalled street food scene, a stay here allows you to spend the morning in markets which are unlike any others we’ve visited in Europe, visit the pretty Royal Palace aand gaze out from the cathedral rooftop, get creeped out in the catacombs, explore Godfather movie locations, get lost in the pretty streets, hangout in the Kalsa neighbourhood, and dance until the wee small hours.
If you’re only in Sicily for a few days, then it's also a great base given the number of easy Palermo day trips to majestic cathedral towns or beautiful beaches which can be done with public transport.
THE DETAILS
Palermo is on the north coast of Sicily, and its airport serves various national and international routes. From the airport to the city centre, there's a regular 45-minute shuttle bus for €6 per person.
Read more in our post, 11 Wonderful Things to do in Palermo.
Do A Road Trip
Sicilian drivers have quite a...reputation.
Even amongst Italians (themselves not known for their adherence to sensible driving rules), the drivers in Sicily are viewed as a rule unto themselves.
And this view is not entirely wrong.
However, we are firm believers that a road trip is the absolute best way to independently discover a new place, and so rough and ready roads and pitched battles with old men in battered Fiats weren't going to put us off driving in Sicily.
And that was the right decision!
Renting a car for a few days driving along the coast, or for the duration of your Sicily holiday, opens up several excellent day-trips, as well as opportunities for you to go both on and off-the-beaten track at your own pace with your own wheels. We highly recommend the freedom it brings and the experiences it allows you to reach across the island - and some of the quirks of the drivers actually become quite endearing after a few days…
THE DETAILS
You can pick up a rental car from all of Sicily's airports - Catania, Palermo, and Trapani - as well as in some cities. To help you prepare (and reduce the potential stress), you can find all the details on renting, the rules of the road, and how to prepare for the worst of its quirks in 15 Things to Know Before Driving in Sicily.
And if you’re planning your own road trip route around the island, then head over to our Sicily Road Trip Itinerary.
Baroque n' Roll in Val di Noto
The south-east of Sicily is undeniably home to its most captivatingly beautiful towns - and it's all due to an enormous earthquake in 1693. After the tremors caused untold death and destruction across the eastern part of the island (with nearly 100,000 killed), entire towns were rebuilt from the ground up.
The silver lining is that this huge project coincided with the spread of the Baroque architectural period in Europe, and so each was reborn spectacularly in a distinctive style which itself came to be known as Sicilian Baroque.
Caltagirone, Militello Val di Catania, Catania, Modica, Noto, Palazzolo, Ragusa, and Scicli - collectively known as the baroque towns and cities of Val di Noto (the Noto Valley) - are an absolute joy to wander and photograph and were recognised as a Unesco World Heritage site in 2002.
THE DETAILS
The Val di Noto towns are clustered together is in the south-east of Sicily, and make a sensible next stop after Agrigento, Syrcause, or Catania (itself part of the eight). You can choose to base yourself in one of them for a few nights and take day trips to the others, or hopscotch across a few over several days.
Noto is by far the most popular base town for visitors and we spent four nights there, but Modica and Ragusa are also a good choice.
Boat Trips to the Archipelagos
We have a little bug-bear when it comes to visiting any island anywhere. Without fail, someone will always tell you that the actual best experience is on an even smaller island next door to it! Now, this isn't a hassle, but it does sometimes create a Babushka dolls effect on itinerary planning i.e. you just have to go to one island in order to go to another island!
Mainland Sicily is blessed in many regards, but it is also true that the small archipelagos off its western and northern coasts are very, very special. Popular as holiday destinations in their own regard with lots of Italians, and easily accessible by ferries, they are home to dusty roads, permanently active volcanoes, gorgeous little settlements, pristine nature, and, undeniably, some of the best coves, calas, and beaches in Sicily.
It won't be possible to visit all of them on your holiday, but you can most definitely make time to visit one or island hop between a handful!
THE DETAILS
Choose from the following two archipelagos:
The Egadi Islands | Favignana, Marettimo and Pantelleria can be accessed from the west coast city of Trapani. For what it's worth, our day trip to Favignana was one of our favourite experiences during the month in Sicily.
The Aeolian Islands | A cluster of seven islands off the Milazzo coast. Lipari, Salina and Panarea are the most popular for travellers, whilst Vulcano and Stromboli are volcano islands! You can reach them from Messina or Milazzo on the north east coast.
Unpick Mafia Myths in Corleone
If you’re reading this, it’s almost certain that one thing you’ll already know about Sicily is its synonymity with the mafia.
We’ve watched Goodfellas, we’ve savoured every episode of The Sopranos (twice), and we think The Godfather trilogy is a work of art (yes, even Three). So, travelling the small Italian island which is steeped in Hollywood and small screen lore for its role in the creation and export of the mafia, or the Cosa Nostra part of it at least, was always going relate in some way to those movies and shows we grew up with (beyond covertly pointing out guys to each other who looked like they could be extras outside Satriale's Pork Store).
However, a trip to Sicily really is not about fetishising, celebrating, or elevating the mafia; it’s about learning the history and unpicking the myths from the bloody realities of organised crime on the island. What we hold up as a work of fiction and entertainment has been a lived reality in Sicily for the last century, and continues into the present day in various forms.
So, please do not go to Sicily and start talking loudly about the mafia or the Godfather, or making jokes about it, or asking locals about it. Instead, use your curiosity to learn and support several excellent tour companies, organisations, and museums who are bravely working to educate and destroy its celebration by those who don’t understand how it has shaped this land (i.e. pretty much all of us):
CIDMA | We went out of our way to visit this museum in Corleone, a small town in the countryside which gave its name to the (fictional) Godfather and his family, but also was the home of several real mafia bosses in the 20th century. Its purpose is to ‘break the silence’ and show tourists what ‘the Mafia is and has been, by taking a journey throughout history from its beginning to the current day’. Led by local guides, a tour in English leaves you in no doubt about how much blood was shed by the mafia in Sicily and that their crimes, rather than their movie celebrity, is what they should be known first and foremost for. Find out more about CIDMA on their website here.
Adiopizzo Tours | Many individuals and businesses continue to have to pay the ‘pizzo’, a protection / extortion tax in Sicily. This tour company was created by a group of young people to directly ‘support businesses which do not give in to the extortionate demands of the mafia and openly side against them’. Their No Mafia walking tour in Palermo is very popular, and offers a way to learn about organised crime’s role but actively support those fighting against it. Visit their website here.
However, it must also be said that you will see a LOT of Godfather (Il Padrino) movies tours and memorabilia in places like Taormina, Palermo, and Catania - and hear several buskers playing the theme in the evenings. Because, despite the role that organised crime continues to play in shaping the island’s present future, there’s certainly interest and money to be made from the fact that various scenes from the trilogy were filmed here, namely in Savoca and Forza d’Agrò (although the theatre in Palermo was also used in Three).
This tour and this one visit several locations and talk about the movie, as well as giving insights on the history of the mafia in Sicily.
Go To Those Big Fat Greek Temples
Before we travelled in Sicily, we really had no idea idea about the influence of the Greeks on the island. However, it turns out that the dry and dusty landscapes here are punctuated by temples and structures which would slot seamlessly into the more well-known sites of Athens or Delphi.
Various coastal areas of southern Italy were once colonies of the city-states of ancient Greece; collectively, these were known as Magna Graecia (or Great Greece). In Sicily, the city of Akragas was founded as a colony in the 6th century BC and developed to become “one of the leading cities in the Mediterranean world”.
Though the Greeks are long gone, many of their finest works remain in splendid condition and a visit to at least one site should be included on every Sicily itinerary - whether you're that interested in the history or not.
THE DETAILS
The Valley of the Temples comes second only to Acropolis in Athens for its importance, size and condition (it’s also yet another UNESCO Heritage site on Sicily). It's on the south coast, just outside the city of Agrigento - you can plan for your visit with this short guide.
In the north, the Temple of Segesta is easy to access if you're driving along the coast from or toward Palermo. On the east, visiting the famous Greek Theatre in Taormina (which was actually then remodelled by the Romans) is one of most popular things to do in Sicily - and affords some of the best views on the whole island.
Walk the Lo Zingaro Coastal Trail
Any trip to Sicily should of course involve exploring the pretty streets of places like Palermo and Noto, eating your weight in carbs at least once a day, stepping back in time with Greek architecture, and spending as many hours as possible relaxing at a parasol-filled beach or cala.
However, for those of you who would also like to experience the outdoors and undisturbed nature - as well as those lazy afternoons sipping on negronis - what if we told you that there was a simply wonderful way to work off some of those carbs whilst also visiting some of the best beaches in Sicily?
Lo Zingaro is a version of paradise; rugged grey and black cliffs and crags, a tinderbox of sprawling and tumbling greens, and endless views of the turquoise water coves which form the faint outline of Sicily's beginnings. One of the island’s few coastal areas without a road to contend with, its official designation in 1981 marked the creation of the first nature reserve in Sicily, and the opening of a stunning 14 km round trip hike along the water’s edge.
It offers up an excellent opportunity to hit a dusty trail and work up a sweat, with the added benefit of being able to stop at a handful of stunning little coves and swimming holes along the way.
A day spent here is an absolute joy.
THE DETAILS
Lo Zingaro has two entry points on the north coast, which are best accessed by car from San Vito Lo Capo, Castellammare del Golfo, or Trapani (which is the perfect town to base yourself in to discover the north and west coast). It could also be squeezed in as a day trip from Palermo if you set off super early.
We've shared all the information we wish we had before our visit, plus lots of other useful tips, to help you prepare for you own visit in our guide to Lo Zingaro Nature Reserve.
Explore Two Beautiful Hilltop Towns
Two hilltop towns on separate sides of the islands, both steeped in history, both taken by the civilisations seeking to control the island at various junctures, both offering spectacular views of the Sicilian coast, both verrrrry easy on the eye.
Given their shared histories and similar identities, it’s no surprise that both Erice and Taormina have long been established as popular visitor draws in Sicily, however in the present day they offer up markedly different experiences.
On the east, Taormina has been the dolce vita holiday destination for Romans, Greeks, 19th century writers and 20th century movie stars. With its nearby beach resorts, ancient Greek theatre, and stellar views of Mount Etna, it remains incredibly popular for Italians and non-Italians in summer. Unfortunately, it is also suffering a little from its over popularity, especially if a cruise ship has docked nearby…
Erice, on the other hand, does not have the glamour, the wealth, the charm, the luxury hotels, or the sun kissed celebrity of Taormina. Instead, it feels like a sleepy sparsely populated little Italian village, that just happens to be on a very important hill, associated with several Greek legends, very photogenic, and with not one but two castles to its name.
THE DETAILS
Erice is best visited as a day trip on a western Sicily itinerary, either via the cable car from Trapani, or by taking your own rental car up the winding mountain road. It’s a charming place to explore for a few hours, whether it is shrouded in its magical fog or drenched in summer light. To find out more, or plan your own visit, read our guide to Erice.
Taormina is on the eastern coast of Sicily, and can be visited as a day trip or used as your base for a stay of a few nights. It’s just over an hour away from Catania by car or public transport. To plan your own visit, or find out pick of the best accommodation in the town, read our guide to Taormina.
Chilling Out in Cefalù
Just like on our own Sicily road trip, we have saved Cefalù until last.
Anchored between salty water and craggy rock, this ancient fishing port has become the beachside break of choice for those seeking sun and sand along the Tyrrhenian coast of Sicily. Unlike Taormina to the east, which can be a little too busy to be pleasant at times, Cefalù - even in its peak summer months - remains a wonderful place to visit. In the cooler early morning hours, the warren-like tangle of streets are filled with people, but the obvious mix of locals alongside the well, not-so-local, is refreshing. Even the beach, a perfect crescent slither of biscuit coloured sand heaving under the weight of a thousand colourful umbrellas screams out to all who pass to give in, lie down and simply live the dolce vita for a little while.
Choosing to spend a few days here between the old town, the incredibly picturesque beach against the city walls, and doing absolutely nothing else, is always going to be one of the best things to do in Sicily.
THE DETAILS
Cefalù (pronounced Shef-a-loo) is easily accessible from Palermo by car or train in under two hours. Plan for your visit, or find the best accommodation in the town, 8 Wonderful Things To Do in Cefalu.
