Reviews

Food and culture

As we’d first booked to travel in April 2020, this was a much-anticipated break, and our first one travelling abroad, and it really went well. It was the first post-Covid trip, so we weren’t sure that everything would happen as expected, but it was well organised, and all eventualities catered for.
We were impressed by the range of food tasting opportunities (too many to mention), particularly the chance to visit small producers who are obviously diversifying from their original production – and the street food in Palermo was a revelation!
We also enjoyed the cultural visits, but would have liked to visit Siracusa (on the itinerary when we originally booked).

An excellent return

This was my first holiday outside the UK since the first covid lockdown and it was excellent. The group remained covid-free for the entire week – a bonus! Rosario was enthusiastic and energetic throughout. As his first group in 2 years, he was determined to ensure we enjoyed ourselves!

Great mix of food and culture packed into just 8 days

Great way to spend a week in Sicily. The trip is pretty busy, moving on most days, packing in the main sights and a lot of food! I enjoyed the mix of history (valley of the temples and the roman villa) with the food and culture aspect, particularly the visits to the local producers and food market trips.

Sicily Food Adventure

We booked this trip to go in 2020 and finally made it in 2022. It was well worth the wait.
It was everything we’d hoped for and more. Bustling local markets, stunning Greek/Roman temples, fascinating architecture (the baroque balconies), a chance to walk on Mount Etna and of course all the amazing food and wine. There were certainly plenty of opportunities to sample the delights of Sicilian food and wine with our superb guide, Rosario.

Sicily Food Adveenture

Our week in Sicily was the highlight of 2 months in Europe. The places we visited, and stayed, and the food experiences we enjoyed were well planned to make for a varied tour: a mixture of popular tourist sites and low-key personal off the beaten track ventures all designed to keep a group of 6 well-travelled 70s year olds stimulated but not over taxed. Guide Rosario was a wonderfullyorganised yet relaxed companion who who treated us as friends not customers (and driver Giuseppe was great to be with as well.
Thoroughly recommended.

Sicily Food & Wine Tour

With 6 in our group and with our guide Rosario and our driver we did a one week tour of Sicily. It was magic. We saw wonderful sights, were taken into old medieval homes, learned how to make pasta, climbed Mt Etna, saw great cathedrals, learned of the Mafia and ate wonderful food.

Our guide and driver were wonderful and we had such fun together. All our needs were attended to and we became good friends.

I can heartily recommend this tour.

Well done Rosario & Guiseppe!

If you idea of a Mediterranean holiday involves languorous lie-ins & bobbing about on a Lilo with a spritzer, forget it!
We were an international group of 16. We were very busy. We visited places we could not have found independently, and discovered the secrets of wine, olive & cheese production. We sampled lots of lovely Sicilian foods, visited food markets, feasted on caponata & pesto made by ourselves, tried street food (“what IS that?” – “Cow spleen-its very popular….”).
The trip was quite hectic, Rosario our excellent guide had us whipped into shape from the start- NO lie-ins, no matter how much we consumed the night before. We were on the coach by 8 or 9 am, ready to face what the day presented.
It was also full of contrasts, from busy markets to gentle countryside, from chi-chi resorts to the blackened slopes of Mount Etna, we got a real flavour of Sicily, including even a bit of Inspector Montalbarno.
Rosario joined in with us and was both helpful and caring of our various needs, and Guiseppe our driver was just brilliant. A kind, friendly, helpful, careful driver who lugged our suitcases as well as driving and looking after us. The relatively small coach easily negotiated roads that would have been tricky for a bigger bus.
Most of the hotels were perfect for our needs, and mostly very well located.

Lots to see and lots of food

This is a busy week with a lot crammed in to a short space of time. As you would expect, a lot of the scheduled activities are food and drink related but there’s also some sightseeing. After two nights in Palermo, you transfer to a different hotel every night so there’s little in the way of down time but you certainly get a flavour of Sicilian life and culture – and, of course, food! The hotels were a bit of a mixed bag – some better than others but all of them were adequate for one night – we particularly liked the Hotel Carmine in Marsala.

An enjoyable week with lots to see, do and taste!

We chose the trip after seeing an advert in the Guardian and decided that it sounded fun – mixing food and drink experiences with archaeology, history and geography. We weren’t disappointed. Though we don’t normally go for group holidays, this trip worked well. The opportunity to share food and drink tastings with the group added a dimension that would have been missing if we had been on our own.
Rosario, our guide, and Maurizio, our driver, both worked dilgently to ensure we really enjoyed the trip – getting us to everywhere we needed to be without fuss or bother, and handling queries and minor problems with unfailing patience and good humour.
In a relatively short time, we saw a good cross-section of the island, and came back with happy memories and a much stronger ‘mental image’ of Sicily.
Thanks to all concerned who made this work.

A Very Mixed Bag

Our first experience of Sicily so chose this holiday. It gave us a mixture of culture, Greek, Roman as well as modern. A variety of food and drink experiences as well as exploration of the countryside. The small group and an excellent leader made for very good holiday travel.