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Your Words – We tell it like it is! Holiday Reviews by previous Exodus travellers  

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41 Reviews

4.6 out of 5

Reviews

Etna in action!

This is a fantastic tour if you’re interested in both the food and the history of Sicily, as the tour combines both of them very well. The trip manages to pack so much in, every day there is something new to see, a new place to visit and a new tasting experience. The tour hops from hotel to hotel, using 5 different establishments, everything from small boutique style, to a holiday village with dome shaped bungalows and a 2 night stay in a large hotel complex on the outskirts of Catania. My week was full of a few unexpected things! Lost luggage between Milan & Palmero airports, absolute torrential rain on day 1 while in Palmero, an abandoned walk on Etna due to more extreme weather and to top it off an eruption of Etna on my departure day which coated Catania & the airport in a layer of black volcanic ash! This resulted in the airport being closed, several flight changes and finally getting home 2 days later than planned! It’s a packed itinerary, some early morning starts and a lot of distance covered in the bus. A good guide book together with the trip notes will help you no end.

Most Inspirational Moment

Lots of moments to mention. Visiting a mountain village to learn how to make pasta, the whole village was covered in thick fog! The visit to Ragusa, a perfectly beautiful town, I wished we’d had a little more time there. Being in Catania when Etna erupted! Although she ruined my return home, as a bit of a volcano enthusiast it was a bit of a special moment being part of that.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Alessio was a superb group leader. As an original native of Palmero himself, his knowledge of Sicily was unsurpassed. I found him informative, a great story teller and I appreciated that he shared a lot about life in Sicily as a real local, it gave what he said true authenticity. He very clearly knows his job, and seems to know someone familiar in every town! I liked that Alessio wasn’t overbearing as a group leader, if people wanted a bit of ‘space’ away from the group there was always time to do this.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Despite thinking May would be glorious weather, I’d pack a raincoat and an umbrella as well as your sun cream.

Food Trip to Sicily

A thoroughly enjoyable, varied holiday. Plenty of interesting visits, no shortage of excellent local food and wine.

Most Inspirational Moment

The cookery experience, and then enjoying the results!

Thoughts on Group Leader

Knowledgeable and enthusiastic, Francesca worked really hard to make our trip work.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Wear loose clothes! Be prepared to hotel hop and abundance of coach travel.

Great trip

Really enjoyed this trip, we got to see most of the island of Sicily whilst being able to taste some traditional dishes and wines.

Most Inspirational Moment

Visiting the local markets in Palermo and Catania

Thoughts on Group Leader

Our group leader Francesca was a little disappointing- she wasn’t proactive enough. On the first night she didn’t organise dinner for the group, she had to be prompted to organise the optional extra tour. There were issues with one persons room in Ragusa but she didn’t offer to sort it out in the end myself and my companion helped the other person. The coach driver had a room in the main hotel whilst an elderly lady had a room at the top of 2 flights of stairs in another hotel down the road. She felt uncomfortable, I felt the group leader should have swapped the room etc. She left us 3 nights to sort out our own meals and in Catania just left us without a clue where the best places to go to were. Also in food tasting she always made sure she got her food first, she should wait until guests had their chance to taste the food. On the plus side her knowledge of Sicily was excellent and she was very interested in making us fall in love with the country and culture.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Be prepared for rooms in Sicily to not always have access to windows and fresh sir

Well worth waiting for: the first post-Covid trip!

We first booked this trip to travel in April 2020, and had postponed it 3 times before we heard it would happen – and with fewer restrictions/requirements as the departure date approached, for which we were most grateful.

Most Inspirational Moment

Too many to mention, but street food in Palermo markets, lunch in Piazza Armerina, and all the incidentals associated with visits to local producers (meeting water buffalo herd, cookery lesson near Trapani). Visits to cultural sites were a good contrast: it was interesting to see how they had developed and changed since we visited over 15 years ago. The fact that, despite its being the first tour for over 2 years, it all seemed to run smoothly.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Rosario was really enthusiastic about the history and culture of his home island, and ready to transmit this in his good English; he also has a good sense of humour, which may have been tested at times. He managed to deal with the varying requirements of the group, and was always ready with recommendations of ways to spend any spare time, or places to eat. Our driver, Maurizio, was excellent, both at negotiating some of the roads and dealing with slight changes to the route, in particular being led through Piazza Armerina by a police car, rather than having to wait for an hour while the Giro di Sicilia passed through.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Don't expect a restful holiday! Apart from at the beginning and end, with 2 nights each in Palermo and Catania, we stayed somewhere different every night; that provides a challenge for sensible packing. if you're going in early April as we did, you may need some warmer clothes to deal with the time in Ragusa, Noto and Mt. Etna: while the UK was having a heatwave, we were all scrabbling for extra layers to cope with the cold winds!

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).

Most Inspirational Moment

Seeing the range of produce in local markets, and tasting regional products in their locality.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Rosarios was great fun, but well organised, and took account of the various requirements (particularly dietary) of our varied group. His English was pretty good, and he was extremely knowledgeable about the history and culture of Sicily - and eager to share it. He was also helpful in suggesting where to go in the limited spare time, and on places to eat (though there were some evenings when we didn't need to, after the tastings of the day). Maurizio, our driver, was extremely good, and very patient with us and the odd hiccup with traffic conditions. He did a wonderful job on some intersting roads.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Don't expect this to be a restful holiday! There's a lot of travelling, even with stops for tastings or cultural sites, and it's only at the beginning and end that there are 2 nights in the same place. Palermo airport seemed very well organised; Catania not so much. Be prepared for much waiting around in between check-in and boarding. Gatwick was extremely well run on our departure, but earned a few black marks on our return: no staff to move a stairway to the plane for disembarcation, and long waits before baggage arrived.

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!

Most Inspirational Moment

I loved the quality and quantity of fruit and veg in the different food markets we visited in Palermo (and watching the non-veggies attempting to eat certain local delicacies).

Thoughts on Group Leader

As before - he was excellent. Not only was he knowledgeable but also his spoken English was really good. Maurizio the driver deserves praise too for safely negotiating spaces scarcely wider than his vehicle.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Don't think that holidays are restful in any way! If you fancy a rest, I'd recommend extending the holiday by a few days. Arriving a day or two early ensures you start the holiday well-rested rather than tired from rising very early for the group flight. Plus add a day or two at the end if you'd like to see Taormina which sadly isn't included in the current tour.

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.

Most Inspirational Moment

For me the valley of the temples, made even better by the great guide.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Rosario was a great guide, very knowledgeable of all aspects of Sicilian history, culture and food. Organised us well and provided good options for what to do with any spare time we had, allowing me to make the most of these limited times.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Not much time to unpack in each location so dont take too much! Catania airport is a crazy place, be prepared to queue.

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.

Most Inspirational Moment

There were so many great moments on the trip but for me it was all about the food: meeting the buffalo before sampling the mozzarella cheese; the cooking lesson where we ate what we had prepared; the olive oil tasting and seeing the olive trees which were still producing the olives even though they were hundreds of years old; the wine tasting at Mount Etna and the sumptuous lunch that went with it; sampling the Marsala wine; several buffet lunches where we had the chance to eat the local produce and trying the street food from the market in Palermo. It truly was an indulgent week.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Rosario has a great sense of humour and obviously enjoys his job. He has clearly put in the time to research all the activities and would give guidance on what to see in our free time and recommendations of restaurants in the evening. We couldn't have asked for a better guide.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Try everything, even some of the strange street foods - you never know you might like it!

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.

Most Inspirational Moment

The picnic of market-bought treats, in a Palermo pub. Cooking lesson. Exploring Greek, and Roman, remains. Gelato. 'Climbing' Mt Etna.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Absolutely the best. It was like being with a favourite member of the family, one who knew his stuff inside out.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Just do it.

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.

Most Inspirational Moment

See above

Thoughts on Group Leader

See above

Advice for Potential Travellers

If possible keep to a small group. This allows you to be more involved with the guide