Next tour, Portugal or Sicily?

I have not done a tour but have spent two weeks in both Sicily and Portugal. I liked Sicily a lot better than Portugal. Sicily is such a fascinating place because of the various rulers historically. This means there is great diversity of things to see.

That said, Portugal is a lot easier to get to. We flew to Rome, spent a couple nights and then took Ryan air to Catania. We flew out of Palermo and went back to Rome the night before our flight.

Vote for Portugal: A lot of travelers like the mindset and kindness of the people and the culture.

I went on both tours earlier this year and while both were interesting and enjoyable, I found the Portugal tour to be more interesting of the two. It was also easier to get to/from, by far. You may find it helpful to watch the TV episodes for both and to study the daily itineraries to see what you are most interested in. The Portuguese culture and food is different from your other tours and there are lots of everyday experiences that made Portugal a bit more memorable for me than Sicily. But honestly you won't go wrong with either one. Maybe do both over a 2 year period?

I have done both tours.
Sicily was one of my favorite tours--I loved the food and the layers of history.
Portugal was fine, but near the bottom of the 13 RS tours I have done. I thought there were too many religious site visits (3 cloisters!), and found the food uninspiring.

It really depends on your interests, so many of my friends who travel a lot loved Portugal. Maybe my expectations were too high.

I have taken both tours (Sicily in 2007 when it was combined with southern Italy and Portugal in 2022).

I preferred Sicily. Portugal was one of my least favorite RS tours (although I still thought it was a good tour). To be fair, I took it as we were coming out of covid and the crowds were overwhelming. I’m also ambivalent about religious sites and there were a lot.

When I went to Sicily, I flew into Rome about a week early and did some sightseeing before flying to Palermo to start the tour. You could do something similar for Naples at the start or end of your trip.

You say you are looking for something different culturally. Sicily would probably be more similar to the tours you have done than Portugal.

I took the Portugal tour in 2022 and Sicily 2023. Both are great tours, but I preferred Portugal. The people were fantastic! I wasn't enamored with either cuisine but loved the wine & beer of Portugal and how their culture spread around Europe and the new world. Coimbra, a college town, was amazing! I had the best lunch & dinner at the Tapas nas Costas right next to where we heard a fado performance. The Douro Valley was a kick for me as a wine lover and learning about port wine. I also enjoyed my first taste of barnacles in Porto. Yes barnacles! One could RT with multi city into Lisbon and out from Porto or take a train back to Lisbon. I took a short flight to Barcelona and went on the Best of Spain tour.

Sicily followed best of southern Italy tour ending up in Naples and had the best pizza of my life there. Getting to Sicily is an inexpensive short flight to from Naples to Palermo or a flight from Rome on the low-cost carriers. The Valley of the Kings and the city of Taormina were at the top of my list! Mount Vesuvius is still active and a little unpredictable for flying out of Catania but wasn't a problem for me. I chose to fly back to Rome and stayed in Fiumicino near the airport before flying back to Seattle the next day.

Thanks for these replies. They seem to divide Portugal for the people, Sicily for the history. I appreciate the comment about all of the religious sites in Portugal as I too can only take so many before I’m bored. Watching the TV episodes for each place is a good suggestion, too. I think I will also read through the reviews for each tour to see what people say the wow moments were.

I haven't been on either tour, but have been to both Sicily and Portugal. My one thought is that in Sicily, I almost wished we had booked the tour, where I never felt that in Portugal. In looking at the itineraries, I feel that I could easily do the Portugal one without a guide ( and would probably prefer).
If you do pick Sicily, consider adding that extra time to Palermo at the beginning, I feel it cuts it short.

Anita,

Both locations have a rich and interesting history and culture, so either would be good. I've taken the Sicily tour but decided to see Portugal on my own. I suppose the answer might depend on which country you're most interested in seeing. Based on my experiences in both, I'd probably choose Sicily.

It’s interesting reading through the reviews for both tours. I try to find the most critical comments because there are less of them than five star positive reviews. For Portugal some of the negative reviews say many of the locations were too touristy, or there was too much emphasis on wine, or churches. For the Sicily tour the negative comments complain about not enough time spent at locations, mediocre hotels, early breakfast and late lunch. But, the vast majority of comments are positive, like for most of the tours. The wow moments run the gamut, but there is a common thread for both tours. Both tours do make quite a number of stops in under 12 days, but the Sicily tour is all two night stops where the Portugal tour has a couple of one night stops. Are the towns on the Sicily tour smaller than the ones on the Portugal tour, in general?

I don't know which cities are visited on the Portugal tour, but some of the places we visited on the Sicily tour were larger centres. I found the Sicily tour to be extremely interesting, given the diverse history and the various civilizations that inhabited the island. That history was reflected in the foods, and I'm sure I gained a few pounds on that tour. I especially enjoyed Pasta alla Norma.