My trip is getting so close that I started looking at day tours of Sicily. I have noticed two companies sell the same trips, on the same days of the week, for the same prices, same descriptions. The two companies are “Best of Sicily” Bestofsicily.com (located in Palermo) and “Tour Of Sicily” tourofsicily.com (located in Messina). Does anyone know which company is the wholesaler and which is the retailer? Do any of you folks have experience with either company? Thank you for taking the time to help me make my trip the best it can be?
Posted by
Corvallis OR
7131 posts
It's not a question of wholesaler vs retailer. Both are independent tours but owned by the same 'umbrella' company Chat and Tour. So, I would suppose they would be the same regarding experiences. I don't know anything about them and I've never seen anybody mention them on this forum but that doesn't mean they aren't legit or worth investigating.
Posted by
OP
Southern California
17 posts
Nancy, thank you for the valuable info. When I google Chat and Tour, the Tour of Sicily company comes up. I assume they are most directly connected to the mother ship. The other company raves that they sell their own trips. I find them a bit over the top in self promotion. I will consider only Tour of Sicily company. Do you have any other companies you would recommend to a solo traveller? Some companies seem to be geared towards private groups; naturally these do not work for me. Thanks again!
Posted by
Pacific Northwest
2674 posts
I'm not sure where you're basing yourself out of but we were in Taormina and booked a day trip with Chiara Rozzi. She's a private guide. She picked us up at our apartment and we went to Siracusa and Catania with her. She was hoping to take us to Noto too but I was too tired. She drove us in her minivan, guided us through the cities and took us places we never would have seen on our own. We saw markets in Catania, a restaurant with some sort of hidden river in the basement (try finding that on your own:) ), the archaeological park near Siracusa and more.
Chiara was fun to talk with, had a good sense of humor and was a safe driver. You might want to contact her. I'm sorry that I can't recall what her fee was but I think it was about 350 Euros for a day and included the car and her driving us around. It was about a nine hour day.
Here's her TripAdvisor reviews, including mine from 2018. https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g187892-d2339490-Reviews-Taormina_Tourist_Service_Tours-Taormina_Province_of_Messina_Sicily.html