Rick Steves Sicily

For factual answers to your questions, rather than just the opinions of the folks here, I would suggest that you contact the Rick Steves office in Edmonds.

This topic and more information about the RS tours can be viewed under the "Rick Steves Tours" tab under the Tips and Trip Reports heading on the main Travel Forum page.

I also travel solo on RS Tours and most times I have had a regular room designed as a room for two people. That is not to say you might actually get a true single room that might be smaller. That probably depends on each hotel.
And yes the solo traveler is easily integrated into the group. You will have 25 or so instant travel buddies. And there is a lot of free time to explore on your own. Whether it is enough is subjective. Go the the forum tab I mentioned above to learn more on these and other aspects of a RS Tour.

Posie,

I've taken the RS Sicily tour and found that although the hotels weren't five-star luxury, they were all very comfortable and really nice. I also travel solo, and in most cases on that tour I was provided with a double room. I have in the past been assigned a smaller room with a single bed, but I don't find that to be a problem.

It's almost impossible to predict what type of rooms you might be provided on a particular tour, as the hotels sometimes change from one tour to the next, based on availability. The only way to know for sure would be to select a specific tour, and then ask the RS tour department for a list of hotels for that tour (they may not have a firm list until shortly before the tour departs).

After eight tours, I've found that solo travellers are very much a part of group, and the groups have always bonded well. I found there was adequate free time for exploring, especially before and after the tours. I like to arrive a few days prior or stay a few days after and cover some of the sights that aren't included on the tour. There are quite a few "free afternoons and evenings" and at least one free day on each tour. You can see the specifics for Sicily on the "Tours" section of this website.

I did the Sicily tour in single rooms two years ago, but frankly can't remember how large they were. I'm used to staying in small, single rooms. FYI, I had a single room in the Cinque Terre last year that was like a nicely appointed monk's cell. I had to be careful not to fall out of bed when rolling over, but also had a balcony with rooftop view, which I considered a fine tradeoff.

Rick's materials provide this warning to all customers paying the single supplement: "Please note that a single supplement guarantees a private room — not a larger or nicer room, as European single-bed rooms are generally the smallest and most basic rooms the hotel has to offer."

You also have the option not to pay a single supplement, but to share a room with another single of your gender who is on the tour; if there are more than two, then roommates will rotate. If there are no other single travelers, then you're back in that single room.

The Sicily tour itinerary allows free time nearly every afternoon. You have 4 dinners and 3 generous luncheons with group, but other meal times on your own.

I traveled solo for the RS Sicily Tour this past May, and I was amazed with how nice the hotels were, in general. The hotels and rooms in Palermo and Cefalu were very satisfactory, but the hotels and rooms in Taormina, Ortygia and Agrigento were really wonderful and very spacious. Of course hotels and certainly rooms will vary from trip to trip. I also began with two nights in an apartment in Erice on my own, with a rental car, and that was a very memorable visit as well, one of my favorite spots. As they say, just do it! And, oh yes, your other questions: yes, single people are easily integrated into the group, and yes there is plenty of free time and half the lunches/dinners are "on your own", when often a few of the group will eat together, or you can go off and do your own thing.

The Sicily tour looks really terrific but I am having trouble pulling the trigger. This will be my first time on a tour. The Rick Steves tours do get wonderful reviews but I have never traveled with a group before.
I plan on going in mid-September. I hope the summer heat will have abated and the fall rains will not have started.
It has been so nice to read all of your advice.
Thank you!

Thank you

Posie 54, you mention that you are having trouble pulling the trigger for Sicily. I just wanted to say that my situation was just the opposite. I had been on the RS My Way Italy Tour in Oct 2013. I had never even thought about visiting Sicily before, but kept hearing how wonderful it was. Once I returned home in late 2013, I was just looking over the RS Tours page on the web, and somehow found myself clicking "send" for Sicily, it was quite unplanned, but I was off and running. So glad that I did. Sicily is so diverse, its history and culture and cuisine, and very beautiful and friendly. I have also traveled solo a lot, in many parts of the world, for various purposes, and over many decades. I cannot imagine doing all the things we did in Sicily on my own, and it was so nice not to worry about arranging my own transportation and lodging arrangements for that part of my trip. For my trip, I then added on 3 nights in Naples, and 4 nights each in Sorrento, Verona and Venice, all in all a very enjoyable and memorable trip, mixing the tour with solo travel. I would love to return to all those locales. So, I say pull that trigger, Posie 54! But as we always say on this forum, it's your trip, so set it up as you like.

I appreciate your reply! I am considering spending three nights in Sorrento before the tour so I can see Pompeii and Capri. I have been in Italy four times, but never to Sicily or the coast.

Posie, I've never been on a tour but I've been to Sicily every other year for about a decade. I never get tired of it. Having a tour group will take the stress out of hotel and transportation arrangements, but since you've been to Italy before, I can't think of anything you would have to learn fresh for this trip.

Larry I just had to smile at your tour-buying experience! Funny!

Posie, while I have not done the Sicily tour, like others I have done a number of RS tours solo. I have had the greatest time! Sometimes I have gone off on my own, sometimes with others on the tour. I have found most people to be very welcoming on the RS tours. There have been a couple of tours that I've been on where groups of 6 or more were friends traveling together. That can sort of change the dynamic of the tour as they will often stick together, but otherwise there are plenty of people to mingle with. As far as single rooms, I always pay the single supplement and have had a combination of the regular double rooms as well as the smaller single bed rooms.

Are you worried that you will have to spend all your time with the group? As I said I've not done Sicily, but on the RS tours I have been on there was plenty of free time and unless it is a day where you are transferring from one location to another, you don't have to join the group for the activity if you have something else you would rather do. You just need to tell your guide you are not going. RS tours also use the buddy system where each person is paired up with another to check that all are present. You don't spend time with your buddy, you and your buddy just check to make sure the other one is present before you set out. If I were not going to go on a daily activity I would let my buddy know as well.