RS Sicily Refresh

The first edition of Rick's guide to Sicily wasn't published until after my 2015 trip, so I haven't used it, but I own a copy. As I expected, there's a "Connection" section at the end of many chapters, detailing some of the key public-transportation links to other places of interest. Similar information for other destinations may be found in sections titled "Arrival in XXXXX" (e.g., for Ragusa) or "Getting Ther" (e.g., for the Valley of the Temples.

Because the rail network in Sicily is quite thin (and trains not very frequent), and buses tend not to run at all on Sundays, a car is more useful there than in many other parts of Europe. I say that as someone who has never rented a car in Europe. If there's more information on driving in this book (and I don't know that there is; I always just skip those sections in any guidebook), I don't think that's unreasonable.

The Sicily guidebook has a 13-page chapter on the history of the island.

Pretty much every guide book is obsolete in terms of prices of hotels, restaurants and attractions the day it is released. That's just part of the publishing process for any travel guide. The the RS books are updated on a rotating basis. COVID may have slowed that down a bit, though. We were in Sicily in September. I submitted quite a few updates in terms of prices, schedules, and openings and closures across the island both via trip reports and noting changes in the update section on the website; others do as well. It's always a good idea to check the updates section on the website. If you are particularly interested in the naval battles off Sicily, may I suggest the tuna museum in Favignana? In addition to all the fishy information, they have a very interesting exhibit on the naval battles off the island during the Punic wars including several good videos (albeit one only in Italian) as well as remains of the ships and other artifacts. I find that RS books are generally light on historical background. It's been my impression that that's not really the style of many RS travelers. Personally, I never count on any RS book, or any one other travel guide, for background and history. The latest version of the Blue Guide for Sicily was particularly helpful on our trip. I'm sure you are aware of many others.
I hear you on driving in Sicily. Buses, and to a lesser extent, trains, are good options. So are pre-packages tours, for example, from Catania or Taormina to Etna for a day trip. The cost, stress, and parking problems (especially for those of us who are not great parallel parkers), has led us to use private drivers. While it may appear extravagant, on our past 2 trips to Sicily, the cost of hiring them was actually less that our calculations for the car, insurance, gas, as well as the seemingly inevitable traffic tickets (!) It was also nice to have a driver took us door to door, handled our baggage, and who was happy to answer questions and share his thoughts of Sicilian history and culture.

I would submit that no country’s history could be adequately covered by a travel guidebook. That’s what history books are for. The guidebook’s intent is to provide context.

You’ll find recent RS books have greatly shied away from listing prices, and use much more broad “$$” style categories because as you note, prices are changing on the regular.

There’s nothing that says YOU MUST DO THIS, THIS WAY. They’re suggestions, suggestions based on research. Obviously, Sicilians get around Sicily without a car all the time. What they aren’t trying to do is get from Palermo to Segesta to Agrigento to Villa Romana to Siracusa in a week. Compared to greater Europe, Sicily just doesn’t have the transportation infrastructure to do this quickly and conveniently. That’s why most people suggest a car, at least for parts of it.

I don’t know why I feel compelled to defend a guidebook, other than that RS guides have never done me wrong (and have saved my arse more than once.) Using the Sicily guide, I: flew open jaw into Catania, bussed to Siracusa, rented a car to connect the inland sights, then train from Cefalu to Palermo. I prioritized sights based on the guide’s info and my own interests, and made the best of my stops thanks to tips on navigating the individual sights (Agrigento is a tangle.) I’ll even add that for a side trip to Noto, the guide suggested the bus over train which I decided against. Train was miserable and I wished I took the bus. I feel like this is the opposite experience from what you outline. So, maybe it’s less about the book than expectations/approach.

I appreciate RS approach in these guides because it’s pretty geared towards American tourists who are generally working with less vacation time. Their goal is to provide solid, practical information that you can plan around, and with enough context that you’re not just checking off boxes. Imo they consistently deliver on that goal.

Thats my point - there are not other options listed. Maybe a sentence or two about buses and trains. But I have based my trips on trains and buses mainly, with ferries and flights into/out of Catania. The Palermo airport is a full 40 minutes outside the city - thats almost liking going from Catania to Taormina. I think RS's other books have been much better about options than the Sicily book.

There are ferries to/from Naples, Sardinia, Tunisia, and Malta. They are a fun way to travel.

As for driving, I think Palermo and Catania have a bit of a Naple's feel which is pretty out of control. And what happens when you get a fender-bender? Thats a pretty good way to cut all the joy out of a vacation, much less driving off a cliff or rolling car off a mountain road.

A guidebook can't be everything to everyone. A forum can be very useful for filling in the blanks:

https://search.ricksteves.com/?utf8=✓&query=sicily+without+a+car&button=

https://search.ricksteves.com/?utf8=✓&query=Sicily%2C+bus%2C+train&button=

Editing to add: if you'd like to see a change or addition to a guide book, here's where you submit feedback 'cause the folks responsible for those don't hang out here on the forum.

https://www.ricksteves.com/forms/guidebook-feedback-form

As I said in my earlier post, the book does cover public-transportation options for many destinations. For which trips did you look for them in the book and not find them?

I found the itineraries listed at the beginning of the book, like you, a bit limiting. There was a rather short itinerary for those using public transportation which surprised me once I started actually reading the book. The individual chapters are much better at giving options for public transportation. Perhaps, the suggested itineraries are short because of need to rely on buses which are more difficult to manage than trains.

And now time for something completely different.

Dear RailRider

Like you I find that the travel guides you reference do not meet many of the bespoke needs of myself and my mates. No guide is given for airports that provide facilities to hanger Bombardier or Gulfstream Jets. Nor location of heliports and associated services, together with how to best use them. Got to do that ourselves or employ someone to do that task.

As an astute and extremely successful businessman in his chosen field, Steve’s knows his market segment and provides what they need. A leader in the USA, Canada and known in many other countries. I use the way in which he has developed his business as a role model when advising budding entrepreneurs who approach me for advice. In many years past purchased one of his guidebooks on Italy and a couple of other continental countries. Did the job I was after. This website and videos are provided freely. Should I give a big ex gratia tip? Do not think he really needs it. Though does deserve it.

Sorry to read about eyesight problems. My driving experiences in Italy have been polar opposites to yours. Starting from back in the late 70’s into early 80’s. At that time in London managed to put my hands on a Regency Red 1968 E Type 4.2 litre convertible, cheap and not wanted as they were all manuals and had carburettors. Needed a bit of work. Sump and cam cover seals and replacing triple SU’s with Triple Webber DCOE’s. Now valued at 1Million USD.

My wife and I ventured to the continent. Ringing in my ears were Michael Cains words from the original Italian Job, “in this country they drive on the wrong side of the road.” Manual gears and all I managed to somehow overcome my disability.

RailRider, I look forward to your future travel guides and website.

Regards Ron

A few more tidbits.

There is a free "no Mafia" museum in the heart of Palermo. You go upstairs and there 4-5 rooms with photos and stories of some prominent judges that were killed. I believe RS mentions the famous two prosecutors killed in 1993, if you check Wikipedia, the mafia murders are not all a thing of the distant pass - the more recent assassination was 2019.

The Catania airport is preferable over the Palermo one in that its only a few minutes from the train station and center of town. Its a solid 40-50 minutes on the train from Palermo Centrale. However, there are a lot of intermediate stops and or place turned out close to a substation - saving us a longer walk through that dodgy train station area.

Up from the Capo market, there is an interesting street full of antiques - somewhat like the flea markets of Paris.

Food is a real bargain - comparable to Naples.

More generally, I have purchased many RS books and the entire set of tv show DVDs at one point. My first trip to France in 2006 was made much better by the few chapters I had cut our of the book and carried with me with hotel and restaurant reservations. However, I know some of those restaurants and hotels have changed names and owners since then. So I was thinking to buy the new version of the same book. For a while RS was publishing a new version every year.

But the thing is, that you do'nt know if the 2020 is the same as the older book or updated. Are you paying for the same book over and over again?

I wish there was a way to get a discount when you buy the exact same book - or least know what has been updated.

Sounds like the OP should just start publishing their own guidebooks.

RailRIder, I've been reading the books for decades, even for countries that I will never visit. My conclusion is that no, they're not completely updated with each edition, just some tweaks and just sometimes additions and removals of restaurant and hotels. So my habit has been to only buy a new one if my old one is more than 5 years old. If you dont really care about the current ticket prices, hotel prices, etc., it really doesn't change much. That's why buying old versions in used bookstores is an OK strategy.

When you consider the time it takes to do the research, write, edit, publish and print, even a new edition is based on info that is mostly 1-2 years old (my guess) by the time of first availability. Throw the pandemic into it, and you've got a even worse lag. The Sicily book as I recall was only firstt published in 2020 (?) so not much time for an update.

Honestly, I feel a little let down by this book and its price compared to RS's other books. Yeah, I am providing some suggestions and some free-of-charge experience to kickstart a better version. I'm sorry if my free information was to much - for the condensed version with less info, pay for the book. ;)

Further tips. When you search Palermo Centrale in Google maps, be aware that there are two locations that pop up about 1.5 mikes apart.

I have been to a number of street markets of Palermo (Capo, Vulcirria, etc) and never heard any singing, sing-songy speech, etc. There is fairly little food to eat immediately. The one thing we loaded up on was pomegranate juice as low as 2 eu a cup squeezed as you watch.

There are frequent music performances at 4 corners.

At one convent nearby you can get cannoli prepared as you watch and regional desserts from other areas of Sicily - then eat them in a little garden while hearing the sound of nuns singing a capella.

I'm hoping to respond on a few subjects for the sake of representing the book fairly, though I don't take anything away from RailRider's experience.

For any guidebook (ours or another company) published before or during 2020 (or even 2021), it should be expected to have pre-pandemic information, and we know that a lot has changed since then. Our website's Guidebook Updates section (available in the footer) keeps up with the biggest updates since the latest edition was published, and we hope you all find this to be useful for your trips. We're in the midst of a rollout of new post-pandemic versions of all our books. You can find the release date for the next edition in this website's store on each guidebook page.

Regarding what changes between editions, while listings for the historically important sights don't change (much) because history doesn't change (though some try), each new edition goes through a significant update process. Listings are reviewed, and some sights, restaurants, hotels, etc are changed You can see a bit more about how Rick updates his guidebooks here (it's a bit promotional, but it gives legit insight): https://blog.ricksteves.com/blog/updating-guidebooks/

"or least know what has been updated." Again, you can look to our Guidebook Updates section. It doesn't list all updates between the latest and the preceding edition as e.g. we don't need to call out that prices increased ~5%, but it hits all the major things you'd need to know if you were traveling with the preceding edition.

"For starters, the only travel modes seem to be to fly into Palermo, rent a car and make a circuit."

Per the index of the first edition (sorry, I can't find the second edition atm), there are 41 pages in the Sicily guidebook that have information regarding Train Travel, and that includes connections to and from the main cities/towns that have such connections.

I hope this helps RailRider and others make better use of our guidebooks moving forward.

Sincerely,

RS Webmaster

Thank you RS Webmaster for your detailed response. My comments were somewhat critical but mainly suggestions to help a future edition.

I became a huge fan of RS when I went to France the first time and his hotel and restaurant recommendations were great. But there are now various websites and apps which rate such things. So I think RS and other books need to make a case for what they are offering precisely that is better than a review of 9.2/10.

I don't expect exact hotel or restaurant forecasts. But in Jan 2020 I was paying 60 a night in three different cities in Sicily. Oct 2020, I was paying more like 120 in those cities, and now I am paying closer to 200 just a year later. So any kind of general budget info needs a multiplication factor for the next edition.

I seem to recall watching a RS show about Sicily which helped convince me to go originally Jan 2020 the first time. I guess RS's approach is to focus on very specific recommendations - kinda like Costco - where there is only 1-2 options for an item, compared to other stores where there are 19 options and you feel overloaded. So thats a different approach and a good one.

But Sicily is such a wonderful destination, its kind of strange to be omitted from the Italy book, and then for the Sicily book to be as expensive as it for relatively little info.

Regarding travel to Sicily - perhaps I am repeating myself, but there are two main airports in Palermo (quite far away from Palermo) and Catania (quite near to the city). One thing that is important to realize is that there are flights to place like Barcelona from Catania but they are only 2-3 times a week on specific days. So any kind of plane travel needs to be checked carefully. On another occasion flying out of Catania we found the rates varied wildly ,... $400 one day, $300 the next day, $175 the following day ... all are route same airline.

There are probably half a dozen ferry companies which offer overnight ferries to and from Sicily from Naples, Sardinia, Salerno, Tunisia, etc. We really enjoyed our overnight trip a few days ago. These trips - like the flights are not daily. You can also arrange an Italy to Sardinia to Sicily to Malta string of ferry journeys.

Regarding travel within Sicily - sure the car is an option if you don't mind huge parking problems, traffic, closed city centers, dangerous driving conditions, etc. The train travel is limited but easily found using the Eurail app or Trenitalia app. The main mode of transport is buses - and there are several bus lines (Interbus, SAIS, Etna, etc). They seem to be somewhat regional and only know routes in their area.

Another little "gotcha" is that tomorow Nov 1 is a holiday in Sicily and no trains to a city we went to go to - at all on a Tuesday. But buses are running.

Spent 90 minutes on a Sunday afternoon in the Messina train station - interesting to see there armed police patrolling around, and stopping several other people waiting for trains and having them show ID's and have some discussions. Must be a reason for that level of vigilance.

RailRider, I don't think it's very helpful to compare current prices to those from 2020 or even most of 2021. There was very little international travel in 2020, especially to fringe destinations like Sicily. Naturally, lodging rates were severely depressed; it was a totally anomalous situation, and it extended, though to a somewhat lesser degree, into early 2022.

I was in Italy and Sicily January 2020. The pandemic was not on the radar. I think I heard about something in China about that time, but it was not until 2 months later that the lockdowns started. I was there at a "normal" time ... and coincidentally the same time frame that the RS book came out.

We were scheduled to revisit Sicily in Sept. 2020. Of course our self guided tour was canceled. We were last there in 2014. I recall when the RS Sicily guidebook was released. I attended a Sicily informational class taught by the author Sarah Murdoch.. Even though this was to be a second visit I decided to purchase the guidebook. RS guidebooks are one of many resources I use in my planning. For our second journey we were planning to use public transportation and we were following a route by RS forum contributor Priscilla in memory of our friend Zoe.
On another subject, you mentioned Archimedes. The Museum was one of the highlights when visiting Ortigia in 2014.