Sicily experience

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I have, this past March, but suggest you ask your questions here so others can benefit:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/tours

I’ve been on 14 Rick Steves Tours, the most recent was to Sicily last fall. I have never been disappointed with any of them and thought that the visit to Sicily was one of the best! You cover a lot of territory at a nice pace and get to savor the island and it’s people. If you can, I’d try to add a day or two at the beginning and end of the tour to see a little more of Palermo and Catania. I thought that considering the price, this tour gives you great bank for your buck!

We loved Sicily during our RS Sicily tour last fall. I'd move there, if only for the food! :) My wife just completed a beautiful photoblog of our tour. It's fast, with pix, not many words … graciamc.wordpress.com.

BTW this was our third tour with the RS organization … all outstanding.

I've also done Sicily with RS tours. If you have questions, feel free to ask them here! :-) Everybody loves to talk about their tour experiences.

Did you travel with other tours and can you compete RS to for example Trafalgar it Gate 1 ?

I've done 1 Trafalgar tour, and 4 Rick Steves tours. I won't use Trafalgar again: overstuffed bus, extra costs for excursions, tipping, shopping stops where our guide got kickbacks, etc. Pretty much as described here:
https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/the-most-value-for-your-money

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Do you know about the Tour Alumni Scrapbooks? You can see detailed reports of people's experiences on these. https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/scrapbooks/tour-alum-scrapbooks

We went on this tour last April. Loved it. The historical sites were great. We were lucky enough to go during Easter celebrations which was interesting and touching.
Ours was an “ off season” tour. The tour now includes some beach time at the end and I think it’s an improvement. I can’t compare to other tour companies but have been very happy with RS

Did you travel with other tours and can you compete RS to for example Trafalgar it Gate 1

I have only done Sicily with RS tours, but I have traveled around the world with other tour companies as well. I've used Tauck, Adventures by Disney, CIE & G Adventures/National Geographic.

I thought that Rick Steves tour was a good value for the money spent. The tour delivered what it promised. I enjoyed the hotels a lot. The food and wine were great. And the traveling companions were fun to be around.

When I'm debating between various tour companies on a specific trip, I look at the following criteria -

-- Which one has the dates I want?
-- Which one has a price I want?
-- Which one delivers what I NEED to see at this location.

We all have different reasons to travel. I find that comparing the tour descriptions helps a lot as far as telling me if what I'll see/experience is what I'm wanting out of a specific destination. A specific location? History? Art? Food? Which tour seems to focus the most on what I want out of a location? Then when I have narrowed down the emotional content of the tours, I look at the hard core details like price/date.

Some tours do vary in some important aspects. If small groups are important to you, make sure you understand that if a tour says maximum of 32 people, it could mean just that. And it takes a long time for 32 people to get on/off the bus, wait for restrooms, eat meals, etc.

If hauling your luggage is important to you, then note which tours say you're responsible for carrying your bags from the bus to the hotel and back again.

And while you may not be looking at a tour as a place to make lifelong friends, your tour companions do matter. You spend a lot of time on the bus with them, waiting in lines with the, etc. I've found the happiest tour companions on the less expensive tours I've taken. And RS does have a no grumps policy which I believe may be unique to them.

rollina,

I've taken eight RS tours and the RS Sicily was one of my favourites! One of my best recollections of that tour is great food (although RS tour members dine well on all tours). If you haven't done so already, you may enjoy watching the tour experience videos - https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/tour-experience .

A couple of points to note regarding the RS tours.....

• be sure to note the physical activity level of each day of the tour. Some days will be listed as "strenuous" so be sure you're prepared for that amount of activity.
• unlike many other tours, there are no Porters to take your luggage from the bus to the hotel. You'll need to do that yourself.

All of the RS guides on the tours I've taken have been exceptional. I don't think you would be disappointed in the tours. The only way to know for sure is to try one!