I went on the RS Best of Sicily tour, November 2 to November 12, 2025. I enjoyed it very much and would recommend it.
My husband and I have been using the RS guidebooks for independent travel for a couple of decades--we've been on about 20 trips to Europe. My husband can no longer travel because he has a bad back, so last year I went on my first RS tour (Venice, Florence, and Rome) with a friend. I liked that tour very much and it reinforced my desire to see more of Italy.
So, I read the RS Sicily guidebook to plan my trip. I quickly realized that trying to create an itinerary using public transportation would be inefficient and slow, especially during the off-season. The tour basically went to the same places, and in the same order, that I was planning to do on my own, so it made sense to book my second RS tour.
I was a single traveler on this trip but I traveled with two friends and we all enjoyed each location very much. The views! The food! Our little group of 27 was very compatible, and extremely punctual. In fact, we were, as a group, uniformly early for each activity. Our guide, Alfio, is Sicilian so we got a really good perspective from him. He handled all last-minute changes with ease and none of us (I think) felt any stress during the trip.
I liked all the hotels and, as a single, had a mix of very large rooms and small rooms. All were clean, quiet, and well-equipped. I liked all of them very much except the Hotel Romano House in Catania. The location is a bit dicey and my room had a very odd combination of ultra-modern switches for the lights and the blinds, and old-school light switches for the bedside lamps. I understand that future RS tours will not be using this hotel, but I did notice that other companies were using it, so maybe it is the only one that can fit groups of travelers.
I added extra days before and after the tour. I spent an extra 3 nights in Palermo and an extra night in Catania, staying in the same rooms that I had for the tour. I really liked Palermo and it felt very safe to me, even at night. I didn't really care for Catania, but I needed the extra day and night for my half-day Jeep tour of Mt. Etna. That was a blast and I got to see a lot more of the mountain than I did on the tour, plus we went into a lava cave and had a nice hike. I reviewed that tour separately (https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/mt-etna-jeep-tour-november-12-2025).