Sicily

Marie,

We took this tour October 2019. Here are my step counts. Your milage will vary. We were 59/62 at the time. The pace wasn't bad but definitely get in shape by walking, climbing stairs (stairmaster) - generally, get active. We took this tour 3 days after The Best of South Italy.

Day 1 - Welcome to Sicily 16,020 - we did some exploring before the tour that day.

Day 2 - Palermo and Monreale 12,859

Day 3 - Ancient Segesta Mountaintop Erice 13,018 - (key word here is mountaintop)

Day 4 - Trapani 8,826

Day 5 - Ancient Agrigento 12,388

Day 6 - Syracuse 11,896

Day 7 - Syracuse 15,387

Day 8 - Mount Etna 10,522 (opportunity for a steep climb or easy route - we took the easy route)

Day 9 - Taormina 10,685

Day 10 - Catania 7,854

Day 11 - Tour over

Hope this helps you decide. We loved Sicily.

I did the Rick Steves Sicily tour in in May 2024. Fabulous!!! My traveling companion is age 83 but fit. She and I both did fine with the amount of walking required. I don't recall being really tired on a single day. I thought the Rick Steves Greece tour (my favorite of all 7 my RS tours) required more steps and also care because of the slick marble. Seems to me the time of year you visit Sicily will be key in how hiring it is....the hotter the temps, the more tiring.

As I recall, the distances were not great, but there were a lot of stairs. And the pace is not slow, because time is limited. I have a bad knee and what bothered me more than the straight-walking, was just standing in museums and at other sights. Where you were listening to a guide but not moving.

These comments really help. I think we will have no problem doing this tour. I think if we do the tour it will be late October or November when it is cooler. There are so many great tours it is hard to pick! One last question, is it hard to find something beside seafood to eat? I am not a seafood eater but pretty open to most other things.

Hi Marie --- I've spent more than a year (total) traveling in Italy and I loathe seafood (and am also mainly vegetarian) and I have had no trouble anywhere finding great things to eat, including in Sicily. Even eating at a seafood restaurant in Venice, the kitchen cooked up delicious things for me to eat (I'm pretty sure they felt sorry for me, thinking I was allergic or something!). Maybe don't go to a seafood restaurant, though.

We likewise don't care for seafood. First night group dinner was at a seafood restaurant; the non-seafood option was extremely disappointing. However, from that point on, the food was incredible, both with the group and on our own.

I was also avoiding seafood. And fortunately I like eggplant because pasta norma was the non-seafood option I had more than once. Just talk to your tour leader and make sure she knows.

Thank you fellow seafood haters. I feel much better. I try not to be picky about other things. Sicily sounds really lovely to me.

We did this tour several years ago. I love seafood but not everyone on the tour did. One woman mentioned to our tour leader and sh arranged poultry for at least one group dinner. There was usually at least 2 options.