Going to Sicily...question about flights

kbachtell, we're also looking at flights to Palermo and having difficulty finding reasonable connections and times. It looks like there are sometimes options flying into Palermo via Frankfurt or Munich, on United, Lufthansa or one of their affiliates.

That sounds like a good routing, but with a costly tour on the line, I'd plan to arrive in Sicily at least one day earlier, just in case of transportation difficulties getting out of Milan. I don't think you'd enjoy traveling from Milan to Sicily by train. I'd also want some extra days in Sicily to see things the tour doesn't have time to cover. As you've discovered, Sicily isn't very easy to reach, so you may not get back there soon.

I second the suggestion to plan to arrive in Sicily at least one day before the tour begins. As the poster child of Murphy's Law, I always try to reach my destination before my tour begins.

Thanks for re-affirming that there is no "easy" way that I am missing.

acraven -I will take your advice and make sure we arrive in Sicily at least by the 11th. I "know" it's the smart thing to do- I just needed someone to gently remind me of that!

For the RS Sicily tour in April 2016 we flew to Rome and spent a couple of nights there before continuing to Palermo. At the end of he tour we flew from Catania to Rome, stayed overnight, and continued home the next day. Milan also works for catching flights to Sicily. The flight to/from Rome was on Aer Lingus, and it was so inexpensive compared to other flight options that it covered the cost of the extra nights in Rome (other options were trying to get to Sicily in one day).

It was a fabulous tour.

Thanks for bringing up this subject kbachtell! I have been going nuts trying to figure our flights out for our RS Sicily tour staring April 28th of next year. Thanks to all for your suggestions.

Marie- I'm glad this is helping you!
Bob- I'm so glad the tour was fantastic. We are definitely looking forward to it! When I go on the

Last year I took a British air nonstop from London Heathrow to Palermo. Worked out very well. Seats were a bit tight, and they sell food on board, so no frills.

British Airways don't start their flights to Palermo until March.

Had you thought of Spain as your 'pit stop' on the way to Sicily?

Re: Return from Sicily ar the end of the tour

On our 2016 Sicily tour, some folks were flying home in one day. Staying overnight in Rome or Milan before continuing home avoids the unpleasantness of catching an early flight from Catania on the morning the tour ends. It is so nice to enjoy the final breakfast and say leisurely goodbyes to your fellow travelers. To have to leave at the crack of dawn would break the magical spell that surrounds the tour experience.

Well, I've bought tickets! We are using KLM/ AirFrance to fly from Dulles to Rome and back. The tickets were $617 round trip which I was pleased with - I refuse to have buyers remorse after this so please don't tell me about better deals :) I now need to make the flight reservations between Rome and Sicily.

Our flight schedule is as follows:
Friday 8th- Fly out of IAD in the evening
Saturday 9th- Arrive in Rome at 12:15 in the afternoon (layover in Amsterdam)
Saturday 10th- Rome!! (This is such a surprise that we are doing this but it works out really well. Yay!)
Monday 11th- Fly to Palermo
Tuesday 12th -RS Tour starts
Friday 22-Tour ends, fly back to Rome
Saturday 23- Fly out of Rome back home (layover in Paris)

Bob- we are totally following your advice about not trying to fly all the way home on the 22nd!

Now I get to plan an evening and a full day in Rome!!! (We could spend a month there- I know, but this is still awesome.)