Catania Tours in Fall

A very immersive trip that travelled the whole way round Sicily visiting beautiful towns and historical sites on the way. Our guide Tiziano was passionate about showing us the real Sicily and made sure we visited all the best sites, ate the best food and experienced new and exciting things at every stop. All the hotels were well placed to allow us to explore on our own. The expert guides we met at the historical sites were amazing and super knowledgeable and made each of the site come to life

Great, varied itinerary that packed in so much: walking on Etna and in two different gorges, sightseeing in Taormina, Ortigia, and some of the smaller hill towns, a wonderful brunch in Castiglione, and a fabulous day trip to the Aeolian Islands of Lipari and Vulcano, where we had time to take a dip on the volcanic spa beach. Some of us took a boat trip to Isola Bella and the Blue Grotto on the free day, and I returned to Taormina to visit the Greek theatre and follow up our guide Lara's gelateria recommendation! Lara is hugely knowledgeable about the history, culture, and geology of the area, and was very organised to get us to and from all the sights on schedule. The Hotel Villa Linda was a comfortable and friendly base in the quieter Recanati area of Naxos, with Recanati Beach and a good selection of restaurants, bars, and small shops nearby. The walks are fairly graded on average, with most being very leisurely, and the gorges slightly more challenging in terms of terrain underfoot (poles are helpful). Overall, a fantastic week. I have already booked my next Explore trip...

From the get-go, Explore were great with information and deadlines. I felt in very safe hands as I'd never been to Sicily before and would not know where to start. We were based in Recanati, just at the close of the holiday season - plenty of places to eat and drink but not crowded. From there, our fantastic, highly knowledgeable and very friendly guide Lara took us to some amazing sites, including the slopes of Etna, Taormina and the islands of Lipari and Volcano with great (not strenuous) walks and superb scenery. It was like lots of tasters of the East side of the island. Wonderful.

The range of activities; embracing walking, stunning scenery and fascinating history coupled with our amazing guide Lara providing comprehensive information on the geology, history and culture contributed to a truly memorable experience.

Italy is way more than a few big cities. This tour provided a mix to see the real Italy while exploring the rich history that made this place so special.

Excellent tour. Local guides were all excellent. Itinerary was very good. Rome hotel was not in the best location. Not a lot around it like restaurants, cafes. Optional dinners were way overpriced and the optional Rome dinner was terrible. A number of the group complained to the tour director and most including us did not take the other 2 dinners. Optional tours were all good but again most people found them overpriced and felt that Insight should have included some of them in the package. Hotels were ok and were the same hotels that Globus tours used. Did not like the Palermo hotel even though it was in a fairly good location it was very dark had no place to meet up with others or sit and relax. It would have been nice to end the tour with a hotel by the water or with a pool.