Ancient Sicily

Very good trip with excellent very knowledgeable and helpful tour leader. Need a reasonable level of fitness as the various sites require a lot of walking. Many highlights particularly Monreale and Villa Romana. Poor hotel in Siracusa

One of the very best Explore leaders. Made the history of Sicily come alive. Excellent itinerary giving a comprehensive experience of the whole island.

Sicily is beautiful and interesting. Our tour guide Antonio was excellent. Places of interest didn't disappoint at all. Wonderful ancient sites, views and experiences. Restaurants good. Only disappointments were a couple of the hotels and buses. Poor bathroom experiences, two gardens slugs on the floor in the first one in Syracuse and inadequate shelving for wash bags. No soap provided and a very noisy and crowded breakfast room in the longest four night stay hotel in Palermo, although the central location was very good. Two of the buses had seat belts that were broken or stuck. The air conditioning in another didn't reach the back seat, so it was uncomfortably hot.

Our tour leader, Antonio, was exceptional. He was able to give us the background and detailed history of every site and answer every question anyone had. His lectures were all relevant and interesting and helped us understand what we were seeing. The pace of the tour was very good and most stays were 2-3 nights and only one single night stopover. Antonio knew the best time to arrive at every site so we largely avoided big crowds and other tour groups. With one exception our hotels were very well located and comfortable.