Sicily
Italy
Greek temples, Norman cathedrals, an active volcano and the best street food in Italy
Photo by Sam Ferrara on Unsplash
Photos by Ruth Troughton, Raymond Petrik, Ananthan Loggi and Mike Swigunski on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of Italy
April to June, and September to October (July and August are 35°C)
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 90mm in Oct
Where it is
37.60°N, 14.02°E Open in Google Maps
Things to do
Weeks of it- Walk the Valley of the Temples at Agrigento in the early morning
- Go up Etna with a guide, as high as they are allowing that week
- Eat your way through the Ballarò and Vucciria markets in Palermo
- Watch a play in the Greek theatre at Taormina or Syracuse in summer
- Take the ferry to Lipari and Stromboli
Sicily travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Italy
Mid-rangeEuros. Sicily is noticeably more cash-based than northern Italy — markets, small trattorie and many beach clubs take nothing else. Carry a hundred euros.
ATMs & cards
Intesa Sanpaolo, UniCredit and Banco BPM machines are in every town. Rural machines run out at the weekend, which matters if you are in the interior.
Avoid these
- rural machines at the weekend, which run dry
Use these instead
- Intesa Sanpaolo
- UniCredit
- Banco BPM
Sicily is far more cash-based than northern Italy — markets, small trattorie and beach clubs often take nothing else. Carry a hundred euros.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of Italy
SafeFar safer than its reputation; organised crime here has no interest in visitors. Palermo and Catania have ordinary big-city pickpocketing, worst at the markets and the stations. The roads are the real issue: aggressive driving, unlit rural lanes and a habit of parking anywhere. Etna is an active volcano and the summit access changes daily.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (9 areas)
Worth more attention
- Ballarò — and Vucciria markets in Palermo, for pickpockets
- Palermo Centrale — and Catania station at night
- Rural roads at night, which are unlit, unfenced and often unrepaired
- Mount Etna — an active volcano where summit access changes daily — go with a licensed guide
Sicily is far safer than its reputation; organised crime here has no interest in visitors, and what happens is ordinary big-city pickpocketing.
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa Italy visa rules
No visa needed
Freedom of movement — no time limit, and no visa. Bring a passport or national ID card.
Other passports
No visa neededup to 90 days
90 days within any 180-day period, counted across the whole Schengen area, not per country. ETIAS, a paid online authorisation, is being introduced for these passports — check the official link for whether it applies to your travel dates.
Visa required in advance€90 (Schengen short-stay visa)
A Schengen short-stay visa is applied for before travel, at the consulate of your main destination.
How to get it: Apply at the consulate or visa centre of the country you will spend most time in, typically 15 working days ahead and no more than six months before travel.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Health & emergencies all of Italy
Excellent and cheapRequired to enter
No vaccinations are required for entry from Europe or North America.
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Routine vaccinations up to date
Getting treated
EU/EEA and Swiss visitors are treated on the same terms as residents with an EHIC or GHIC card; UK visitors use a GHIC. Everyone else pays, and travel insurance is worth having for the repatriation cover rather than the treatment. Pharmacies handle a lot of minor problems directly and are the fastest route to advice.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
OutstandingThe best street food in Italy and it is not close: arancine in Palermo (arancini in Catania, and they will argue), panelle, sfincione, and pane con la milza if you are brave. Cannoli filled to order and never before. Granita with a brioche for breakfast, which is the correct way to start a summer day.
Nightlife
A passeggiata that turns into an aperitivo that turns into dinner at ten, and a Catania street market that becomes a bar at night.
- Ortigia — the squares of Syracuse, and the best of it
- Piazza Duomo, Catania — and the fish market, which becomes a bar after dark
- Taormina — Corso Umberto, and the terraces with the Etna view
- Vucciria — Palermo’s market square, which drinks all night in summer
Closing: 03:00 in Catania and Palermo, earlier in the towns.
A beer in a bar: €3–5
Granita with a brioche is breakfast here, not pudding, and in July it is the correct way to start a day.
Getting around
Limited- UberWorks here
- BoltWorks here
- FREE NOWWorks here
- IT TaxiWorks here
FREE NOW taxis, which is what Italy allows · IT Taxi the national taxi app · Uber Black and Taxi only — no UberX anywhere in Italy · Bolt taxis, in Rome and Milan
- Against a taxi
- The app is the taxi. Uber Black is a different, dearer category.
There is no cheap ride-hailing tier in Italy — the law reserves the work for licensed taxis and NCC hire cars.
Time zone and your working day
Europe/Rome — 6 hours ahead of you
2 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 09:00–11:00 your time, 15:00–17:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 03:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 03:00–11:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
Internet speedall of Italy
Why these are Italy's numbers and not Sicily's
Home broadband — Good. Comfortable for two people working, streaming in the evening, large downloads. Broadband here runs at 84% of the global median of 130 Mbps.
Mobile data — Fair. Maps, calls and streaming; tethering a laptop works for an hour, not a day. Mobile runs at 78% of the global median of 109 Mbps.
Ookla publishes no separate figure for Sicily, so these are medians for all of Italy. Cities usually beat the national number and remote islands and national parks fall well below it — treat this as the country's shape, not as a measurement of the street you will be staying on.
A median is the middle of every connection tested there, old copper and new fibre together — so in a country part-way through laying fibre it sits well below what a fibre line actually delivers, and a rental on one can run several times this number. Half of the connections are slower; a fibre flat is rarely one of them. It says what a place can do, not what your rental does, so every listing on Holistay carries its own measured speed and the date it was tested.
Getting online: Airalo or Holafly — a data eSIM for Italy, installed before you fly and working the moment you land.
Source: Ookla Speedtest Global Index · measured June 2026
Must-see
Nearby day trips
Say a few words
Italian
- HelloBuongiornobwon-JOR-no
- PleasePer favoreper fa-VO-reh
- Thank youGrazieGRAT-tsyeh
- Yes / NoSì / Nosee / no
4 more phrases
- Excuse meScusiSKOO-zee
- How much is it?Quanto costa?KWAN-to KOS-ta
- The bill, pleaseIl conto, per favoreeel KON-to
- Cheers!Salute! / Cin cin!sa-LOO-teh / chin chin
Ciao is for people you know. With shopkeepers and waiters, buongiorno until evening, then buonasera.
Religion
Catholic
The Vatican is a sovereign state inside Rome. Dress codes are enforced at St Peter’s and most major churches: shoulders and knees covered, and they will turn you away.
Do's and don'ts
Do
- Say buongiorno rather than ciao to anyone you do not know
- Drink cappuccino only before about 11:00; after a meal it is an espresso
- Cover shoulders and knees to enter churches, including the major basilicas
- Validate regional train tickets before boarding or risk a fine
Don't
- Do not ask for parmesan on seafood pasta — it is a genuine culinary offence here
- Do not sit on monument steps in Rome or Florence; both cities fine it
- Do not order a coffee "to go" and expect it to be normal
- Do not tip beyond rounding up; coperto already covers the cover charge
Where to stay in Sicily
No Holistay rentals in Sicily yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Sicily on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Catania Fontanarossa CTA
20 minfrom the airport, roughly
20 min to Catania, 45 to Taormina.
Also worth pricing: Palermo PMO — the right arrival for the west of the island.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
