Located at the southern tip of Italy, the island of Sicily is a place where history was written and cultures were forged. The largest island in the Mediterranean, Sicily is full of ancient cities, impressive landmarks and numerous sites of natural, historical, political and scientific interest to explore.
Theme parks
Etnaland is the most popular and iconic theme park in Sicily and one of the most famous theme parks in the whole Mediterranean. The park is famous for is diverse range of attractions that include a water park, a prehistoric park with robotic dinosaurs and a traditional theme park with roller coasters and other well known games. Etnaland is open throughout the year and welcomes visitors with very low ticket prices, promising countless hours of fun for kids of all ages even big ones!
Located in a forest outside Nicolosi, Monti Rossi-Etna Adventure Park is a nature themed fun park with lots of activities to encourage children to get in touch with nature. Climbing trees, discovering elusive local species and having fun with other kids is what the Adventure Park is all about. Many games are deliberately hidden in the forest; awaiting eager explorers to discover them. The park is very well run and completely safe for children of all ages.
Located in Cefalu, Acqua Verde stands out from the numerous small aqua parks in Sicily as one that offers child-friendly games and lots of fun for all the family with its gentle water slides and shallow pools. While not the ideal place for teens or young adults, this is perhaps the ideal water park for families with small children.
Golf
The Ventura golf resort has three world-class golf courses: the east course, the west course and the championship course. Both west and east courses have 18 holes and are par 72, with the championship course being a composite layout of 9 holes of each East and West course. The championship course is designed to offer the maximum golfing challenge to pro players, while the east and west courses cater to beginner and experienced amateur golfers.
Sicily's oldest golf club, Il Piccolo Golf Club is home to the first golf course on the island and is one of the oldest courses in whole Italy. This 18 hole, par 72 course trails through vineyards, oak forests and hazelnut trees. The course offers a timeless golfing experience in a beautiful setting for intermediate to advanced players.
Walking & hiking
Taxi Taormina & Sicily Tours is a popular company that offers flexible tours around Sicily via car. The tours also combine walking routes to explore some of Sicily's most beautiful locations and natural landmarks. Some of the highlights include shore tours, market excursions, visiting the 'godfather' village, walking through the valley of the temples and much more.
Etna Experience organises the best tourist tours to and around Mount Etna. There is a great variety of walking and hiking tours to choose from, as well as numerous related activities created to enrich your Mount Etna experience. Some highlights include the wine tour, the early morning experience, the summer sunset experience, the solo trekking experience and the winter snow experience.
Cycling, mountain biking & quad biking
New Travel Services Day Trips organises a diverse array of trips across Sicily utilising cars, motorbikes, quads and bicycles to accommodate any type of tourist. The company offers numerous different tours and packages each with a different focus; including gastronomy tours, city escape tours, urban tours, coastal tours, mountain tours, off road tours and more.
Quad Excursions Cefalu is a small but very experienced team of professionals offering fantastic quad bike excursions in Cefalu and the surrounding areas in Sicily. These off road excursions take you through shallow rivers, over sandy dunes and through Mediterranean forests to discover impressive natural landmarks away from the beaten track.
Sicilying is the premier provider of bikes, mountain bikes and quad bikes in Sicily. Some of the most popular excursions available include quad biking on Mount Etna, Cefalu exploration, quad biking to the valley of the temples and high-octane nature tours. The prices are very reasonable and the tours can be tied in with various other activities such as water sports, bird watching and wine tasting.
Water sports
There are numerous diving schools in Sicily but only a handful stand out from the crowd for offering excellent services and an all round great experience. These schools are: Under Hundred Diving School and the Nautisub Diving Centre. Both these companies operate a number of diving schools across Sicily, and between them cover all the best diving spots across the beautiful Mediterranean island, from the busy, picturesque northern coasts to the beautiful south eastern tip.
Voglia di Mare is a popular water sports centre specialising in snorkelling and scuba diving as well as various child-friendly water sport activities. The company is large, offering its services on almost every busy family-friendly beach, and its name has become almost synonymous with safe and enjoyable water sports in Sicily.
The Kayaking Club Avola is a friendly company that organises kayaking activities - along with a wide range of other water sports - for all the family to enjoy across many popular beaches in Sicily.
Sicilsurf is a popular company that offers windsurfing/surfing lessons and equipment across Sicily. The company's staff comprises seasoned surfing veterans who know Sicily's beaches like the back of their hand. The company takes surfers of all skill levels to the best beaches, offering fun and action-packed experiences.
Boat trips
Hippocampus Sea Services offers relaxed and family-friendly boat trips across the countless beautiful bays of Sicily. The company offers inexpensive trips that can last for a whole day. Highlights include trips to the Zingaro Reserve, the " faraglioni" of Scopello, the Monte Cofano Reserve and the coves in the Golfo di Macari.
Escursioni Arcadia (also known as Arcadia tours) is a local company offering boat and ferry trips with a definite Italian twist across Sicily. The trips are characterised by their cheerful atmosphere and staff, plus the trips are cleverly broken up by stops for a swim or to taste local delicacies in small, secluded villages across Sicily's coasts.
Sailing & fishing
Sailing Sicily is the premier provider of tourist-friendly sailing trips and lessons in Sicily. The company commands an impressive fleet of yachts and sailing boats, renting them to sailing enthusiasts; with or without a crew manning them depending on the skipper's experience. The prices are reasonable (given the quality of the yachts) and no matter how hard you search, you won't find better sailing deals in Sicily.
Sicily Fishing is the most popular fishing excursions company operating in Sicily. The company owns several high tech fishing boats that roam across the Mediterranean and around Sicily to hunt for the best catches. Tourists can board these ships and embark on one of the company's famous fishing trips.
Local markets & shops
A' Piscaria Mercato del Pesce (also known simply as the Pescheria market) is the main fish market in Sicily and a unique tourist attraction. Located straight down from Mount Etna, the market is a fisherman's Mecca and tourists can taste the fresh fish sold there in numerous local restaurants that surround the quaint market.
Sicily's most popular and discerning wine cellar is none other than Picone Enoteca. This local wine producer stocks an impressive selection of local and imported wines and offers guided tours to the local winery.
Located in Erice's Spanish quarter, the local Erice Market is one of the best places to buy local products and produce. This incredible place offers the whole gamut of what Sicily's local commercial markets have to offer, all in one place. The prices are fairly low and the store owners are always courteous and polite.
Nocito Jewellery is Sicily's top jewel company, with a stunning array of eye-catching gems and adornments. With a long history in producing fine jewels for Italian nobility and wealthy merchants, Nocito remains one of the most popular jewelleries in Italy to this day.
Natural attractions & landmarks
Mount Etna is perhaps the most iconic and most widely recognised archetype symbol of an active volcano. The mount is the tallest active volcano in Europe and the second most active in the whole world. Surrounded by a natural park to preserve its beauty and protect the people from any eruptions, Etna is one of Italy's most impressive landmarks.
The Stromboli volcano is an impressive seaside volcano that is easy to visit and imposing to behold. Even though it is not as large (or as active) as Mt Etna, the volcano at Stromboli makes for a great trek up the mountain and its stable condition allows tourists to approach the crater to experience a volcano from up close.
The Favignana Islands and the Egadi islands off of Sicily are just begging to be explored. Both islands make for great day trips and are quite flat, allowing tourists to easily explore them on foot or by bike. There are local restaurants and interesting attractions to discover, including picturesque ancient ports.
Taormina's public gardens are beautiful Mediterranean gardens open to the public. Even though not as large as gardens found in mainland Italy, these Sicilian gardens stand out with their natural beauty and the Mediterranean natural life they host within.
The natural reserve of Cavagrande del Cassibile is a wonderful patch of land that has been dedicated to preserving the natural beauty of Sicily. The reserve is full of Mediterranean flora and fauna. Tourists can climb down into one of the numerous "Laghettis" (literally meaning little pools) for a cooling freshwater swim in the forest.
Historic sites & landmarks
Ancient and imposing, the Valley of the Temples is the single largest collection of ancient Greek temples in the world. This huge UNESCO world heritage site is home to seven temples and a host of other, well-preserved ancient buildings, which invite tourists to take a step back in time and explore these ancient marvels. This valley is a must-visit while in Sicily.
The Temple of Concord is a perfectly preserved ancient temple that has been towering over Agrigento for more than two thousand years. Similar in style to the Acropolis, the temple is nonetheless unique in design and attracts millions of tourists and history buffs each year. The area is spotlessly clean and the temple is in amazing condition.
Syracuse Cathedral (also known as the Temple of Athena) is a unique Christian cathedral built from the ruins of ancient Greek temples. Inside, tourists can see ancient Greek ruins seamlessly blended in a renaissance building and infused with Christian imagery and artistic styles. The Cathedral is free to visit.
The Monastero dei Benedettini is the founding centre of an ancient monastic order of Christian nuns. The monastery is mostly closed to the public and acts as a university, however, it does offer guided tours around its impressive gardens and into the ancient church within its grounds.
The Temple of Segesta (also known as Tempio Greco or Greek temple) is an ancient Greek temple built on a hill. The temple is unique as it was left unfinished by its ancient builders and is missing certain architectural components to this very day. The view from the temple is fantastic and the temple itself seems frozen in time.
The Archaeological park of Selinunte is an ancient walled city with temples and buildings open for the public to see. The park gives tourists a chance to glimpse at the life of the ancient Sicilians and marvel at the architectural wonders that people thousands of years before us managed to create.
The Palazzo Mirto is a beautiful renaissance building in Palermo that houses an era museum and is worldwide famous for its luxurious architecture that showcases all the architectural breakthroughs of the 17th century.
Museums & galleries
Built inside an old tuna canning factory, Ex Stabilimento Florio is an impressive museum that exhibits the everyday life of ancient Sicilians as well as items from the past you wouldn't have guessed existed. The museum is child-friendly and very accessible, with easy to understand exhibits and a bit of Italian humour thrown in to put a smile on your face.
Agrigento's archaeological museum is home to numerous unique and priceless Phoenician, Greek, Etruscan, Carthaginian and Roman artefacts including amazing sculptures and ancient jewellery. Every exhibit is accompanied with descriptions in English, making this museum very accessible to international tourists.
Museo del Costume is a unique museum that houses traditional costumes from across Italy's rich history. This is the perfect museum for era costume lovers and history enthusiasts interested in obtaining fascinating insight into ancient, medieval and renaissance life.
The International Marionette Museum is an impressive museum that houses the world's largest collection of marionettes, shadow theatre dolls and numerous other types of dolls and puppets. This is a fun and very child-friendly museum.
Sicily is home to the world's only Mafia Museum. As the birthplace of Mafia, this museum explains the history of this dark organisation and brings people face to face with true Mafia relics and the way these historic criminals shaped history.