TRIPS2SAVOR

If you’re planning a trip to Sicily, you’ve probably already spent plenty of time thinking about where to stay, what to see and—if you’re anything like me—what you’re going to eat.

But some of the things that make the biggest difference once you arrive aren’t the things that usually make it into the guidebooks.

Over the years, I’ve picked up quite a few practical lessons from traveling in Italy and from taking American guests around Sicily. Some are important, some simply make traveling easier, and a few are things you probably wouldn’t think about until you discover them for yourself.

These are the kinds of tips I share with guests traveling with Trips2Savor, my small-group food and wine tour company specializing in Italy. Whether you’re joining one of our tours or exploring Sicily on your own, I hope they make your trip a little easier.

Money: You Don’t Need a Pocketful of Euros

You don’t need to carry large amounts of cash in Sicily.

Credit cards—particularly Visa and Mastercard—are widely accepted in hotels, restaurants and shops. That said, cash is still useful for small purchases, markets and some small family-run businesses.

Personally, I don’t like arriving in another country without any local currency. Having some euros in my wallet when I land means I don’t immediately have to go hunting for an ATM.

ATMs are easy to find in Sicily’s larger towns, but they can be less convenient in the small towns and villages. Don’t wait until you’re completely out of cash before looking for one.

One Important ATM Tip

Whenever possible, use an ATM attached to an actual bank.

And if the ATM offers to convert your withdrawal into U.S. dollars, decline the conversion and choose to be charged in euros (€). This allows your home bank or card issuer to handle the currency conversion rather than accepting the ATM operator’s offered exchange rate.

It’s also worth checking your bank’s foreign transaction fees and daily ATM withdrawal limits before leaving home.

Tipping in Sicily

This is one of the biggest adjustments for Americans.

Tipping in Italy does not work the way it does in the United States. For meals you purchase on your own, tipping isn’t mandatory. If you’ve received particularly good service, leaving a few euros or roughly 5–10% is a nice gesture.

You may also see a charge called coperto on your restaurant bill. That’s a per-person cover charge meant to partially cover the restaurant’s expenses for service (tablecloths, napkins, dishes). It is not a tip.

If you’re traveling on one of our Trips2Savor tours, gratuities for the meals and experiences included in your itinerary are already taken care of.

Drinking Water

Italian tap water is generally safe to drink unless it’s specifically marked “acqua non potabile,” meaning non-drinking water.

Bottled water is everywhere, but I personally travel with a refillable filtered water bottle. It’s convenient, helps me stay hydrated and means I use fewer disposable plastic bottles during a trip.

Two options I like for travel are a LifeStraw filtering water bottle or an insulated stainless-steel filtering bottle from Philips.

Your Phone in Sicily

Before leaving the United States, check with your mobile carrier so you know exactly what international service is going to cost.

Many carriers offer an international day pass or travel plan that lets you use your phone much as you would at home. For most travelers, that’s considerably easier than constantly searching for Wi-Fi whenever you need directions or want to contact someone.

And download WhatsApp before you leave. It’s extremely common in Italy, and it’s how we keep our Trips2Savor groups connected while we’re traveling.

Download Google Maps Before You Go

One of the easiest things you can do before traveling is download the areas you’ll be visiting in Google Maps for offline use.

Do this at home while you’re connected to Wi-Fi. Once downloaded, you’ll still be able to search for many addresses and use certain navigation features even when you don’t have an internet connection.

I recommend downloading your maps shortly before your trip rather than months in advance.

Remember that not every Google Maps feature is available offline, so I still recommend having some form of mobile data when traveling.

Electricity in Italy: Adapter or Converter?

These are two different things, and confusing them can potentially damage an appliance.

Italy uses different electrical outlets and a higher voltage than the United States.

A plug adapter simply allows an American-style plug to fit into an Italian outlet. It does not change the voltage.

Fortunately, most modern phones, tablets, laptops and chargers are dual voltage. Look at the electrical information printed on your device or charger. If you see something like INPUT: 100–240V, it is designed to operate on both U.S. and European voltage.

This guide to electricity in Italy from TripSavvy provides a good explanation of the differences.

I like bringing a small European/Italian travel adapter with multiple outlets plus USB and USB-C ports. Hotel rooms don’t always have as many conveniently located outlets as we’d like.

A few other electronics that are worth packing:

• A portable power bank
• Longer charging cables
• Earbuds or noise-cancelling headphones

And leave the hair dryer at home if your accommodations provide one. It’s one less bulky item in your suitcase—and hair appliances are among the items where voltage differences can cause problems.

Sicily’s Weather Can Fool You

Sicily isn’t one uniform climate.

You can experience very different conditions depending on whether you’re on the coast, inland or at higher elevations.

A few days before departure, check the extended forecast and make your final packing decisions accordingly. While I’m in Sicily, I like 3Bmeteo, an Italian weather service that provides detailed local forecasts.

And here’s something I remind my guests about every time:

Mount Etna is a mountain.

It may be warm and sunny at sea level while it’s considerably cooler and windier at elevation. Bring a jacket or layer and sturdy athletic or walking shoes if you’re heading up Etna.

What to Wear in Sicily

You don’t need a complicated wardrobe.

Sicilian dress is generally relaxed. Casual clothing works well during the day, and smart casual is perfectly appropriate for most dinners. You don’t need formal clothing.

The most important thing you can pack is a pair of comfortable shoes you’ve already broken in. This is not the vacation for discovering that your brand-new shoes give you blisters.

Sicily means cobblestones, hills, stairs, gravel and uneven pavement. Comfortable sneakers, athletic shoes or good walking shoes will serve you well.

I also recommend packing in layers rather than trying to anticipate every possible temperature. Depending on the season, consider a light sweater or jacket, small umbrella, hat, sunglasses, sunscreen and mosquito repellent.

If balance or prolonged walking can sometimes be an issue, a lightweight collapsible walking stick can be surprisingly useful on Sicily’s cobblestones, hills and uneven surfaces.

The Italian Washcloth Surprise

Here’s one that catches a surprising number of American travelers off guard—particularly women.

The American-style washcloth generally isn’t part of the standard Italian hotel bathroom setup.

Typically, you’ll find a bath/body towel, a hand towel and a smaller towel intended for the bidet.

If you use a washcloth in the shower or for removing makeup—or if you normally use a mesh loofah—bring your own.

I’ve heard good things about Neutrogena Make-Up Remover wipes for travel. These compressed travel washcloths are another handy option that takes up almost no room in your luggage.

It’s a small thing, but it’s exactly the kind of small thing you’re happy someone told you about before you arrived.

Toiletries and Personal Items

You’ll be able to buy everyday toiletries in Sicily if you forget something, but you may not find the exact American brand or product you’re accustomed to using.

Depending on your needs, consider bringing sunscreen, mosquito repellent, hand sanitizer, Band-Aids, a little antiseptic cream, moisturizer, contact-lens supplies, earplugs, a sleep mask, stain-remover wipes and wet wipes.

And ladies, throw a small packet of tissues into your day bag. There will probably be a moment during your trip when you’re glad you did.

Medications and Motion Sickness

Bring an adequate supply of your essential prescription medications and keep them with you rather than putting them in checked luggage. Before traveling internationally with prescription medication, check current rules for Italy and carry medications in their original labeled containers along with appropriate documentation when required.

If you’re prone to motion sickness, bring the remedy you know works for you. Some drives through Sicily’s countryside and mountain areas involve winding roads, and you shouldn’t assume you’ll easily find your preferred American medication once you’re underway.

I also like to carry a small personal supply of the over-the-counter remedies I normally use at home rather than having to figure out unfamiliar Italian brands when I don’t feel well.

What I Keep in My Day Bag

You don’t need to carry half your suitcase around Sicily every day.

A small, lightweight day bag is usually enough for a refillable water bottle, sunglasses, sunscreen, tissues or wet wipes, a small umbrella, Band-Aids, medications you’ll need during the day, your phone cable and power bank, a small snack, a pen and a light sweater or layer when appropriate.

The idea isn’t to prepare for every possible emergency. It’s simply to have the handful of things that can make a long day of exploring more comfortable.

Protect Your Important Things

There’s no reason to bring your entire American wallet to Sicily.

Before leaving home, remove the credit cards, membership cards and everything else you won’t need in Italy. Bring a primary payment card and a backup, and don’t keep both in the same place.

Keep digital copies of your important travel documents somewhere you can access them if your phone, wallet or passport disappears.

I also recommend taking a photo of your suitcase before checking it at the airport—and even a quick photo of what’s inside. If the airline loses your bag, you’ll have a record of what the suitcase looks like and what you packed.

A luggage tracker such as an AirTag can also provide some peace of mind when checking luggage.

Wine Lovers: Pack a Few Wineskins

If you enjoy wine, this is one thing I wouldn’t leave home without.

Sicily produces some amazing wines, and there’s a very good chance you’ll discover a bottle during your trip that you can’t easily find back home—or simply want to bring home because it reminds you of the people and place where you tasted it.

I recommend packing a few Wineskins in your suitcase. These protective wine-bottle travel bags take up almost no room on the way over and give your bottles an extra layer of protection when they’re packed in your checked luggage for the flight home.

Even if you aren’t planning to buy wine, bring a couple anyway. Sicily has a funny way of changing those plans.

(Before flying home, be sure to check current airline, U.S. Customs and any applicable state requirements concerning alcohol in your luggage.)

And Finally: Leave Room in Your Suitcase

This may be my most practical Sicily travel advice:

Don’t leave home with a completely full suitcase.

You’re going to Sicily.

There will be ceramics.

There will be packaged foods, honey and olive oil. There may be wine. There will almost certainly be something made by a Sicilian producer that you suddenly decide absolutely needs to come home with you.

Before buying food products to bring back to the United States, check current U.S. Customs and agricultural restrictions, particularly for meat, cheese and other perishable products.

But whatever you decide to buy, you’re going to need somewhere to put it.

One of the most common things I hear toward the end of a trip is:

“I wish I had more room in my suitcase.”

Consider yourself warned.

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Traveling to Sicily With Trips2Savor

These practical details are only a small part of experiencing Sicily.

What I love most about the island isn’t simply seeing the famous sights. It’s meeting the people behind the food and traditions—walking into a small producer’s workshop, visiting a family farm, tasting something where it’s actually made and having experiences that are difficult to reproduce when you’re simply checking places off a sightseeing list.

That’s the philosophy behind Trips2Savor’s small-group culinary tours of Italy.

If you’re considering Sicily and would rather experience it through its food, wine, producers and people than rush from one tourist attraction to another, you can learn more about our tours at Trips2Savor.com

And whether you travel with us or make the journey on your own, I hope these tips help you arrive in Sicily a little better prepared—and leave with a suitcase that’s considerably fuller than when you came.