map-sicilia
Sicily Map - credit: r.maronn

Here you can find some useful suggestion to organize your Sicily bike tour.

As first step you have to decide if your trip will be guided or self-guided.

If you decide for a guided tour it is better chooseing the tour operator depending on the service and price.

Don’t search only low cost tour operators and organizations, in fact often a very low price is never joined with a satisfying service.

Look the rewies of other tourists that has done their trip with them, and verify if what they say is real.

Don’t read only good things about them, but search all the rewievs that underline the deficiencies. Generally an organization of tour declared only with overdone positive adjectives, is not well-founded. And an operator that has few deficiencies can be positive for many other things and satisfying your trip.

How to organize bike tour

Search information about the region and its attracions.

  • You can choose the natural or historic attractions itinerary
  • You can choose a combined itinerary, for example archaeological sites and amazing landscapes
  • You can choose to bike through Natural Reserves
  • You can bike in the Necropolis of Greek Sicily
  • You can combine your bike tour with tasting sicilian food: pastries, pasta, pistachio, all the tour cross important local food destinations.

The next step is to decide if you will take your personal bike or if you have to rent bike.

I suggest to take a MTB, because the most itineraries rae on hilly places

Bike Train Transport

Most regional trains in Italy take bikes. There will be a bike symbol on the list of departing trains at the station and also on the TrenItalia website (www.trenitalia.com)

You’ll just have to pick a destination and see which trains accept bikes.

In addition to your train ticket, you will need to purchase a ticket for the bike of 3.50 euro on regional trains.

The ticket is in two parts; one you attach to the handlebars of your bike using the adhesive strip and the other you keep with your train ticket. The ticket is 24 hours valid.

Suggestions:

Remember that in small town stations the train stops only for a few minutes, so you’ll want to be ready with your bike to get off.

How can i move in Sicily?

The main airport of Sicily is the Fontanarossa airport. From here every part of the east Sicily is easy to reach, in fact it is connected with the main ways of Catania such as Catania-Palermo highway (A19), the city centre of Catania, and all the ways the connect to south ways of Sicily.

How can i arrive to Taormina?

From THE airport you can take the circumferential way and arrive to Catania- Messina highway (A18). After 40 Km exit to Taormina tollgate.

How can i arrive to places of Noto valley?

From the airport you can take ss 114 to Syracuse. Along the way you will meet the various crossroads to reach the different villages and sites.

Is it easy moving by bike in Sicily?

Sicilian cities haven’t real cycle tracks. The only exception is Messina seafront, where you can find a cycle tracks 2 Km long

But this doesn’t mean that you can’t ride through Sicily roads. The villages you will cross (Etna villages or Noto Valley villages) are place with low traffic cars, and the street are so small and narrow that are more suitable for bicycle transit rather than cars.

If you ride through natural attractions you will find natural bicycle path. Many of them are more difficult because the presence of slopes, such as for Etna climbing, but others are easier and of a medium level, such as those of Noto Valley.

The real problems are in great cities such as Catania, where bicycle tracks are non-existent, but along the city centre it is poosible to find pedestrian areas practicable by bike, such as Via Etnea. Consider to bike along playa beach in the south of the city where you will find a cycle road long less than 1 Km.