Published 24 August 2026 | Updated 13 October 2026 by Kate Acaster
Is Sicily expensive? A week in a rural agriturismo costs less than half what an upscale hotel with a pool near Taormina charges for the same September dates. Push to the very top of the market and a five-star suite on Mazzarò Bay costs many times more again, but that is the outlier end, not what most travellers choose between. The real difference between a modest week and a comfortable one is a handful of decisions: which coast you fly into, which town you sleep in, and which star rating you tick on the way through.
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Sicily at a glance
- Flight time3 to 3.5 hours from the UK
- AirportsTwo: Catania Fontanarossa (CTA) on the east coast, Palermo Falcone-Borsellino (PMO) on the north
- CurrencyEuro, Italy is in the eurozone
- VisaVisa-free 90 days in any 180, and the days do count as Schengen days
- Tourist tax€1.50 to €5 a person, per night, set by each town and your hotel’s star rating
- Watch forMount Etna is active; the cable car and summit paths close at short notice
Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean, and it behaves like several different holidays stitched together. Fly into Catania and you are on the doorstep of Mount Etna, Taormina’s clifftop old town and the baroque streets of Ortigia. Fly into Palermo and you land closer to Cefalù’s beach and the mosaics at Monreale. The prices in this guide are read live from UK airlines, Sicily’s own regional park authority and Expedia, not a single round-number estimate.
Sicily’s tourist tax is the detail most UK visitors miss. Unlike a single national levy, each comune, or town council, sets its own rate and its own maximum number of nights. Catania, Palermo and Taormina all publish different figures, so the same room can carry a different bill depending on which side of the island you sleep in.
How to keep Sicily costs down
None of this requires giving up the good bits. It mostly means picking the version of Sicily that matches your budget rather than the one on the postcard.
| Do this | Why it works |
|---|---|
| Fly outside July and August | Jet2’s own weather data puts September at 24°C against August’s 26°C, still hot, but with thinner crowds at Etna and the Valley of the Temples. |
| Base yourself in Giardini Naxos or inland, not Taormina’s clifftop strip | Comfortable stays within a short drive of Taormina cost a small fraction of a week at a five-star hotel on Mazzarò Bay, below the old town. |
| Take the train, not a transfer taxi, between Catania and Taormina | Trains run every 30 to 60 minutes and a regional ticket costs €5.50; no taxi association publishes a fixed airport fare for the same journey. |
| Check your hotel’s star rating before you book | Taormina charges €1.50 a person a night at the bottom of its hotel scale and €5 at the top, for the same number of nights in the same town. |
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"Sicily’s tourist tax catches people out because it isn’t one number, it’s a different bill in every town. Book a five-star room in Taormina and you’re on the top of its scale before you’ve ordered a coffee; book the same star rating twenty minutes away and the town council charges you less for it. Check which comune your hotel actually sits in, not just which resort it’s marketed as, and you’ll know the real bill before you land."
Kate Acaster, Chief Editor, Flight Tribe
Getting to Sicily from the UK
Five airlines fly UK routes into Sicily’s two airports, and which one you land at changes your whole trip. Catania sits on the east coast, closest to Taormina, Etna and Syracuse; Palermo sits on the north coast, closest to Cefalù and Monreale.
| Airline | UK departures |
|---|---|
| easyJet | Flies to Palermo from Bristol, London Gatwick and London Luton, and separately to Catania; the busiest single carrier on the London-Catania route. |
| Jet2 | Flies to Catania from Birmingham, Edinburgh, Leeds Bradford, London Stansted and Manchester, and to Palermo from Birmingham, Manchester and Newcastle. Both are summer routes. |
| Ryanair | Flies UK routes to both Catania and Palermo. |
| British Airways | London Heathrow to Catania. |
| TUI | Package holidays to both Catania and Palermo airports; TUI doesn’t publish a full route list for either on its own site. |
Catania is the more useful arrival for most first-time visitors. Jet2’s own figures put Taormina and Syracuse at about an hour’s drive from Catania Airport, and Giardini Naxos at around 50 minutes. Third-party transfer operators put the distances at roughly 69km for Taormina and 65km for Syracuse.
Catania itself is a working city built partly from Etna’s own black lava stone, not a resort in its own right.
Most UK visitors pass through it once, for the airport or the fish market, and base themselves on the coast instead.
Visa and entry rules for UK travellers
Sicily follows the same rules as the rest of Italy, because it is part of Italy, not a separate territory with its own border regime.
| Requirement | What it means |
|---|---|
| Visa | Not required for tourism, family visits or business meetings of up to 90 days in any 180-day period. |
| Schengen days | Every day in Sicily counts towards the 90 days allowed in any 180-day period, the same as anywhere else in Italy. |
| Passport age | Must have been issued within the last 10 years on the day you enter. |
| Passport validity | At least 3 months left on the day you leave the Schengen area. |
| EES biometric check | The EU’s Entry/Exit System has recorded fingerprints and a photo from UK travellers on first entry since 12 October 2025, with no stated exemption for Italy. |
What that means for a UK traveller in practice
Bring the same paperwork you would for mainland Italy: a passport that clears both the age and validity tests, and a running count of how many Schengen days you have used in the past 180 days, especially if you travel on to Malta or elsewhere in Europe. There is no separate Sicilian stamp, form or fee.
Getting from the airport to your resort
Catania Airport is the busier of the two for UK arrivals and sits closest to the east-coast resorts this guide focuses on.
| From CTA airport to | Distance | Published fare |
|---|---|---|
| Taormina | About 69km, an hour’s drive | Interbus/Etna Trasporti coach, €7 one way, €14 return, about 85 minutes |
| Giardini Naxos | About 58km, around 50 minutes | Same Etna Trasporti/Interbus coach as Taormina, €6 one way, about 60 to 70 minutes |
| Syracuse | About 65km, an hour’s drive | Interbus coach, €6.20 one way, €9.60 return, about 70 minutes |
Getting around Sicily
The Catania-Taormina corridor runs on a proper train line, which makes it one of the easier parts of Sicily to see without a hire car.
| Route | Cost | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Catania Centrale to Taormina-Giardini | From €5.50 (regional) to €8.50 (Intercity) | Trains run every 30 to 60 minutes; journey time about 40 minutes to just over an hour. |
| Mount Etna day trip from Catania or Taormina | No fixed public transport fare | AST runs one bus a day from Catania to Rifugio Sapienza, out about 08:15 and back about 16:30. From Taormina, hire a car or join an organised tour. |
| Valley of the Temples day trip from either coast | No fixed public transport fare | Agrigento sits on the south coast. From Palermo, trains reach Agrigento Centrale in about two hours from around €11, then a local bus to the park. From Catania, a hire car or organised tour is simpler. |
A hire car earns its cost back quickly if Etna and the Valley of the Temples are both on your list, since public transport to each is limited to one daily bus or a long train ride. For a trip built entirely around Taormina, Giardini Naxos and Catania itself, the train covers most of what you need.
Etna is one of the most active volcanoes in the world and erupts, in some form, several times most years.
The cable car and upper walking routes close at short notice when activity or weather make the summit unsafe.
Where to base yourself in Sicily
Most UK holidays to Sicily settle on one of four bases, and each one trades off distance from the airport against what is on your doorstep.
| Base | Suits | The trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Taormina | First-timers who want the old town on foot | A tourist tax charged for up to 10 nights, against 4 in Catania and Palermo, and the priciest hotel rooms; a clifftop setting with limited beach access from the old town itself. |
| Giardini Naxos | Families wanting Taormina’s setting without Taormina’s prices | A proper beach and noticeably cheaper rooms, a short bus ride from the old town rather than on top of it. |
| Syracuse (Ortigia) | Culture-first visitors who want history over nightlife | A genuine working Sicilian old town on its own island, further from Etna and with fewer package-holiday flights direct to its doorstep. |
| Cefalù | Palermo-airport arrivals who want a beach town, not a city break | Closer to Palermo and Monreale, further from Etna and the Valley of the Temples. |
What Sicily’s main attractions cost
Sicily’s biggest sights sit under two different authorities, so their tickets come from two different places: the regional archaeological parks, and the mountain’s own cable-car operator.
| Attraction | Adult | What you need to know |
|---|---|---|
| Teatro Antico di Taormina | €14 | €7 reduced rate; open daily 9:00 to 19:45. Extended evening hours on selected summer dates. |
| Valley of the Temples, Agrigento | €14, plus €3 exhibition supplement to 31 October 2026 | €7 reduced rate for EU visitors aged 18 to 25 (plus the €3 supplement to 31 October 2026); free for under-18s. |
| Mount Etna cable car, return | €54 | Sapienza to La Montagnola, 1,923m to 2,500m. Runs year-round, weather and activity permitting. |
| Mount Etna Tour 3000, cable car + 4×4 + guide | €82 | Adds a 4×4 vehicle transfer and a guided walk up to around 2,900m. |
Taormina’s own ancient theatre still hosts a summer programme of concerts and film screenings, on the same stage the Greeks built it around.
Arrive early or late in the day; the site has almost no shade and gets exposed under a midday sun.
Where to stay in Sicily
Three properties, read live on Expedia for the same seven nights, show how wide Sicily’s price range actually runs once you leave Taormina’s old town.
| Tier | Property | 7 nights | Why it is on this list |
|---|---|---|---|
| Budget | Agriturismo Ghiritina, Francavilla di Sicilia | The cheapest of the three | Rated 8.8 Excellent, with a pool, roughly 20 minutes inland from Taormina by road. |
| Mid | Don Vittorio Country Village, Trappitello | More than twice the budget pick | Rated 9.4 Exceptional, an upscale holiday park with a pool, nine minutes’ drive from central Taormina. |
| Worth the spend | Mazzarò Sea Palace, Taormina | Many times the mid-tier price | Rated 9.6 Exceptional, a Leading Hotels of the World property directly on Mazzarò Bay, breakfast included. |
The gap between the cheapest and most expensive room here is wide. It is largely location: an inland agriturismo, an upscale holiday park a short drive from the old town, and a five-star hotel on the beach at Mazzarò Bay, below the old town.
Where to eat and drink in Sicily
Jet2’s own destination page publishes a beer and a meal price for Catania. Nothing else on this table is a quoted figure. No restaurant, council or tourist board fixes menu prices across an entire region.
| Tier | What it is | Assumed spend | Published or assumed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Budget | Street food and a local beer | £4.30 for a beer; £8 to £12 for arancini or a slice at a counter | Beer price published by Jet2; snack range is this guide’s own estimate |
| Mid | A trattoria three-course meal for two | £42.70 | Published, Jet2’s own Sicily destination page |
| Worth the spend | A seafront dinner in Taormina or Ortigia | £70 to £100 for two, before wine | This guide’s own estimate; no restaurant publishes a standing menu price |
Taormina or Cefalù
Which coast you land on shapes the whole trip more than any other single decision. Both towns are pretty; they are simply pictures of different Sicilies.
Taormina, reached via Catania, is the clifftop old town with the ancient theatre, the cable car down to Mazzarò Bay, and Etna visible on a clear day. It is also Sicily’s most expensive base, on the tourist tax table and on Expedia alike.
Cefalù, reached via Palermo, trades the clifftop drama for a long sandy beach directly below its own Norman cathedral, with Palermo’s markets and Monreale’s mosaics both under an hour away.
Neither is the wrong answer. Taormina suits a first Sicily trip built around Etna, ancient sites and old-town evenings; Cefalù suits a beach-first trip with a couple of city days folded in.
Both towns fill up fast in August; neither is a quiet secret any more.
Booking your first-choice hotel by spring is normal practice for a July or August date, not overcaution.
What a week in Sicily costs
Building the budget-tier week from published figures, before the room, flights, car hire and airport transfers, none of which any operator prices as a fixed standing rate.
| Line | Week, two adults | Published or assumed |
|---|---|---|
| Room, Agriturismo Ghiritina | Not counted; see Where to stay | Expedia; check live rates for your dates |
| Tourist tax, 2-star equivalent, Taormina rate, 7 nights | €35 | Comune di Taormina’s own schedule, €2.50 a person a night at a 2-star hotel, capped at 10 nights; used here as a representative figure since the budget property sits in a different comune with no published schedule found |
| Teatro Antico di Taormina, two adults | €28 | Published, Regione Siciliana |
| Mount Etna cable car, two adults | €108 | Published, Funivia dell’Etna |
| Train travel, four single trips into Taormina | €44 | Four regional singles for two at €5.50 each |
| Eating, seven days for two | £300 | This guide’s own estimate, mixing budget and mid-tier meals across the week |
| Airport transfers and local travel | €28 | Two return Interbus/Etna Trasporti coach fares, Catania Airport to Taormina |
Best time to visit Sicily
Sicily runs hotter and later into the year than most of the UK’s usual package destinations, which changes when the best-value window actually falls.
| Month | Average daily high | What that means for a trip |
|---|---|---|
| May | 19°C | Comfortable for walking Taormina’s old town and the Valley of the Temples without the peak-season crowds. |
| August | 26°C | Peak heat and peak prices together; expect the busiest beaches and the fullest hotels of the year. |
| October | 21°C | Still swimmable sea temperatures for most visitors, with fares typically softening after the summer peak. |
Shoulder-season visitors trade a couple of degrees of heat for noticeably shorter queues at Etna’s cable car and the ancient theatre.
Hotel rates generally follow the same pattern, softening as soon as the school summer holidays end.
So, is Sicily expensive?
Only if you let the postcard version of Taormina set your budget. A week for two in a rural agriturismo with a pool, twenty minutes from the old town by road, cost less than half what an upscale hotel with a pool nine minutes from central Taormina charged for the same dates. A handful of five-star suites on Mazzarò Bay cost many times more, but that is the outlier end of the market, not what most travellers choose between. Both the budget stay and the upscale one are Sicily; they are simply not the same trip.
The island’s own attraction tickets sit closer to the budget end of that range. The ancient theatre in Taormina is €14, the Valley of the Temples is €14 (€17 until 31 October 2026), and Etna’s cable car is €54 return. None of these move much whether you’re staying in a farmhouse or a five-star suite.
Where Sicily does cost more than a beach package is in the logistics. There are two airports rather than one, a tourist tax that changes by town, and two headline sights, Etna and the Valley of the Temples, that neither train nor bus reaches on a published fare. Budget for a hire car or an organised tour if you want to see both. The rest of the island is more affordable than its reputation suggests.
Most UK visitors never need the ferry network; it matters mainly for anyone island-hopping onward from Sicily itself.
Catania and Palermo airports remain the practical way in and out for a standard UK holiday.
Frequently asked questions
Is Sicily expensive?
Only at the very top end. A budget agriturismo week for two cost less than half what an upscale hotel with a pool near Taormina charged for the same dates, and a Leading Hotels of the World suite in Taormina costs many times more again if you want to go all out. Official attraction tickets are comparatively cheap: €14 for Taormina’s ancient theatre, €14 for the Valley of the Temples (€17 until 31 October 2026), and €54 for Mount Etna’s cable car.
Is Sicily in the EU and the Schengen area?
Yes. Sicily is part of Italy, a full EU and Schengen member, uses the euro, and every day you spend there counts towards the 90 days allowed in any 180-day period, the same as mainland Italy.
Do UK travellers need a visa for Sicily?
No, not for a stay of up to 90 days in any 180-day period, for tourism, family visits or business meetings, per GOV.UK’s Italy entry requirements guidance. Your passport needs to have been issued within the last 10 years and have at least 3 months left on the day you leave the Schengen area.
Which UK airports fly to Sicily?
Jet2 flies to Catania from Birmingham, Edinburgh, Leeds Bradford, London Stansted and Manchester, and to Palermo from Birmingham, Manchester and Newcastle. easyJet flies to Palermo from Bristol, London Gatwick and London Luton, and separately to Catania. Ryanair serves both airports, and British Airways flies London Heathrow to Catania.
Will I have to give fingerprints at the Sicily border under EES?
Yes, on first entry. The EU’s Entry/Exit System has been live across Schengen, including Italy, since 12 October 2025, and normally records UK travellers’ fingerprints and a photo. EES applies at every Schengen border, Italy included, so expect the standard biometric check. Children under 12 are not fingerprinted.
Catania’s La Pescheria fish market runs most mornings and costs nothing to walk through.
What is Sicily’s tourist tax and do I have to pay it?
Yes, in almost every case. Unlike Greece’s single national fee, each Sicilian comune sets its own imposta di soggiorno, charged per person, per night. Taormina charges from €1.50 a night at a 1-star hotel to €5 at 5-star, and €3 for rooms to rent and holiday lets, capped at 10 nights. Catania runs €3 to €5, capped at 4 nights. Palermo charges a flat €4 for short lets and holiday apartments, also capped at 4 nights. The rate is collected by your accommodation, not charged separately at the airport or border.
Is the Valley of the Temples free to visit?
No. Standard adult admission is €14, with a €7 reduced rate for EU visitors aged 18 to 25 (each plus a €3 exhibition supplement until 31 October 2026) and free entry for under-18s, per the site’s official ticketing partner, CoopCulture.
Taormina or Cefalù, which is better for a first trip?
Depends what you want the trip to be built around. Taormina, via Catania, suits a first Sicily holiday centred on Etna, ancient sites and old-town evenings, but charges tourist tax for up to 10 nights, against 4 in Catania and Palermo, and has the priciest hotel rooms. Cefalù, via Palermo, trades that clifftop drama for a proper beach beneath its own cathedral, with Palermo and Monreale both under an hour away.
Free public beach access exists alongside paid lido sections on most of Sicily’s popular coastline.
Ask at your hotel which stretch is free before assuming every sunlounger comes at a cost.
How do I get from Catania airport to my hotel?
By train to Taormina-Giardini station, by Interbus or Etna Trasporti coach direct to Taormina, or by taxi. Trains run every 30 to 60 minutes and a regional ticket to Taormina-Giardini costs about €6.50 from the airport station; the Interbus/Etna Trasporti coach is widely quoted at €7 one way. Neither the airport nor any taxi association publishes a fixed taxi fare, so agree a price before you get in or pre-book through your holiday operator.
When is the cheapest good time to visit Sicily?
Late September or October. Jet2’s own published figures put the average daily high at 24°C in September and 21°C in October, against August’s 26°C peak, while hotel rates and flights typically soften once the UK school summer holidays end. It also thins the queues at Etna’s cable car and the Valley of the Temples, both of which get busy in July and August.
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Kate Acaster is Chief Editor at Flight Tribe. She writes about practical travel planning, budget airlines, baggage rules, city breaks, beach holidays and good hotels that do not cost daft money.
Kate has travelled through Europe, South America and beyond, usually with a notebook, a half-formed plan and a strong opinion on airport snacks. At Flight Tribe, her work focuses on helping UK travellers understand what is included, what costs extra, and whether a trip is worth booking at the price shown.
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