Lonely Planet Sicily

by Lonely Planet, Paula Hardy

Dive into Sicily's seductive melting pot and discover a land of extremes: breathtaking mountains and active volcanoes, pristine beaches and ancient temples, Moorish cities and sleek resorts. A whole country within an island, our definitive guide gives you detailed regional coverage for the perfect getaway.
Read Up - extensive history, culture and arts chapters help you get under Sicily's skin and understand its complex culture
Fire Walk - whether climbing the slopes of Etna or snorkelling off Ustica, our outdoor activities chapter will keep you busy for holidays to come
Dine Out - at street stalls or alfresco trattorie, seek out authentic Sicilian cuisine with our discerning reviews
Island Hop - full coverage of the Aeolian, Egadi and Pelagic Islands, including stunning Stromboli and secluded Pantelleria
Plan Your Adventure with comprehensive itineraries and grid-referenced maps

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Reference, Italy

304 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2000

About the author

OUR STORY
A beat-up old car, a few dollars in the pocket and a sense of adventure. In 1972 that’s all Tony and Maureen Wheeler needed for the trip of a lifetime – across Europe and Asia overland to Australia. It took several months, and at the end – broke but inspired – they sat at their kitchen table writing and stapling together their first travel guide, Across Asia on the Cheap. Within a week they’d sold 1500 copies and Lonely Planet was born. One hundred million guidebooks later, Lonely Planet is the world’s leading travel guide publisher with content to almost every destination on the planet.

Reviews

[Ming Wei]

Excellent travel book, plenty of useful information, no faults in books.

[Ming Wei]

Excellent travel book, plenty of useful information, no faults in books.

[Ming Wei]

Excellent travel book, plenty of useful information, no faults in books.

[vanessa.]

Never thought I’d be reviewing a travel guide but alas here we are. I am going in a few weeks and this has been extraordinarily helpful with the planning of the trip!
Will def come back after the trip to offer additional thoughts!

[Dominic DiCenzo]

Extremely useful guide. We used it on a two week trip of Sicily and visited many of the recommended sights and restaurants. Very informative.

[Theut]

Utile per una panoramica generale, su una regione così ricca mi sarei aspettata una guida un po' più corposa.

Seconda lettura per un veloce ripasso...

[Brendygirl]

It was a really good guidebook but lots of out-of-date stuff.

[Katie]

Went to Sicily for a week. This is a great travel guide that helped my fiance and I find hidden gems on this lovely island.
We based ourselves in Catania and thanks to this book we day tripped to:
Sirucusa (+Ortigia), Aci Trezza, Taormina (+Isola Bella) Etna and Santa Maria La Scala.

We hope to go back (with this guide book) to visit Palermo and the valley of the temples!

[Kai Weber]

It's probably not a good idea to review a travel guide before actually traveling with it. I'm only going to Sicily in a week, but have finished part of my preparations by reading through this Lonely Planet book today. It seems to be a very sound and well-balanced guide, and helped me to decide about which destinations I want to see, without leaving too many regrets for what I had to exclude from my itinerary. As usual for this book series it doesn't have too many photos, which I missed a little bit when reading it, but then again it probably helps the publisher to stay within budget and it helps the reader a bit with training ones imagination (or ones Google picture searching skills...) For my interest the parts on Sicilian history and culture could have been a bit more extensive, though.

[Donna]

A helpful supplemental guide for traveling in Sicily. I use Lonely Planet books to supplement Eyewitness travel guides and find the combination perfect, as for this location. I always find information on more out of the way places or cultural events that greatly enhance the vacation.

[Judy]

I was pleased to get this for free through Kindle Unlimited, and have it with me while we visited Palermo. It gave me the quick down and dirty on what we might want to see. It seemed like it might have been a bit dated, but that didn't affect my ability to use it. A good serviceable travel guide.

[Mila Bujić]

It was very useful on our roadtrip around Sicily, with nice details and recommendations for places to visit on the way. Informative enough to understand the context without going too much into detail. Led us to a random village for the best ice cream of our lives :)

[David Cooke]

Great read, but love visiting the island even better

Very informative and educational. Some really great colour photos. Very underated island, it has so much to offer. It just sits there serenely in a silver sea, absorbing the golden sun.

[Valerie Sherman]

Absolutely gorgeous photos - makes you feel like you could go anywhere in Sicily for a good meal or a stunning shot. I will hopefully be going in the next few years for the food, so I appreciated the focus on that and some recommendations on slow food tours and authentic meals.

[Jon A. Fredrikson]

Well organized and easy to navigate

Good levels of sites with most likely interest, but secondary sites receive enough coverage to attract interest where the allowed

[Gina M. Buckey]

Very informative

Was very informative. Learn alot of interesting things about Sicily. I do wish it had more photos but a well written book.

[Iolo Griffiths]

This is an excellent introduction to the island of Sicily with a lot of useful information on how to get around and what to see.

[Danielle]

I enjoy Lonely Planet Guides.

[Lea]

I love this book because I love Sicily.

[Paul Goldberg]

Very well done travel guide. Easy to read and well organized.

[Brian Gowthorpe]

An excellent guide that provided a solid background and lots of useful info. Only wildlife (snakes) and the total population seemed to be missing.

[Calvin Zito]

Only used it around Palermo but was helpful.

[Allison]

I can’t believe I read a travel book cover to cover

[E G Melby]

Just read the parts for where will will visit next month

[Mika Auramo]

Viimeisin lukemani Sisilian matkaopas ”Sicily” on oivallista matkaseuraa ja tarjoaa mukavasti virikkeitä niin ensikertalaiselle kuin jo useita kertoja Sisiliassa käyneelle turistille, joka pähkäilee, mitä tekisi eri puolilla saarta ja mihin aikansa käyttäisi, jos haluaa nauttia lomastaan täysin palkein.

Sivuja kirjassa on vajaat neljäsataa, ja se on jaoteltu tyypillisesti muutamaan alueeseen, tarkemmin sanottuna kahdeksaan lohkoon, ja selailua helpottaa värikoodit ja alueiden kartat, minne ja milloin kannattaa lomansa suunnata. Lisäksi annetaan hyviä vinkkejä kuvituksen avittamana, mitä löytyy ykköskohteiden leipeiltä luvuista ”Beoynd Catania” ja sitä rataa. Kuvitusta olisi voinut olla enemmänkin, mutta tämänkin perusteella tekemistä löytyi seuraavalle matkalle, eikä tarvitse erikseen ostella patikkaoppaita, miten päästä Etnan rinteille tai Taorminasta Castelmolaan ja ympäristöön ihailemaan upeita maisemia.

Lopussa on vielä ihan ummikoillekin tarpeellista tietoa ja tapakulttuuria, miten eri konteksteissa toimitaan ja miten juomarahaa jaellaan. Iänikuisille Aperol Spritzeillekin on vaihtoehtoja, eikä cannoloa kuulu syödä haarukalla ja veitsellä…

Myös uusin painos vuodelta 2025 on edellistä parempi ja pääkohteiden lähistöt karttoineen tulevat tarkemmin esitellyiksi varsinkin omatoimimatkailijoille, jollaista tuli testailtua viimeksi syksyllä 2025 Taorminan ja Catanian liepeillä eli Sisilian itäisellä rannikolla

[Fabiana]

Buona guida, con ottime dritte culinarie e essenziale per quello che c'è da vedere, anche se come al solito alcuni posti interessanti che ho visitato non vi erano nominati.
Da campeggiatrice avrei gradito anche qualche indicazione in tal senso, invece come sempre la lonely tratta solo altri tipi di strutture :(

[Naomi]

Holy cow, Batman...this book makes me want to go to Sicily! Hands down my favorite Lonely Planet book. It is incredibly well written with FANTASTIC images to sell Sicily and make for a well educated traveler.

[Rachel]

This guide book provided excellent history, details, and recommendations. We used it regularly during our trip. And who knew that I would actually like cannoli if it was fresh and made perfectly in Taormina? Highly recommend.

[Lamadia]

Super useful for planning and getting around. A must-have for traveling to Sicily.

[Tittirossa]

Superficiale e poco approfondita. Si limita a dare indicazioni solo sui posti più noti (con una profusione di ristoranti).