The Magic of Southeastern Sicily

You are met at the Catania Airport and transferred, by a private vehicle, to Piazza Armerina. The area is very interesting to visit for the extraordinary mosaics at the nearby, Unesco listed, Villa Romana del Casale which is decorated with the finest Roman floor mosaics in existence that cover 3.535 sq meters. Here, you can pick up your cycling equipment and attend a briefing with your tour rep who will provide you a considerable amount of information, detailed maps, route directions, emergency mobile phone, and all you need for your tour’s approach. Overnight in Piazza Armerina.
Meals included:  dinner (D)

Day 2 – Piazza Armerina – Caltagirone – Vizzini  <35 miles/60 km>
Today’s route leads you through the best and most extensive production of prickly pears of Sicily, twisting lanes leading through pretty villages up to the attractive Caltagirone. This hilltop town is renowned throughout Sicily for the polychromatic colors of its ceramics, particularly the yellows and blues. Back in the saddle you head towards the perched and scenic Vizzini, home town of the realist writer Giovanni Verga.  It also known for the best quality of ricotta cheese production by sheep’s milk. Interesting to visit “ the Cunziria” (the tannery); it is an ancient and picturesque suburb of houses, time ago center of the workmanship of the leather. Your welcoming inn tonight is located in a valley surrounded by trees. Overnight in Vizzini
Difficulty  level: easy
Meals included: breakfast (B), D

Day 3 – Vizzini – Ragusa Ibla  <29 miles/46 km>
Leaving Vizzini, your journey on bike runs through the Hyblaean Mountains with a break at Monterosso Almo – already in the circuit of the most beautiful villages in Italy – before crossing first the small town of Giarratana and then, little ahead, the forest park of Calaforno with an equipped picnic area. Next, you cycle towards the manmade lake of Santa Rosalia, set on a wooded area of great beauty. Going ahead through small gorges and lush Mediterranean plants, you finally get to Ragusa Ibla perched on the hill overlooking the two valleys below. Ibla is a charming maze of narrow streets. largely pedestrianised, with little piazzas and secluded courtyards. Lovely churches and palaces richly ornamented with charm and baroque curlicues, will thrill you for skill and imagination of architects and stonemasons of that time. Your overnight stay is in this charming and peaceful village.  Overnight in Ragusa Ibla
Difficulty  level: easy
Meals included: B

Day 4 – Ragusa Ibla – Scicli – Pozzallo <28 miles/45 km>
Today you will experience the classic sights and valleys of the Val di Noto, touring a string of notable towns and villages. First, you descend into a deep gorge spanned by the 300 metres high bridge where is located Modica. It is another 18th century, baroque paradise where you cannot miss to taste  its spicy granulous chocolate with exotic flavours such as chilli pepper, cinnamon, vanilla, jasmine and orange, one of the first ever made in Europe after the discovery of America, based on an ancient Aztec recipe brought to Sicily by the Spaniards. Next, the downhill route leads you to the south coast crossing the town of  Scicli, one of Sicily’s prettiest small baroque towns with a beautiful architecture.  The beach of Sampieri, a truly unspoilt stretch of fine golden sand lapped by a crystal-clear sea and backed by a strip of woodland coast, features next. Finally, the seafront route with a beautiful scenery takes you to the seaside resort of Pozzallo. Overnight in Pozzallo.
Difficulty  level: easy
Meals included: B

Day 5 – Pozzallo – Marzamemi – Vendicari  <34 miles/55 km>
Today’s route runs down the seabord border of the extreme tip of Sicily and the costal marshes of “Pantano Cuba” and Pantano Longarini”, resting places for migratory birds. Late, cycling along the shores of the most southern point of the European continent, you get to Marzamemi, one of the prettiest villages of this area. This charming place, once very important for the tuna fishery dated back to the Arab domination, winds around Regina Margherita square. The area with low-roofed little houses, where once the tuna fisheries workers used to live, the nearby warehouses and the old tunny factory set around a lovely square and facing a little natural port, called la Balata, is very picturesque and until today has been keeping its original colours and shapes. At present, many of these restored buildings are used as restaurants, bars and tourist accommodations. You will spend the night in a peaceful agriturismo surrounded by a beautiful rural countryside, located between Vendicari and the beach of San Lorenzo.
Difficulty  level: easy
Meals included: B, D

Day 6 – Vendicari – Noto – Siracusa <29 miles/47 km> 
Today, you will pedal northward up the eastern coast up to Siracusa, before however, a stop inside the nearby reserve of Vendicari, is a must that a nature lover can’t miss.
The reserve has a humid, coastal climate and the marshes form an important staging post for migratory birds on their journey between Africa and Europe.
Continue onwards to to the splendid baroque town of Noto, famous for its 18th century lovely golden limestone buildings and churches before getting to Siracusa. Syracuse, as it is known in English, was built on an ancient Greek settlement founded by Corinthians in 734 BC. It was the most important city in Magna Graecia and, for a time, competed with Athens as the most important city of the Greek world.
Difficulty  level: easy
Meals included: B

Day 7  (optional) –Siracusa <24 miles/39 km> 
Today’s cycle ride is a perfect  balance between nature beauties and archaeological gems. For those travelling to Sicily today, Siracusa is not to be missed. The city tour is dedicated to archaeological site in the northwest of the town – where one can see extraordinary and unexpected remains of the classical Greek and Roman periods – and the island of Ortygia, with its charming ancient and narrow streets and the imposing baroque buildings just by the seashore.
On the way it is possible to make a detour to the natural and mystic source of the river Ciane with a lush papyrus vegetation and romantic wooden bridges that allow passage from one bank to another and the Plemmirio Marine protected area, a unique marquis dominated by the presence of an amazing fauna.
Difficulty  level: easy
Meals included: B

DAY 7 – Homeward Bound
After breakfast we say our good-byes and transfer you to the Catania airport.
Meals included: B

PRICE

It  is calculated per person  and on BB basis and double room occupancy according to the number of participants, as follows:
2 pax, 3 pax, 4/5 pax, 6/8 pax, 9+

With more participants than two people the price lowers gradually. Over 14 years old, same price as adults. (it is applied a 20% off to guys aged 12-14, who travel with at least two full paying adults and whether they be able to cover the daily distances).

PRICE INQUIRY

We are Sicily specialist based “on the site” and know our homeland intimately. Our prices are much more affordable than others offered by operators outside Sicily.  For exact price calculation, please, send us inquiry via e-mail  

INCLUSIONS

o seven night accommodations with en-suite facilities

o six days of cycling

o breakfast each day

o three dinners on day 1, day 2 and day 5

o airport-tour area, private round trip transfer

o inn-to-inn luggage transportation

o detailed maps and route descriptions

o a descriptive guide of the various sites to see

o a cell phone for emergencies

o a tour rep to oversee your tour

o travel guidance for pre/post-tour activities

EXCLUSIONS

o airfare

o insurance*

o lunches

o beverages

o bike rental (on request) 120 Euros

o bike rental delivery. ( The round trip to and from tour area is calculated according to the number of participants)

o tips and personal purchases such as laundry, phone calls, frigobar items etc..

o anything not specifically included in “INCLUSIONS”

INSURANCE*

We strongly recommend you to be covered by a good travel insurance. Customers should be in possession of own their travel insurance, with protection for the full duration of the vacation, in respect of medical expenses, injury, death, repatriation as well as cancellation and curtailment. This is mandatory for all clients who travel with us, except the case you sign a declaration which releases Easy Sicily of any responsibility.