Sicily · SELF-GUIDED TOURS
The 15 self-guided tours below are the ones worth your time, each with its price, its length and who it suits best. Start at number one if you only have room for one.
Visit Taormina’s Ancient Theater with a skip-the-ticket-line entry and a self-guided audio tour in English, Spanish, French, or German. Explore at your own pace, tracing the site from its Greek-era design through its Roman use as an arena, with sweeping views of Taormina and the sea along the way.
“It was so great to not have to wait in the long line for tickets.”
Walk among Agrigento’s ancient Greek temples with a one-day entry ticket and digital audioguide. You’ll see the Temple of Concordia, the Temple of Heracles, aqueducts, and the site’s former public spaces. Entry is at the Temple of Juno gate. Transport and a live guide are not included.
“Its a very good location to visit with beautiful landscape and relaxing”
Walk the UNESCO-listed Valley of the Temples in Agrigento with an entry ticket and a self-guided audio tour in eight languages. Follow a route past the temples of Hera, Concordia, Heracles, and Zeus, plus ancient fortifications and a Christian necropolis. Plan on two to three hours, bring your own phone and headphones, and note that Kolymbethra Gardens costs extra.
“la visite est parfaite. a faire au coucher du soleil magnifique. cependant l audioguide n est pas top. 1es explication par temple ne dure qu une minute du mal a trouver la position exacte sur le site. et comme l appli est sur le téléphone, quand on prend des photo il faut se remettre sur l appli.... donc je recommande cette visite bien sûr mais sans l audioguide un manuel a vendre a l entrée est presque mieux”
Explore Sicily’s vast Selinunte Archaeological Park with a one-day entry ticket for $23 per person. See temples, sanctuaries, the necropolis, and the Caves of Cusa at your own pace, on foot or using an e-car or small train. A digital postcard is included. No guide or audio guide is included, and you must exchange your voucher at the park ticket office.
“I definitely liked the initiative, the price is the service offered! Wonderful assistance!!!”
Follow a self-guided route from Ortigia’s street market through Syracuse’s historic center and out to the Neapolis Archaeological Park. On your smartphone, use audio, written notes and a Google Maps connection to explore in English or one of four other languages. Set your own pace, pause when you like, and budget extra for the cathedral and archaeological park, whose admission is not included.
“Easy to use. Good description of the sites to visit. In two of which there was no sound, but in the same way you could read and also you could help with the photos. We can't find the image of the Virgin looking up at the sky. Look into it!Auto-translated”
Use the ITGUIDES app to follow a self-guided route through Agrigento’s Valley of the Temples. A short introduction and 11 point-of-interest descriptions cover Greek temples, deities, rites, myths, and legends. GPS-linked points help you find the stops, and recordings are available in five languages. Entry tickets are not included.
“Audioguida esaustiva, non annoia, ed è bello che ti geolocalizza, indirizzando verso il sito giusto.”
Visit Segesta’s archaeological park in Sicily with a single-entry ticket advertised as skip-the-line and a digital app audioguide. Walk from the Doric Temple through the valley and its medieval remains to the theater on Mount Barbaro, with wide views across Sicily. The app guide may not match the site, so check it before relying on it.
“Segesta is beautiful, but the audio guide is from the Valley of the Temples in Agrigento. However, it can be purchased on site for €5.”
Visit Agrigento’s Valley of the Temples with an entry ticket and self-guided audio commentary in eight languages. The Treasures of Italy exhibition is included; Kolymbethra Gardens costs extra. Bring your own phone and headphones, download the ticket and audio before arrival, and allow more time than the roughly two-hour estimate if you want a leisurely visit.
“Go in the morning so you don't have too many people and especially fresh!!!!! You don't need their 3 or 4 euro taxi to make half the way I recommend an arrival by gate V because it goes up to the outward but it goes down to the return and ascending we see the most beautiful buildings last!!!!Auto-translated”
This one-day ticket covers Monreale’s Cloister of Santa Maria Nuova and an audio app, not entry to the cathedral. Walk among 228 columns, study their biblical scenes, and pause at the cloister fountain. The app provides background on the cathedral and cloister, but there is no live guide. Admission costs $13 per person.
Walk Catania from Ursino Castle to the Benedictine Monastery with a phone-based audio and written guide in English, Spanish, Italian, German, or French. You’ll pass the fish market, cathedral, Roman amphitheater, and Baroque Via dei Crociferi at your own pace. Bring internet access and headphones if you prefer them; the amphitheater costs an extra €4 to enter.
“Great, we felt like we saw most of what catania jas to offer. We saw parts that we wouldn’t have if investigating by ourselves”
This self-guided TravelMate audio guide gives you 31 tracks and 95 minutes of material on Palermo, from its cathedral and Palatine Chapel to local cuisine and Teatro Massimo. Listen in seven languages, read the audio text, and use the app online or offline. There is no meeting point, so you can start wherever you like.
Explore Palermo’s University Botanical Garden with a one-day entry ticket. See Mediterranean, tropical, and subtropical plants, including succulents, palms, and cycads, among historic statues and bas-reliefs. Your ticket also includes a digital audio guide to Palermo city, but not a guided tour of the garden.
Ride from central Catania in an air-conditioned van to Agrigento’s Valley of the Temples, then Piazza Armerina’s Villa Romana del Casale. You get about 2.5 hours at the Greek ruins and 1.5 hours at the Roman villa, plus an audio guide in six languages during the ride. Site admission and food are not included.
“We were not notified that the driver did not speak English. There was a pre-recorded description during the ride, but the driver could not communicate with its passengers.”
Travel from Siracusa in an air-conditioned van to Marzamemi and Noto, with an audio guide in six languages. You’ll have free time in both towns, including a look at Marzamemi’s old tuna fishery and Noto’s Baroque center. The driver is listed as speaking English and Italian; no local guide is included.
“This could have been better. The office where we were to meet was completely torn apart as they were doing work, and no one from any tourist service was there. At one minute before starting time a van arrived and we got in. The driver was only a driver and only spoke Italian. He drove exceedingly fast which eventually we mentioned to him. The audio guide was a voice in 4 languages telling a little about Marzamemi and then Noto, but was not pleasant to listen to. After our two hours in Noto the driver took us back to the meeting point in Syracuse, less than six hours after we…”
From Catania, spend nine hours visiting the Sicilian towns featured in Inspector Montalbano. Your driver speaks English or Italian, and an audio guide is available in six languages. See Punta Secca’s lighthouse, explore Baroque Scicli and Ragusa Ibla, then sample Modica chocolate. Drivers Salvatore and Mario have been praised, but your driver may differ.
“Le distanze sono notevevoli e la sosta a Scicli decisamente troppo breve. I posti sono meravigliosi e meritano tutti un tempo di visita di almento 1 ora e 30 minuti. Troppo spericolata la guida dell'autista del minivan. Roba da giro in giostra. Davvero alto il costo, ma assolutamente incantevoli i paesaggi e i monumenti.”
Choose a volcano, a harbour or a kitchen.
