Page 39 - The Rough Guide of Sicily

Flights from Australia and New Zealand

Although there are no direct flights from Australia or New Zealand to Sicily, many
airlines offer through-tickets with their partners via European or Asian hubs. Round-
trip fares from the main cities in Australia start from around Aus$1700 in low season,
going up to around Aus$2000 in high season; from New Zealand, fares cost from
NZ$3000. Fares don’t vary as much between airlines as you might think, and in the

end you’ll be basing your choice on things like flight timings, routes and possible stop-
offs on the way. If you’re seeing Sicily as part of a wider European trip, you might
want to aim first for the UK in any case, since there’s a wider choice of cheap options
to Sicily once there.

Trains

It’s a long journey from the UK to Sicily by train (2672km from London to Messina).
The fastest route (via Paris, Rome and Naples) is scheduled to take around 30 hours,

but delays on the Italian stretch – especially south of Rome – are not uncommon.
Tickets include seat reservations, though for any degree of comfort it’s also worth
reserving a couchette or sleeping car for the overnight part of the journey. The easiest
way is to take the Eurostar service from London to Paris (from £70 return), then the
overnight train from Paris to Rome (from £95 return), followed by the direct

Intercity express from Rome to Sicily (calling at Messina, Taormina, Catania and
Siracusa, or to Palermo, from around £70 return). There’s also an overnight Rome-to-
Sicily service. You can book tickets online with Rail Europe and with Italian
Railways – the Italian Railways site has an English-language version and posts fares
and full Italian train timetables.

The invaluable train travel website seat61.com tells you exactly how to book the

entire journey, down to precise details about the various sleeper-train options. It also
has a “Railpasses” section which will help you decide whether or not buying a rail
pass is a good idea. InterRail and Eurail are the best known of these, giving unlimited
rail travel throughout Europe, as well as providing discounts on Eurostar and cross-
Channel ferry crossings.

Buses

It’s difficult to make any case for travelling to Sicily by bus, especially as there’s no

direct service from the UK. Eurolines has a service from London Victoria to Naples,
but that takes at least 35 hours depending on connections in Paris and Milan, and then
you’ll have to take a second overnight bus with Italian bus company SAIS on to Sicily
(another 6 hours to Messina, 10 to Palermo). Even with book-in-advance promotional