Prices

Prices are quoted in euros because that is how we calculate expenses, and because our clients come from a variety of countries. Also because if we quote you a price in your currency well before a tour, by the time you pay, the exchange rate could have gone strongly against us and we are too small a company and our tour groups too small to absorb the loss.

What our euro price translates into in your home currency depends on when you do the bank transfer. That is, the rate your bank uses at the time of payment will determine what you pay in your home currency. If you are clever at it, you can try to watch the day-by-day rates and pick an advantageous time to transfer. Occasionally a price is quoted in US dollars for a U.S.-sponsored trip.

Group Tour PRICE

See the Small Group Tours page for the price on each kind of tour, or, if not listed there, contact us to find the price for the kind of tour that interests you.

Private Tour Costs

Tours in which we work with you to tailor a custom itinerary

Compensation for your guide / host (one of us). Obviously, the more folks you have in your group, the lower the per-person cost. Tours of less than a full day will be prorated down. Discounts available for private tours over 5 days.
Transportation. If the tour requires an automobile or van, we'll arrange it (usually through a rental company such as Avis) and charge you for the rental, gas, tolls, and parking, folded into one basic rental car charge. You may also choose to make your own car rental arrangements instead. We cannot arrange air travel, but can advise.
Food & Lodging for the guide / host. When the itinerary involves booking overnight lodging, there will be a daily charge for our food and lodging.
Administrative costs. Once we have agreed on a tour and begin planning your visit, there will be a fee for our office work (composing itineraries, making arrangements, reservations, etc.), which will apply to all itineraries that have been agreed, even if they are canceled later. This administrative fee will differ for itineraries longer than a week, for itineraries from four to seven days, for two to three days, and waived entirely for visits of one day or less. Please contact us for details.

Bank Fees

Banks always charge fees when transferring money and changing currency. The sending bank (your bank) charges appear on your bank statement. The receiving bank (our bank) also charges handling fees. We require that you to pay the fees charged by our bank. Tell your bank to send us the exact tour cost in euros, plus €20 per person to cover our bank's receiving costs.

Single Supplement (. . . . 'sorry')

Hotels are increasingly charging single travelers almost as much for a single room as for a double room. It is a sad state of affairs for the single traveler, but because of this we are forced to add up to 30% to the Group Tour price for anyone on a group tour who wants a single room. Single travelers on a group tour who want to avoid this extra cost should find a travel partner, or ask us if there is another single traveler on the tour who might want to share a room. Alternatively, we might arrange a discount if the single traveler is willing to accept smaller rooms (same quality otherwise) or not have a sea-view where this is available.

How to Pay

Once we have all agreed on the itinerary and price, and you have read the information on this page, then you can pay by credit card or bank transfer (we'll tell you how).

deposit: once you’ve decided to join us, a deposit of €900 will hold your place. You do not have a place on the tour without us having your deposit

final payment: no later than 110 days before tour start, please send in the final payment. Again, this is necessary to secure your place on the tour.

Cancellation policy

Cancellation by you

The strange, pagan tradition of Easter "devils", in the town of Prizzi, Palermo Province

up to 90 days prior -- All deposits and payments are refundable up to 90 days prior to the tour start date, minus an administrative fee of 10% of the amount already paid to Sicily Tour.

90-60 days prior -- Those who cancel between 90 days and 60 days prior to the tour start date will be assessed 50% of the full tour cost.

59-30 days prior: Cancellation between 59-30 days prior to the tour start date will be assessed 70% of the full tour cost.

29 days prior–tour start date: Those who cancel less than 30 days prior to the tour start date, or fail to appear without notification of cancellation, will be assessed 90% of the full tour cost.

*this new policy applies to clients who register after 07 April 2024. For previously registered clients, the former cancellation policy applies.

Please note:

Most of the hotels we use are smallish, personal, with not many rooms; therefore their cancellation policies tend to be strict, and this drives our own Cancellation Policy.
Some payments, such as to guides and some hotels, are not recoverable so have to be added to the administrative charge. We do everything in our power to avoid this eventuality.
Arriving late or departing early from the tour, or otherwise missing activities on the itinerary, by the client’s own decision, will not result in any refund, unless the client has reached agreement with Sicily Tour in advance of the situation or the client has contracted a communicable disease (see below). Even then, any refund will be limited generally to recoverable or unspent expenses, mostly unprepaid meals and unused entrance fees.

Cancellation by US

Sicily Tour reserves the right to cancel any Highlights of Sicily tour that does not meet our minimum of 6 persons or for any other reason. If we cancel for our own internal reasons (not force majeure), everyone who has made deposits or other payments will receive a full refund, with no administrative charge.

**CANCELLATION BY FORCES BEYOND OUR CONTROL (force majeure)**

Higher powers—like governments—can mandate the cancellation of any trip, either by closing facilities or shutting down travel. This would not include familiar travel advisories to “travel with caution”, but would include travel warnings by governments “not to travel at all” (e.g. U.S. State Department Travel Category 4, “Do Not Travel”, or the equivalent in Italy or the clients’ home country). Such official recommendations to cease all travel can be occasioned by such factors as extreme weather, pandemic, social unrest, or political upheaval, etc.

In such a case, if a registered and paid-up client denied a tour by force majeure wishes to be refunded, we will refund all payments, with the exception of an administrative charge of 10% of the full tour cost and nonrecoverable expenditures if any—such as to contracted guides and some hotels—that have been prepaid. This includes force majeure situations that demand cancellation immediately before or during a trip.

However, if a registered and paid-up client denied a tour by force majeure wishes to reschedule with us on a later tour (where there are vacancies), we would be pleased to charge only a 5% (instead of 10%) administrative charge, plus any unrecoverable expenditures as mentioned above. This lesser (5%) administrative charge applies to force majeure reschedulings only.

communicable diseases policy

As Italy has removed all restrictions on travel related to Covid, Sicily Tour has returned to our pre-pandemic communicable disease policy (with some points to make regarding Covid):

- We advise all travelers to comply with travel guidance issued by the Centers for Disease Control or relevant national authority. In this vein, we advise all clients to be fully vaccinated for Covid and influenza. And for those of a particularly careful nature regarding Covid, if you want Paxlovid just in case, you must bring it with you. Italy does not provide it unless by prescription under a doctor’s care.

- A client may not join a trip if they have symptoms of a communicable illness. If the symptoms resemble those of Covid, we require that the individual test themselves, and they must test negative before joining the trip.

- Should a client exhibit symptoms of a communicable illness during the trip, we require them to self-isolate from the group. If the symptoms do not resemble Covid, they may rejoin the trip when symptom-free. If the symptoms resemble those of Covid, they must conduct a Covid self-test (Sicily Tour will provide a test if needed). For those who test positive for Covid, Italian authorities recommend self-isolation for 5 days or until testing negative, followed by masking another 5 days. Sicily Tour considers this self-isolation to be at the traveler’s discretion, but the individual must exit the group until they test negative, after which they may rejoin the group, while remaining masked.

Any costs related to isolation will be at the client’s own expense and reimbursements for activities missed will only be as specified in “Cancellation by You” above. This is why we recommend travel Insurance. “Cancel for any reason” travel insurance may be the wisest option. See our insurance advice below.

InsurancE

Sicily Tour is fully insured in Italy, with full public liability for any mishaps that are our responsibility.

That covers us, but you have to cover yourself. That is, to avoid losing money paid to the airlines and to Sicily Tour (see "Cancellation Policy" above), in the event of last minute personal emergencies, unforeseen travel interruptions, or medical issues while on our tour, Sicily Tour strongly advises clients to purchase travel and health insurance. See the Sicily Tour advice: travel insurance handout.

Disclaimers

Payment for any tour is for all services listed on the itinerary, except for those described as "optional", and except for some listed meals: i.e. meals identified as "included", are prepaid, but none others. No substitutions for "included" items are permitted. Clients who choose not to avail themselves of any of the prepaid included services for any reason outside the responsibility of Sicily Tour, are free to do so, but they will not be refunded for prepaid services not used.

Responsibilities

We take full responsibility for all operations of Sicily Tour under our control. But we assume no responsibility for delays, losses, or damage to persons or property caused by any non-Sicily Tour person, firm, corporation, or other entity providing hotel, transportation, restaurant, or other entity providing services to our tours. This being Sicily, with its own careless idiosyncrasies, stuff sometimes happens. We do promise to do our best in helping to solve problems that arise, from whatever cause.