Planning a trip to Italy’s sun-soaked island? Here’s everything what to know before going to Sicily to make your visit smooth, fun, and unforgettable. From navigating charming towns and bustling markets to trying the best local dishes and understanding island customs, this guide will give you the insider tips you need. Consider it your personal roadmap for exploring Sicily like a pro, avoiding common tourist mistakes, and making the most of every moment on this incredible island.

What to know before going to Sicily

I really had high hopes for my trip to Sicily. All the pictures I’ve seen and stories I’ve heard!

I usually write mainly positively about places, but I also want to be honest about what I share with you, so you can consider someone else’s experiences in your planning (but don’t fully rely on them, check them out for yourself). I realized that honesty goes together with objectivity, too. It’s hard for me to speak about Sicily only in superlatives while pretending that the negatives didn’t bother me. There are reasons why Sicily disappointed me. While there are many things I loved about Sicily (and will dedicate a much more detailed post to it), I feel that hiding what went wrong would be just lying to you.

So this post is about a few things that disappointed me in this island and what you need to know before going to Sicily (and I promise you to be as objective as I possibly can).

I am fully aware I might get some anger. I’ve seen on Facebook and Instagram that so many people are in love with this Italian island. All the posts and reels show turquoise,  clear water, charming towns and far da niente life. While all of this is true, I don’t think it creates an adequate and truthful image of Sicily that travellers are drawn to.

Although I was not as impressed by Sicily as I would like, and I am sharing with you the reasons why I didn’t like this island that much, I still want to show you some beautiful pictures from the trip.

Use my favourite travel resources to plan your dream trips

• Booking.com for searching best prices on accommodation.
• AirHelp helps to get compensation for cancelled or delayed flights.
• Travel Payouts is my favourite platform for monetizing the blog.
• Discover Cars is a great website as they search both local and international car hire services, so you can choose the best deal for yourself. Make sure though, that the company has a good reputation and reviews.
• Get Your Guide is my place to go for searching and booking tours and excursions, especially when I travel solo.
• World Nomads and EKTA travel insurance. I like them because they have quite extensive coverage of different activities.
• WeGoTrip sends you audio guides to your mobile, so you can visit places while learning history and interesting facts easily and for little money.
• Go City is a perfect site for booking bucket list experiences and attractions all in one to avoid paying for multiple tickets. Easy and saves money. You can even save 50%.
• Trip Advisor– amazing for good quality recommendations.
• Skyscanner is a perfect website for searching flight routes and comparing prices.
• Airalo is my eSim choice for alternative data abroad.

5 reasons why Sicily disappointed me and what you should know

No destination is perfect, and Sicily is no exception. I always try to share my travels honestly—not just the glamorous sunsets and postcard-perfect moments, but also the parts that made me sigh, roll my eyes, or rethink my plans. Sicily is beautiful and absolutely worth visiting, but there were a few things that genuinely surprised me in ways I didn’t expect. So before you go, here are the things that disappointed me—and the things you should know so you’re prepared and can enjoy your trip even more.

So hard to find good pizza

Like seriously. I’ve heard that in Sicily you eat pasta, but being in Italy I suddenly craved pizza, too. And being an experienced traveller, I do my research when it comes to restaurants to avoid typical tourist traps. Finding a good pizza was a challenge. I had good pizza (actually quite excellent, luckily) only once in Sicily.

Rubbish and bad smell

Probably the biggest disappointment of this so widely recommended island. In many cities and towns, just when walking past a beautiful square or a tourist attraction, around a corner, a bad smell of urine and trash stashed away would hit me straight into my face. Not the most pleasant experience on a hot, summer day.

Often, when leaving residential areas, the collected rubbish bags laid along roads, like mountains of them. I am not even exaggerating.

Cheating on tourists

Well, cheating on tourists comes in many forms and some people get more and more creative. This, obviously, does not apply to Sicily only. While it’s not uncommon that prices are elevated for tourists or restaurants to serve semi-traditional dishes, my main issue was with a car rental company.

I usually do not name companies that are bad, but this time I will because they are on the line of fraud. I rented a car for over a week (you can read more about renting a car and driving in Sicily here). As advised by staff, I purchased extended insurance and was told that don’t need to check the car for damages etc. since the insurance covers it all. I received a car with a broken mirror and suspiciously working automatic gear. I was not too worried since all was covered, so you can imagine my surprise when upon returning it, the agency staff went (filming with her mobile) straight into the boot saying that the cover is missing. Hmmm, how did she know it wasn’t there? Of course, it was never there in the first place, but apparently, expensive full-cover insurance doesn’t apply to the car interior and that piece of plastic was estimated to cost over $1000. The money was immediately and automatically withdrawn from my card and since I had no proof that the piece was never in the car, I could not argue.

A few emails were sent without a resolution or response from their side. This company is called Sicily by Car and I would advise you not to rent from them. If you read reviews online, you’ll realize that this is their standard practice.

Bad roads

One things that you need to know before going to Sicily (especially if you plan to rent a car and drive around) is to be aware of the bad state of most roads. Cracked asphalt and big holes in many roads outside of cities and villages were in quite a bad state. In some places they were so bad, that driving over 30 km/h was not an option. I thought that at least roads that link major towns would be decent, but it wasn’t always the case. There are a few new roads that are excellent, but this is still not a rule.

Crazy traffic rules

That wasn’t really a surprise, I expected it. Nonetheless, there did not seem to be a single traffic rule that was followed. I quite enjoyed the road trip around Sicily, however, it was rather tiring and stressful. If that wasn’t enough, having speed limits of 30 km/h where it was not necessary with speed cameras around, made it extra frustrating to drive. In many places, the signs were also confusing, for example, speed limit signs of 30, then 50, then 40 km/h were placed at a distance of fewer than 100 meters, almost strategically to be caught by cameras when you didn’t have enough time to adjust.

See also: 

• Guide to renting a car and driving in Sicily.
• From Tuskany to Cannes in two weeks. Plan a perfect road trip in France and Italy.
• How to plan a perfect weekend in Istanbul
• 11 curiosities you did not know about Madrid
• 5 underrated cities for a weekend break in Europe
• 10 Best summer destinations in Europe without crowds and overpricing
• 15 best European road trips to take in 2025 for an epic adventure.

Disclosure: Please note that this post included affiliate links, when you decide to purchase anything through these links I get a small commission at NO extra cost to you, it helps me to keep running this blog! I only promote products and services I use or would use myself. All images are the property of Postcards from the World and cannot be used without permission. 

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