DinaLast Updated on January 3, 2025
Planning a Sicily vacation? While this Italian island offers stunning beauty and rich culture, my personal experience taught me crucial Sicily travel safety tips the hard way. Having already experienced some adventures in Naples (where I learned how to avoid pickpockets and navigate chaotic streets), I thought I was prepared for Southern Italy. Well, Sicily had some other plans for me…
The Story Begins: My “Free” Sicilian Vacation
It was late July, I was in Rome during that peculiar period between jobs. So I wasn’t doing anything special, and when my Sicilian friend Sebastiano invited me to his family house by the beach, I didn’t think twice.I had no money, but hey – free vacation, what could be better? (Spoiler alert: I was about to learn some expensive lessons).
Common Sicily Vacation Planning Mistakes
Let me tell you something funny (well, not so funny when it happened to me). When people tell you that you need to plan your Sicily vacation carefully and read about Sicily safety tips, believe me, they are not just saying meaningless words! I learned it like those math lessons at school – the hard way.
Mistake #1 – Thinking Sicily is cheap Oh boy, was I wrong about this one! The prices, especially in tourist areas like Taormina or Catania, can make your wallet cry. Even a simple coffee can cost you more than you expect, and don’t get me started on the beach clubs!
Mistake #2 – Not checking the distances You know what nobody tells you? Sicily is HUGE! Try driving from Palermo to Siracusa and then we can talk! The roads are not exactly like German highways if you know what I mean, so everything takes longer than Google Maps tells you.
Mistake #3 – Going in August without bookings This wasn’t my mistake (remember, I went in July), but I met travelers who thought they could just show up in Sicily in August and find a nice, cheap place to stay. Poor souls, they ended up paying triple for rooms that were… let’s say not exactly Instagram material.
Mistake #4 – Trusting the public transport schedule In Sicily, time is more like a… suggestion? The bus that should arrive at 14:00 might come at 14:30, or 15:00, or… you get the idea. And sometimes, especially on Sundays or holidays, it might not come at all!
A Sicily Vacation Mistake: When Things Go Wrong in Calabria
So we decided to start driving from Rome to Sicily by car. It is a long ride, especially if you are doing it during the summer without a fancy car but with a cheap one without AC under the heat can be quite tiring and exhausting. The plan was to drive these 8h and go straight to his village which was a little outside Messina. So as we were going along, everything nice and good, passing through regions one after another, Calabria never seemed to end. I don’t even remember how many hours we spent crossing this province, all I remember was learning that Calabria was the longest province and it took endless hours to cross it.
So we decided to make a stop, at a highway rest area to eat something and use the bathroom. It was so refreshing! Coming back, we got in the car and continued our journey. Finally reaching the point to take the ferry, I got the urge to eat an arancino.
If you don’t know what it is, know that it’s a famous delicious Sicilian delicacy.
So I reach out my hand to grab my bag from the back seat where I had left it and I don’t grab any bag. I search and search, can’t find the bag. We turn the car upside down, the bag was no longer there. Obviously, it had been stolen when we had made the stop in Calabria.
The bag contained ALL the essentials you need for a trip: money, cards, mobile phone, sunglasses, prescription glasses, keys, ID card, and passport.
The cold sweat that washed over me is indescribable.
What To Do If You’re Robbed in Italy
Here’s exactly what you need to do if you find yourself in a similar situation:
- File a Police Report (Denuncia)
- Go to the nearest “Polizia” station immediately
- Remember exactly where the theft happened (different regions have different jurisdictions)
- Helpful Italian phrases:
- “Mi hanno rubato la borsa” (They stole my bag)
- “Ho bisogno di fare una denuncia” (I need to file a report)
- Immediate Actions
- Cancel ALL cards (keep these emergency numbers somewhere online)
- Contact your embassy if your passport was stolen
- Set up emergency money transfers
Sicily Safety Tips (That I Really Wish I Knew Before)
Listen, the island is beautiful, the people are amazing (well, except for whoever stole my bag), but there are some Sicily safety tips you really need to know:
- The Bag Rule: Never, EVER carry all important things together (I know I keep saying this, but it’s THAT important!). Split your cash and cards between different places. Some in your day bag, some in your suitcase, maybe some in that secret pocket your mom sewed into your jacket that you thought you’d never use.
- Document Copies: Take photos of EVERYTHING. Send them to your email. Send them to your family. Print some copies. Yes, you’ll feel paranoid, but better paranoid than stranded!
- Local Transport Safety:
- In buses and trains, keep your bag ON YOUR LAP
- In crowded places, wear your backpack in front
- At restaurants, don’t hang your bag on the chair (I see you wanting to do that – don’t!)
- Area Awareness: Some areas, especially around train stations in big cities like Catania or Palermo, require extra attention. Trust your instincts – if something feels wrong, it probably is.
Remember what I said about Sicily being more expensive than expected? Well, let me tell you exactly what you should budget for…
About money in Sicily (or why “free vacation” isn’t always free)
Let me tell you something about Sicily that nobody really talks about – it’s not exactly the budget paradise you might expect! Here’s what happened after my parents saved me with that money transfer:
Unexpected Costs That Hit Me Hard
- Food: Yes, you’re thinking “but it’s just Italy, how expensive can it be?” Well, don’t get me started on restaurant prices in tourist areas!
- Emergency Expenses: Nobody plans for things like buying new sunglasses because yours were stolen, or buying basic things that were in your stolen bag.
The Reality of “Free” Accommodation Even though I was staying at my friend Sebastiano’s house (thank god for that!), I still ended up spending money on things I didn’t expect. You know, those little things like contributing to groceries, or splitting the gas that was quite a lot since the distances were long.
The End of My Sicilian Adventure (Or How I Finally Got Home)
So after a few days, I decided to return alone from Sicily to Rome.
Flying was way too expensive and nobody recommended the train because it takes endless hours, so I got a ticket for the bus.
Getting on the bus, I realized I was the only woman or rather the only white person. The bus was full of migrants who, coming from Africa, were trying to move up “to Europe”. So I sat next to Ahmed who during the 9-hour journey must have eaten purslane – I can’t explain it otherwise – and wouldn’t stop talking. At 4 in the morning while we’re all on the bus, he’s explaining to me how while working in Italy for some years, he returned to Tunisia to open a gas station but his wife complained too much and he couldn’t take it anymore and illegally crossed again by boat to come to Italy (yes, some illegal immigrants aren’t escaping war but their wife’s nagging after all).
When I arrived at 6 in the morning in Rome, I naturally had to face another problem, that I no longer had keys to enter my house, but that’s another story… Wonderful. The whole experience? Well, let’s say it makes for a great story now!
Final Tips For Your Sicily Adventure
- Get travel insurance (yes, I know, captain obvious here)
- Learn some basic Italian (it helps A LOT)
- Keep emergency numbers handy (not just in your phone)
- Make copies of EVERYTHING
- And for the last time: DON’T PUT ALL YOUR IMPORTANT THINGS IN ONE BAG!
If you’re planning your trip to Sicily, read again all Sicily safety tips above and learn from my mistakes and you’ll have a much better time than I did. And if you do go, please eat an arancino for me – I still haven’t tried one!
Disclaimer: All these tips come from my personal (somewhat dramatic) experience. Your Sicily adventure might be completely different – hopefully much smoother than mine! This post contains affiliate links: if you purchase anything through these links, I receive a small commission (at no extra cost to you) that helps keep this blog running. Think of it as buying me that arancino I never got to try!
