Some more food for thought as I do some early planning. Have some early (vague) interest from Nathan, Justin and Phil Scar.
My start point is 6-8 day tour around the week of 26 May 2025 – possibly starting on the Fri 23/5. Dates are driven by my other italian holiday activities around 1 June (Puglia plus).
Looking at both self guided and tour options, and using some of the published tours as guides. The advantage of a tour group is that it is pretty well all sorted plus of course the road support.
For general reference I have included links to the Italy Bike Tours recently published 2024 Sicily tour program that has 2 locations for a 6/7 day tour.
This is rated 3 for difficulty (our Dolomites trip was rated 4) and is shorter/flatter than the Dolomites, the only esp hard day is Etna. This would be generally more cruisy, relaxed, more sightseeing, and additional challenges that can be added depending on the group – have had a prelim convo with Alberto. This tour only covers the SE side of Sicily. If we get 6+ they’ll do a private tour.
Aqto variant has more days, more k’s and m’s, more locations and covers NW in additon to the SE. (More exp of course).
Italy Bike Tours 6-7 days https://italybiketours.com/sublime-sicily
Aqto 10-11 days: https://www.aqtocycling.com/tours/the-best-of-sicily/
I have provided these so you can get a flavour for the ride routes I am investigating. At this stage I have a preference for a guided tour rather than self guided, mainly because I haven’t been to Sicily and our supported ride experience in the Dolomites was v good.
No mad rush. However to get best flight prices I have in the back of mind booking flights by Oct. Hence will keep chipping away at options.
Do let me know if it piques vague interest!
Ciao