Sicily Winter Excursion by High Speed Catamaran from Malta - Well organised. Bus driver fantastic at trying to make up time, especially considering 2 women wandered off and delayed the bus - good commentary on bus about history and Sicilian life. Enough self directed time in each of the 3 places we stopped to explore and shop, helps make up for sitting in a bus for long periods of time. Good if you have only limited holiday time to do this trip as you see a lot of the Sicilian countryside in one day. Well worth getting up Mt Etna - because of those 2 women we did not have enough time to take the bus from the top of the gondola ride further up Mt Etna which was a shame - good enough view and experience though at the top of the gondola of Mt Etna.

Very well organized trip; great value - Everything was on time. Pick up, drop off, coaches eyc. Very good quality coach transportation and the driver was highly competent. Good itinerary with lots to see. There is a lot of sitting on the coach, but lots of time at the stops too. Very relaxed schedule. Worth every cent.

Virtu Ferries Valletta to Etna daytrip - This was a very convenient and comfortable way to see Mt Etna and explore a bit of Sicily whilst staying in Malta. I know the tour has received some quite negative feedback but for me it worked out really well. The tour group is very big and the guides are not great, but you essentially get excellent transport and lots of free time - 2.5 hours at Etna and 2 hours at the baroque city of Modica. The catamaran and coach we’re both very comfortable (although the boat is a bit cold due to over enthusiastic air conditioning) and it was easy to sleep on both, which meant the travelling time went by quickly and I was able to recover from the early start! Obviously for some the amount of travelling may make this trip unenjoyable, but for me it was worth sacrificing a day in Malta for.

The trip was smooth and the guide... - <p>The trip was smooth and the guide very informative and friendly. I would have preferred one more stop to take in the Sicilian culture. We only saw Mt. Etna and Modica.</p>

Long Day Trip to Sicily from Malta - It was a very long day and only 2 cities. The first one Syracusa was nice but you were left alone to do what you wanted. Some people might like that but I worried about getting lost. The second town was Marzamemi. What a boring town. Two hours to walk around. It's cool to say I've been to Sicily but 4 hours on a boat and three hours on a bus. The tour guide did a great job.

Somewhat disappointing tour - Overall, it was a nice day but there was way too much time on a bus. Monica was pretty but it would have been more efficient to do Aetna and then Catania....we spent over 5 hours in the bus....too much. Description lacked details. “Guide” was not very informative. Gave some regional info while we were riding but as soon as we arrived at a destination we were on our own.

A long day of travel awaits... - Starting off with a early dart at 6:30, the actual trip itself is 3 hours with 15 hours of travel. The catamaran is comfortable and relaxing for a 1h 45m trek over the Med to Sicily. The coach is comfortable but has no toilet. With a short stop in Nicolini for a toilet break (20m), the journey continues up the volcano. We were lucky enough to see her erupting away and for an additional €65 each, you can go up the cable car towards a dormant crater. The additional charge came as a bit of a shock! After Etna, we drove for 3 more hours and arrived in Modica for chocolate tasting and dinner. Not really enough time to do both without rushing! The tour guide was knowledgable of Sicily and Mount Etna and the route was very scenic. This is a long, expensive day but worth it if you get to see the Volcano erupting away. However, with the amount of travel involved, I would recommend going to see Etna if you're staying in Sicily.

No value for your $ - This tour is definitely one I’d swerve. Sounds good on the description but it really relies on a good guide to make it worth your while. The wine & sweet tasting is at a little cafe on your way to Mt. Etna. It consists of a teaspoon of a sweet wine & a crumb of a cookie, in other words a store demo. If you’re into scenery without explanation this might be the trip for you ( a good guide would make the difference). There is no visit to a fishing village & the 2 hours you spend in Modica is at night.Modica’s church is worth a look. The chocolate factory demo isn’t anything special, you can see the same thing at any chocolate making store. At Mt. Etna be prepared to spend extra $$ to go to the top & this is the reason for stopping for 2 hours.

bad experience - this excursion was a fraud, they did not deliver what is was offered they said will take us to visit Catania and they did not do it also said will take us to a wine and chocolate tasting and they did not do it neither, the two guides person in the bus only translate to other language, and when the bus stop for the only two places that we stop tourist were on their own, they only said points of interest to visit but did not walk with tourists, we were just wondering around not knowing where to go since we did not know the areas

Not delivered as advertised; do not take this tour! - The information about the tour is misrepresented in two crucial aspects (see screenshot): 1. Tour group size is NOT limited to 15 people per group. Our group was jam packed into a massive double-decker bus, so probably closer to 80 people. This creates a completely different dynamic. To each his own, however I am not a fan of large group tours and I would not have booked this tour if group size were represented truthfully. 2. English is NOT the tour language. In fact, there were TWO huge buses. One had a tour guide speaking English AND German; the other one had a Russian-speaking guide. For reasons I do not understand we were assigned to the Russian-speaking bus, along with a group of people from randomly chosen countries ranging from Estonia to Hungary. Apparently, the tour operator thinks it perfectly acceptable to advertise a tour in one language and then just decide to deliver it in another language, regardless of whether the customers speak it or not. Nowhere in the booking process was the Russian language option mentioned even as a possibility. I find this not just bizarre but offensive in the worst possible way - a tour operator that knows nothing about me acts on the basis of a misguided stereotype and pushes on me a service I did not choose and do not wish to use. My family and I refused to get on the "Russian" bus and requested to be placed on the "English" one. This proved to be difficult because there were no more seats on that bus due to the tour operator making the decision for us. At that point, we were angry and offended and requested a refund. We no longer wanted to be mistreated by this lying tour operator and just wanted our money back. Didn't happen. Instead, a lady came out of a booth and bullied some people (I think they were Polish) until they reluctantly moved to the "Russian" bus. That's how we got places on the English language tour that we had ordered and paid for. The rest of the tour was unremarkable. We would have been much better off just buying the ferry tickets ourselves and renting a car for the day in Sicily; this is the alternative I recommend to anyone considering this tour. And finally, some positives: 1. Sicily is beautiful and well worth visiting. I'd like to return and explore the island more. 2. The ferry between Malta and Sicily is quiet and comfortable.