Packing for my holiday in Sicily

A few years ago, a lovely couple called Michael and Marion travelled with us. They lived in Southend, and they only ever went anywhere they could reach by budget airline from Southend Airport, always with hand luggage only. I remember once remarking on how light Michael’s bag looked, and he laughed. “Of course it’s light,” he said. “We’ve got the kettle in there, and the two cups.” The first thing they did on arriving at a hotel room each evening was sit down and make themselves a cup of tea. Somehow they’d got the whole business of packing light down to a science, kettle and mugs included.

One of Michael’s other tips has stuck with me: every electrical item he travelled with took the same batteries. Most of what we carry now is rechargeable rather than battery-powered, but the principle still holds. The little bag of phone chargers, laptop charger, a spare power bank, and a tangle of cables is, if I’m honest, one of the heaviest things in my own luggage, even though I use more or less the same devices every time. It’s worth some thought before you even open your suitcase.

That’s really the spirit of this piece: packing for Sicily well isn’t about buying the right gadgets, it’s about a handful of decisions, made early, that save you a lot of trouble later. Here’s how I’d think it through.

What size suitcase should I take to Sicily?

Start here, before anything else, because the law of packing is that your belongings will always expand to fill whatever case you put them in. Choose a large suitcase and you will, somehow, fill it.

The bigger factor is how you’re travelling. If you’re flying with a budget carrier such as EasyJet or Ryanair, their luggage restrictions will more or less make the decision for you. In general, I’d recommend trying to keep to hand luggage only if you can. You’ll spend less, and you’ll lose less time at either end of the journey. Most airlines now allow one cabin-sized case plus a smaller bag that fits under the seat in front of you, which is plenty for one person for ten days in Sicily. Just keep an eye on both the size and weight limits where they apply.

If you’re flying with a full-service carrier instead, such as ITA Airways, British Airways or Delta, the balance often shifts the other way: the cabin allowance can be more restrictive, but checked baggage is usually included. In that case, you’re better off with an overhead-locker bag for the cabin and a proper suitcase to check in.

Whichever route you take, choose something you can genuinely carry, including up a short flight of steps. Sicily has its share of broken escalators, stepped hotel entrances, and small hotels with no lift at all.

It’s also worth not assuming that a four-wheel spinner case, so easy to glide through an airport, will behave the same way once you arrive. Taxis often can’t pull right up to the door of a hotel or B&B, and you may find yourself wheeling your case fifty or a hundred metres down a street that’s cobbled, or at least not smooth. A smaller two-wheel case, pulled rather than rolled upright, tends to cope better here. Look for slightly larger, rubber wheels: quieter on cobbles, and kinder to the case.

Two more things worth knowing before you settle on a size. First, if you’re travelling by bus anywhere in Sicily, any suitcase with wheels will have to go in the hold, so don’t pack your passport or valuables inside it. I almost always travel with a large rucksack instead, sized to fit within Ryanair and EasyJet’s cabin limits, which means it comes on the bus with me rather than going underneath. Laptop, camera, phone, valuables, money: everything stays with me. Second, if you’re hiring a car, check the boot size before you assume two large suitcases will fit. Smaller hire cars, a Fiat 500 or similar, often won’t take them, and luggage left visible on the back seat is an invitation to have the car broken into. As a rule, in Sicily as anywhere, it’s best to avoid leaving a car with luggage visible inside it, even though sometimes there’s nothing else for it.

How many pairs of shoes should I pack for Sicily?

Shoes are, I think, the single biggest decision you’ll make when packing for Sicily. The fewer pairs you take, the smaller your case needs to be, and the more likely you are to stay within hand-luggage limits.

Sicily involves a lot of walking, often around archaeological sites, often up and down steps, and occasionally in the rain. In July and August, a pair of sandals is usually fine even if it does rain: your feet dry out quickly enough. Outside those months, roughly up to the beginning of June and from September onwards, you’ll want a closed shoe instead. One option is to wear the closed shoes onto the plane and slip a pair of flip-flops into your hand luggage as a lighter alternative.

The real complication comes if you want a smart pair of shoes for the evening. It’s usually this second pair, more than anything else, that tips people over into needing to check a bag. Worth considering honestly whether your day shoes could double up for the evening too, unless there’s something specific on the schedule, a night at the opera, a special dinner, that genuinely calls for something smarter.

It’s also worth remembering that Sicily has shops. Clothes and shoes are easy to buy locally, often more cheaply and to a better standard than at home, so packing light and buying what you need once you arrive is a real option.

If you can manage it, a single pair of flat, light shoes for the whole stay is the ideal. Avoid bright white: Sicily is dusty, particularly in summer, and white shoes rarely stay white for long. Heels are fine for one evening out, but they’re not something you’ll want to rely on for walking around towns.

What clothes should I pack for Sicily, depending on the season?

The time of year changes this considerably.

In summer, packing is easy. Shorts and a t-shirt will see you through the day, with a longer pair of trousers or a light shirt for the evening. Do bear the dress code in mind for religious sites such as the cathedral at Monreale or the Palatine Chapel in Palermo. Otherwise, very light clothing is genuinely all you need.

The shoulder season, April, May and up to the beginning of June, then September through to November, is trickier. The weather is changeable in every sense: generally pleasant, but capable of rain or wind on any given day. Pack in layers, things you can put on over one another, rather than one or two heavy items.

Winter, from November through to the end of March, can feel much colder and wetter than people expect, and a proper waterproof, not just something showerproof, is worth having. If you’re heading into the interior, or into the mountains (the Madonie, Etna, or the Nebrodi), you’ll want proper winter clothing: a real coat, sturdy shoes and trousers, a scarf, a woolly hat. It genuinely feels colder up there than the coastal towns would suggest, and travelling hand-luggage only becomes harder to manage in winter, though still possible.

Can I do laundry during my Sicily holiday?

It’s worth thinking about washing clothes as part of your packing strategy, not an afterthought.

Many Sicilian towns now have a laundrette of some kind. They’re not common, but usually findable if you look. The trade-off is that it costs you some of your holiday time, and not every hotel offers a laundry service; where they do, it can be expensive. Avoiding the hotel laundry, where you can, is generally to your advantage.

For smaller items, hand-washing in the sink works well, particularly if you’re staying more than one night. A single night, especially in cooler spring or autumn weather, doesn’t always give things time to dry.

This is where quick-drying, non-iron fabrics earn their keep. Rinse something out in the evening, hang it in the bathroom, and it’s usually dry by morning. Travel-specific fabrics like this are widely available now, and they reduce both how much you need to pack and how much ironing you need to worry about, useful given you shouldn’t assume your accommodation will have an iron at all.

What should I pack if I’m going up Mount Etna?

Ask yourself early on whether Etna is on the itinerary, because it changes everything else. The mountain’s climate is entirely different from the rest of Sicily: down in Taormina it might be warm and sunny, while up on Etna, particularly in April, there can still be snow, and it is genuinely cold. I’ve personally been colder on Etna than anywhere else I’ve travelled.

This directly complicates the single-pair-of-shoes advice above: that one pair needs to cope with snow if you’re heading up there. You’ll also want thermal layers, a warm coat or jacket, and a woolly hat. Rather than trying to fit all of this into an otherwise light case, it’s worth knowing that warm gear can be hired once you’re at Etna, which solves the packing problem entirely. Buying a coat just for one trip up the mountain is probably excessive, though buying is always an option too.

Is there a dress code to think about when packing for Sicily?

Shorts are fine almost everywhere except some churches, where knee-length is generally tolerated but very skimpy shorts and sleeveless tops are not. A light shawl over the shoulders solves this easily for women.

Formality is more a matter of personal preference than necessity these days. Outside specific occasions, the opera in Palermo, an expensive restaurant, a fairly informal dress code works fine, and there’s no real need for gentlemen to pack a jacket and tie. If you do like to dress a little for the evening, a travel jacket is a good solution: proper smart clothes tend to need ironing, and anything left folded in a case for a week often comes out creased, which is where those quick-drying, low-iron travel fabrics come in useful again.

How do I protect myself from the sun and insects in Sicily?

Sun protection matters throughout the year, not just in summer: even on a bright December day, the sun can feel surprisingly strong. A sun hat, sunglasses and sunscreen are all worth packing. Hats are awkward to pack, they get squashed in a case, but there are usually itinerant sellers around Sicily happy to sell you one if yours doesn’t survive the journey.

Sunscreen is available locally, but it tends to be expensive, mainly sold through pharmacies or cosmetic shops. Oddly, in April, you may struggle to find it at all: Italians will often tell you it’s far too early in the year for sunscreen. Best to bring your own if you’re travelling early in the season.

Insect repellent is worth packing too, alongside something to treat a bite once it’s happened, a cortisone cream for a swollen mosquito bite, say. Mosquitoes are the main problem, especially near water and in the summer months. Air conditioning helps, but a mosquito always seems to find a way in regardless.

A travel umbrella is a small, useful addition as well. Sicily can produce a sharp, sudden downpour, and you’ll be glad of it when it does.

Do I need to pack swimwear and a beach towel for Sicily?

If your stay involves a pool or the sea, swimwear is worth packing without question. Beach towels are a slightly different matter: many hotels will rent you one, sometimes at a surprising price, rather than let you take a room towel down to the beach. It’s often cheaper to buy a towel from a local shop once you’re there than to carry one from home.

What should I carry in my day bag while exploring Sicily?

Keep this to a genuine minimum. Many people prefer a small rucksack; I’ve moved over the years to a shoulder bag instead, mostly because I try to carry as little as possible during the day. Cameras used to be the main reason for a bigger bag, but these days I just use my phone, which goes straight in my pocket rather than into any bag at all.

Water is usually the bulkiest thing in a day bag. Keep the bottle inside the bag rather than in an outer pocket, where it tends to fall out and crash to the ground more often than you’d think. It’s also worth questioning how much you actually need to carry: two litres of water is two kilos, genuinely heavy, and you’ll usually get the chance to drink at lunch. Ordering a coffee at a bar in Sicily also entitles you to a free glass of water alongside it, a good way to top up through the day. Balance this against the fact that public toilets in Sicily are hard to come by, and queues, particularly for women’s, can waste real time, so there’s no need to overdo the hydration either. Restaurants will happily give you tap water too, at no cost.

Beyond that, a guidebook if you’d like one, though most people now use their phone for maps; a small paperback for the bus; a packet of tissues; and a small travel medical kit, tobacco-tin sized is plenty, for the odd cut or bite.

How should I carry my passport, cards and cash in Sicily?

By Italian law, you’re required to carry an identity document, a passport for most travellers. In practice, it’s very unlikely anyone asks for it in a small village, but it’s genuinely possible in cities, and particularly at stations such as Palermo, Messina or Catania, that you’re approached and asked to show it.

Ideally, keep it in a pocket on something you won’t be taking off, rather than a jacket you might hang over a restaurant chair. In summer, when lighter clothing often lacks decent pockets, it’s tempting to put it in a bag instead; I’d avoid this where you can, since bags are easily left behind on a bus or in a restaurant. Trousers with a proper zippable pocket, for both men and women, are worth choosing for this reason.

I always travel with an AirTag in my rucksack as a small security measure. It doesn’t attach neatly to a passport, so mine lives in a protective cover with a credit-card-sized tracker (similar to an AirTag) tucked inside instead. Day to day, that stays in a trouser or shirt pocket where possible, with the tracker as extra reassurance on the occasions it does have to go in the bag.

Worth editing your wallet before you leave home too: you don’t need every card, library cards and the like included, but do keep at least one backup in case a card is refused. Cards loaded onto your phone are a good option for Sicily. On cash, Italian law technically requires most businesses, including taxis, to accept card payment, but in practice this isn’t always how it plays out, so it’s worth carrying a small amount of cash, kept to hand and not in large quantities.

Two more things worth having, less about packing than about being prepared: proper travel insurance that covers medical emergencies (Italy’s pronto soccorso and guardia medica will look after you regardless, but insurance still matters), and, for UK travellers, a GHIC card. If you’re hiring a car, bring your driving licence; a UK photocard licence doesn’t legally require an International Driving Permit for Italy, though some hire companies ask for one anyway, and at around five pounds from the Post Office, it’s a cheap thing to have as insurance against friction at the desk. If you’re travelling from outside the UK, check your own country’s rules, as you’ll likely need an IDP.

Do I need a plug adapter for Sicily?

Yes, and it’s easy to forget given everything else there is to think about. Italian sockets mainly use a three-pin arrangement known as Type L, in a 10A and a 16A version, which is a genuinely different system from the two-pin, grounded plug used in France. Most small electronics, phone and laptop chargers among them, actually use the small, universal two-pin Europlug, which fits Italian sockets without any adapter at all. It’s larger appliances, hairdryers and the like, that are more likely to need one, and bathroom sockets sometimes take a slightly different plug to the rest of the room. A cheap universal adapter in your electricals bag solves all of this in one go.

Can I bring walking poles to Sicily?

If you use them at home, bring them. The difficulty is that not all poles fit into hand luggage; folding poles generally do, and aren’t prohibited, but it’s worth checking with your specific airline to be sure. Buying poles locally is possible, but they’re more often found in an outdoor shop at a centro commerciale, a shopping centre out of town, than anywhere in a city centre, so it’s not a reliable backup plan.

None of this needs to be complicated. Choose your suitcase first, be honest about your shoes, and let the rest follow from there. It’s the same lesson Michael taught me with his kettle and mugs: the people who travel best aren’t the ones who’ve bought the most clever gear, they’re the ones who’ve thought, just a little, about what they actually need.