Travelling by plane is considered the easiest option if you’re going abroad. But one woman showed how it’s a lot simpler than you think getting to the Mediterranean island without a plane
Palermo is the capital of Sicily island(Image: Getty Images)
The idea of travelling is fun, no matter what form it comes in. Recently one woman travelled from the UK to Spain without flying and people couldn’t quite believe how much it cost her.
Now the same traveller has tried a different route abroad – and it’s a lot easier than you think. Known as Claire’s Footsteps, the adventure-seeker embarked on the trip from the UK to Sicily and decided to do it completely without jumping on a plane. Although the trip might seem a little bit more complex than one flight, it was an experience Claire would never forget.
The traveller began her TikTok post: “You can easily travel from London to Sicily by train and this is exactly how much it costs.” Claire revealed it’s an average £100 on the Eurostar from London to Paris then you can take a £80 high-speed train to Milan.
She added: “You’ll need to stay in Milan for a night and the best deal I found is £107 then it’s £102 for a sleeper train all the way to Sicily and this includes your own private cabin.
“The craziest part is that this train goes straight onto a ferry, you don’t even need to get off the train, although I definitely would recommend to see the views.”
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London to Sicily Train Route & Cost Breakdown
Claire revealed it takes about three hours to Palermo, the vibrant capital city of Sicily. Otherwise you can get off at Syracuse, the historic coastal city famous for its ancient Greek ruins.
She concluded: “And you’ve arrived in Sicily without flying.”
In total, Claire roughly estimated the trip cost her £389, based on average prices at this time.
The travel from London to Sicily without a plane is not easy. It’s a very long journey taking about 28 to 48 hours across multiple trains and a ferry. Also it requires multiple connections, including the Eurostar and Italian sleeper trains.
People weren’t completely set on the idea of travelling to Sicily without any planes.
One wrote: “I don’t know why anyone would do this trip over a cheap flight!! Just why?!” Another added: “Or £50 on Ryanair.”
Is No-Fly Travel Worth It? Costs, Durations & Highlights
Travelling to Sicily from the UK without flying is a highly scenic and eco-friendly adventure. It would feature a rare train-on-a-boat ferry crossing, making it an incredibly unique experience.
While the cost is significantly more than a flight, it can also be stressful as delays on one leg could lead to missed connections. It also requires careful timing when booking separate tickets across multiple rail operators.
Sicily is the largest Mediterranean island and a popular travel destination for many. Located just off the “toe” of Italy’s “boot”, its rich history is reflected in sites like the Valley of the Temples and in the Byzantine mosaics at the Cappella Palatina.
Meanwhile towards the eastern edge is Mount Etna, one of Europe’s highest active volcanoes.
Had enough of the heat? Grab your bags and enjoy utter luxury with Club Med prices in July
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Escape the heat with a dip in the pool on a luxury stay, for less(Image: Getty Images)
Club Med has officially unveiled an enticing selection of last-minute summer holiday offers, giving spontaneous travellers the chance to save up to 15% on last-minute breaks. Tailored for those prepared to jet off at a moment’s notice, this time-limited promotion delivers sunshine, sandy shores and luxury at a fraction of the usual cost.
Holiday seekers will need to move quickly, however, as spaces are restricted across selected dates and properties. To maintain the excitement, Club Med will be introducing fresh departure offers every Friday, reports the Manchester Evening News.
Renowned for its upmarket all-inclusive holidays, Club Med provides idyllic getaways to stunning locations across the globe. Each package bundles together high-end accommodation with fine dining, unlimited activities and childcare into one transparent price, allowing guests to unwind and savour a much-needed escape.
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From the sun-kissed coastal havens of Europe to the palm-lined shores of the Caribbean, we’ve compiled some of the finest resorts for a last-minute holiday you’ll treasure forever.
Club Med Magna, Marbella
The 12-acre Club Med Magna Marbella is a sun-soaked resort ideally situated for reaching central Marbella. Visitors can unwind beside the family lagoon pool and the adults-only Zen Zone or get involved in numerous activities such as padel tennis.
The resort also features outstanding dining experiences at the sophisticated Suenos restaurant and the Tierra Gourmet Lounge, which offers regional specialities such as jamón ibérico. Additionally, there are four distinct bars where guests can savour a holiday drink.
Travel dates are available until July, with new deals added every Friday
As the sun-kissed shores of Marbella continue to be a favourite amongst British tourists, holidaymakers can also discover reduced Spanish getaways with savings of up to £600 through TUI. Budget-conscious last-minute escapes are also on offer for under £500 with Love Holidays.
TripAdvisor users have given the resort glowing reviews, with one describing it as ‘THE family destination’. One visitor said: “Our stay was simply amazing, everything is thoughtfully designed with families in mind. Our 4-year-old absolutely loved the kids’ club… the food was exceptional. There were so many spaces to explore with our children, and a great range of sports and activities to enjoy – paddle, tennis, Pilates and more.”
Another guest did observe that the location was an “Isolated village, without much personality, but a hotel of good quality, made for sport and sun.”
On the whole, though, the prevailing view mirrored this assessment, stating: “Very good experience at Club Med Magna Marbella. Everything was perfect, buffet, kids club and entertainment.”
Club Med Da Balaia, Algarve
Perched atop the famous red cliffs of the Algarve, Club Med Da Balaia is a paradise for golf enthusiasts. Visitors can also unwind beside the unique natural eco-pool or try their hand at numerous activities, including flying trapeze and archery.
The resort also features excellent dining at the Balaïa Restaurant and the relaxed lounge, offering authentic Portuguese fare alongside stunning ocean vistas. There’s also a spa on-site providing bespoke treatments and ample indulgence.
The Algarve remains a firm favourite holiday destination for Brits seeking a getaway. Currently, Love Holidays has last-minute, room-only Portugal breaks from £119 per person, while Golf Breaks provides specially designed escapes for devotees of the sport.
At Club Med, TripAdvisor reviewers are full of praise for the resort, with one declaring: “Our stay at Club Med La Balaia was simply fantastic from start to finish. Set in a stunning location overlooking a beautiful, family-friendly beach, the resort offers the perfect balance of activity and relaxation.”
While one visitor mentioned the pool was “ok, maybe a bit warmer may have been ideal,” the overall sentiment mirrored this review: “We had an absolutely wonderful week at Club Med de Da Balaia…three young children, parents and grandmother. Everything was there for a successful holiday: sunny weather and beautiful surroundings.”
Cefalù, Sicily
The flagship Exclusive Collection Cefalù is a luxury resort superbly located on the iconic Italian island of Sicily. Guests can unwind in the restored 18th-century palazzo lounge or participate in numerous activities, including sunset yoga and Europe’s first stand-up paddleboarding school.
After an action-packed day, the resort features impressive dining options to satisfy every appetite. Visitors are then treated to a delectable Sicilian-inspired menu that perfectly captures the authentic flavours of the region.
Travellers unlucky enough to miss out on a Club Med stay could try booking a break to Italy with British Airways Holidays instead. Alternatively, Citalia offers a range of specially selected tours and holidays in the region.
Guest reviewers overwhelmingly praise the resort, with one hailing it as a ‘magical place’ where “the food is to die for’. They also praise the stunning views and say that just being 10-15 minutes away from Cefalu town in Sicily ‘is something very special.”
While one guest noted that, unlike some other Club Med locations, there was “no show at happy hour, no barbecue, no themed evening.”
Most, however, enjoyed their stay with another adding: “We had an absolutely exceptional time at Club Med de Céfalù! The setting is simply magical: breathtaking views of the Tyrrhenian Sea, elegant architecture perfectly integrated with nature, and a serene atmosphere that immediately invites relaxation.”
Club Med Palmiye, Turkey
Positioned south of Antalya close to the Taurus mountains, Club Med Palmiye is a beachfront resort nestled along a Mediterranean shoreline. Holidaymakers can opt to unwind beside the family pool or the adults-only Zen pool, or take part in numerous activities including flying trapeze and wakeboarding..
When it comes to dining, the resort provides multiple choices to cater for varying preferences. Guests can sample Turkish cuisine in a restaurant boasting a duck pond moat. There’s also a vibrant beach bar to enjoy as evening approaches.
Turkey’s southern coastline delivers budget-friendly entertainment and warm weather. Some other excellent bargains to the area include all-inclusive getaways with On The Beach, and Mr and Mrs Smith provide thoughtfully selected stays in upscale accommodations.
As you’d anticipate from Club Med, the Palmiye resort has also garnered numerous positive reviews on TripAdvisor. One said: “A great place for early birds and those who like to do a lot of different activities, to learn tennis and padel, circus trapeze, sailing basics and waterski.”
While one visitor mentioned slight annoyances with “long lines” for waterskiing, the overall verdict reflected the sentiment of an ideal family retreat. Another repeat guest proclaimed: “We came here after 2 years again, it was a good experience, so we come again, and we will come every year.”
For those contemplating a long-haul escape, the Punta Cana Resort in the Dominican Republic offers particular appeal to families.
A perfect choice for summer holidays, it features Club Med’s biggest water park, boasting more than 20 slides and splash zones, alongside a luxurious spa..
With a 4.4-star rating on TripAdvisor, guests commend the beautiful beach and the expert instructors who help families master new pursuits, including golf and tennis. Meanwhile, the Club Med resort in Marrakech has been described as a ‘magical destination’ where visitors can swap unpredictable weather for golden sunsets, colourful souks and the enchanting scent of spices wafting through the streets.
We rented Il Nido because we thought other people wouldn’t like it. Small and basic, without internet, the property was supposedly beside a beautiful national park famous for its coastline and migratory birds. The online picture suggested it was pressed up against one of those concrete pillars (common around Sicily) supporting a deserted and rotting motorway flyover. I was writing a thriller with mafia connections. My partner wanted to scrape off six months of fumes from her new job in London. Our daughter needed fun.
“This is a bomb,” said the hostess, opening a cupboard under the sink. “You turn it anticlockwise to go off.”
“Not bomb, bombola,” whispered my partner. “It’s the gas canister, for the stove.”
From outside in the driving rain came the sounds of traffic and sodden animals – frogs and a goose, always in that order: frog croak, goose quack; frog croak, goose quack.
We woke up on the Saturday to the first sunshine in six months. The roar we had thought was traffic was the crash of waves. The sound of a goose eating a lot of frogs in quick succession turned out, in fact, to be the call of wild flamingos. We were, just as our hostess had promised, in a tumbledown farmstead – what Sicilians call a baglio – among the shimmering lemon groves, on the edge of the Vendicari nature reserve; and it was glorious.
A baglio is more specifically a fortified group of buildings around a central courtyard, the stone barn equivalent of “circling the wagons” in America. In the 19th century, armed gangs roamed the fields of south-east Sicily. Isolated farms were attractive targets because they stored a whole year’s crop – grain, olives, wine, tools, animals. The two barns opposite our building were caved in, the stone courtyard was more a sunken boulder. In one corner, a vast cluster of poppies and marigolds billowed in merry defiance. On top of a collapsed roof was a starling with 17 voices, including one that sounded like a falling bombola, tossed over the wall by a bandit, and another that suggested a laughing computer.
Calamosche beach. Photograph: Andrea Izzotti/Getty Images/iStockphoto
Vendicari is small, but it is one of the most important wetland nature reserves in Sicily. In the 1970s, the owners of an asphalt and petroleum company wanted to build an oil refinery here. The local officials, looking across the valley from their glorious baroque buildings in Noto, approved the plan. They hadn’t reckoned on the force of Bruno Ragonese, a local eccentric who kept 20 abandoned dogs as pets, and wasn’t even Sicilian: he was an immigrant from Libya. He strode out to the site, gathered evidence on migratory birds, built local environmental groups into a powerful alliance and, brilliantly, argued that since these birds were migrating (as he had done) from Africa to Europe, this was a much bigger issue than a wallet-stuffer for the Noto politicians – it was an international scandal.
Next came the property developers. Again, the Noto councillors patted their pockets. And again the extraordinary young man swung into action. No, replacing the drained wetlands with fake ponds did not constitute “sympathetic, environmental building”. No, migratory birds wouldn’t be perfectly happy on a smaller patch of land in a cheaper sector – they weren’t social housing tenants. Yes, this is the head of Ramsar (the organisation upholding an international environmental treaty protecting wetlands) on the phone wanting to know why you plan to destroy one of Europe’s essential marshlands.
The nature reserve was established in 1984.
For a piffling €7 a day for a whole family or €3.50 for adults, the entire park is yours. After a breakfast of fresh ricotta, honey and local oranges (all from a Coop: these shops look just as plain as the UK Co-ops, but equal the best London delicatessens for good things), we started our visit on Calamosche beach. With juniper bushes, wild irises, tumbling cacti and the lilting flight of hoopoes, it is a blissful stretch of sand sloping into gentle waves. On the left, the rocks lead up to the Grotta di Calamosche, a cave with a tree growing inside. From there, the exquisite view looks almost solid, as if sealed by light.
It is easy to walk the length of Vendicari in two hours, from the ruins of Eloro, a seventh-century BC Greek colony, past the flamingos, to the eerie modern remains of a tuna-canning factory, where the oil refinery was going to be. For hundreds of years, until 1944, tuna were caught here by a brutal method of netting and trapping called mattazana, literally “the slaughter”. Now roofless, with staring windows and only a crowd of thin pillars remaining, this Colosseum for fish feels as ancient as Rome.
“Did you know flamingos are pink because they eat shrimp?” said my daughter, interrupting my pleasantly gloomy mood thinking about time, loss and tins of fish.
I did not, and I don’t believe it. There’s only so much silliness from nature that I’m prepared to accept. “And what colour are flamingos that don’t eat shrimp?” I said, in a superior tone.
“No colour. The world is full of invisible flamingos.”
Flamingos in Vendicari. Photograph: Lee Dalton/Alamy
The two lakes at the heart of the reserve were thick with these fantastical birds, gabbling and scooping at the water, and coming in to land like badly piloted pink planes.
I retorted with science. “Those tiny buildings?” I pointed towards ancient Syracuse, glimmering in the distance. “Birthplace of Archimedes, one of the greatest mathematicians of all time, inventor of … No, don’t look it up on your phone – phones are banned!”
But it was too late. She had captured another flash of internet. “Hey! There’s an H&M in Syracuse. Let’s go!”
The path around the reserve does not entirely encircle it. You set off left, walk for 5 miles (8km), then half a mile before you get to your ruined farmhouse home, your way is blocked by a private lemon grove. You must not go through it. You are not allowed through it.
We went through it. It was lovely.
In this part of Sicily, lemons are so plentiful and the trees so giving, that you feel the fruit is being forced on you by nature, Breughel fashion; it would be rude not to accept. Of course, you must not add theft to trespass. But I thoroughly recommend you buy some from the farmer: they are delicious. Organic, bloated, dazzling growths of oily yellow, I think they are the famous Femminello Siracusano lemons. Because local regulations forbid the use of wax or pesticides, every part is edible.
After the lemon grove came a path of marigolds, as tall as my shoulder, and wild fennel, above my head. We arrived home at sunset, where we cooked tagliatelle al limone rubato on the bits of the stove that did work, and ate it overlooking Syracuse and its H&M, with three invisible flamingos for company. Here’s the recipe:
Pasta al limone rubato
Lardo or bacon, as much as you want 1 lemon, zest and juice Scrubland herbs thyme, oregano or whatever you can find. Fennel is good Pasta, perhaps tagliatelle Parmesan cheese, lots
Fry the lardo, add the lemon zest, herbs, a little pasta cooking water, and stir. Add pasta. Mix in grated cheese and lemon juice until it tastes nice. Serve under cover of darkness.
