Featured holiday Western Sicily food and wine holiday Italy

6 nights/7 days
This 6-night fly-drive holiday has a focus on food and wine, based at two wine estates in western Sicily. Included at each hotel is a cookery lesson and a wine-tasting, as well as an olive oil tasting at your first hotel. You have time to explore the local vineyards and markets selling local produce such as fresh fish, almonds, olives, oranges and aubergines. Other places of interest nearby are Erice, renowned for its colourful ceramics and the archaeological sites of Segesta, Selinunte and the Valley of the Temples.
Included in your Expressions holiday
  • Scheduled return flights with British Airways from London to Palermo and back from Palermo to London
  • Hire of a Group B car for the duration of the holiday
  • 3 nights’ bed and breakfast in a deluxe room with balcony and sea view at Baglio Oneto, Marsala
  • 3 nights’ bed and breakfast in double room with view at La Foresteria Planeta, Menfi
  • Cookery lesson, one dinner per person and wine and olive oil tasting at Baglio Oneto
  • Cookery lesson, two dinners per person and a wine-tasting at La Foresteria Planeta
  • Concierge service and Expressions Holidays regional helpful hints

Food and wine holiday based at two wine estates in western Sicily with cookery and wine-tasting

Highlights

Marsala • Erice • Menfi • Segesta • Selinunte • Agrigento • Valley of the Temples • Porto Palo

Special offers for this holiday>

I enjoyed every minute of the tour. Cindy-Marie was simply fantastic and her knowledge, kindness and humour was all that I could have asked for. This was a first class experience. Thank you for making it all happen.
Customer on Tuscan wine tour, June 2022

Holiday price guide Available year-round subject to the opening period of the hotels, from £2,490 per person.

From about

£2,490 per person

Holiday Code EX337960

This holiday can be arranged throughout the year subject to the opening periods of the hotels. Additional nights can be added at any point on this itinerary.

Food and wine holiday based at two wine estates in western Sicily with cookery and wine-tasting

Special offers for this holiday>

I enjoyed every minute of the tour. Cindy-Marie was simply fantastic and her knowledge, kindness and humour was all that I could have asked for. This was a first class experience. Thank you for making it all happen.
Customer on Tuscan wine tour, June 2022

Holiday price guide Available year-round subject to the opening period of the hotels, from £2,490 per person.

From about

£2,490 per person

Holiday Code EX337960

This holiday can be arranged throughout the year subject to the opening periods of the hotels. Additional nights can be added at any point on this itinerary.

Our prices include ● Scheduled return flights with British Airways from London to Palermo and back from Palermo to London
● Hire of a Group B car for the duration of the holiday
● 3 nights’ bed and breakfast in a deluxe room with balcony and sea view at Baglio Oneto, Marsala
● 3 nights’ bed and breakfast in double room with view at La Foresteria Planeta, Menfi
● Cookery lesson, one dinner per person and wine and olive oil tasting at Baglio Oneto
● Cookery lesson, two dinners per person and a wine-tasting at La Foresteria Planeta
● Concierge service and Expressions Holidays regional helpful hints

Additional information Travel times for this holiday
Palermo Airport to Marsala: 1 hour by car
Marsala to Menfi: 1 hour 10 minutes by car
Menfi to Palermo Airport: 1 hour 10 minutes by car

I enjoyed every minute of the tour. Cindy-Marie was simply fantastic and her knowledge, kindness and humour was all that I could have asked for. This was a first class experience. Thank you for making it all happen.
Customer on Tuscan wine tour, June 2022

Holiday price guide Available year-round subject to the opening period of the hotels, from £2,490 per person.

From about

£2,490 per person

Holiday Code EX337960

This holiday can be arranged throughout the year subject to the opening periods of the hotels. Additional nights can be added at any point on this itinerary.

Our prices include • Scheduled return flights with British Airways from London to Palermo and back from Palermo to London
• Hire of a Group B car for the duration of the holiday
• 3 nights’ bed and breakfast in a deluxe room with balcony and sea view at Baglio Oneto, Marsala
• 3 nights’ bed and breakfast in double room with view at La Foresteria Planeta, Menfi
• Cookery lesson, one dinner per person and wine and olive oil tasting at Baglio Oneto
• Cookery lesson, two dinners per person and a wine-tasting at La Foresteria Planeta
• Concierge service and Expressions Holidays regional helpful hints

Additional information Travel times for this holiday
Palermo Airport to Marsala: 1 hour by car
Marsala to Menfi: 1 hour 10 minutes by car
Menfi to Palermo Airport: 1 hour 10 minutes by car

Food and wine holiday based at two wine estates in western Sicily with cookery and wine-tasting

Hotels included in this tour

Special offers

Call to make your booking and save an extra £50 per adult Call us instead of emailing us when you are thinking of booking a holiday and save an extra £50 per adult (in addition to any special offers that might be available). We want to talk to you to discuss your requirements and a phone call is usually the best way for you to define what you want enabling us to respond more accurately. We want to talk to you and you save an extra £50 per adult.

I enjoyed every minute of the tour. Cindy-Marie was simply fantastic and her knowledge, kindness and humour was all that I could have asked for. This was a first class experience. Thank you for making it all happen.
Customer on Tuscan wine tour, June 2022

Holiday price guide Available year-round subject to the opening period of the hotels, from £2,490 per person.

From about

£2,490 per person

Holiday Code EX337960

This holiday can be arranged throughout the year subject to the opening periods of the hotels. Additional nights can be added at any point on this itinerary.

Our prices include • Scheduled return flights with British Airways from London to Palermo and back from Palermo to London
• Hire of a Group B car for the duration of the holiday
• 3 nights’ bed and breakfast in a deluxe room with balcony and sea view at Baglio Oneto, Marsala
• 3 nights’ bed and breakfast in double room with view at La Foresteria Planeta, Menfi
• Cookery lesson, one dinner per person and wine and olive oil tasting at Baglio Oneto
• Cookery lesson, two dinners per person and a wine-tasting at La Foresteria Planeta
• Concierge service and Expressions Holidays regional helpful hints

Additional information Travel times for this holiday
Palermo Airport to Marsala: 1 hour by car
Marsala to Menfi: 1 hour 10 minutes by car
Menfi to Palermo Airport: 1 hour 10 minutes by car

Food and wine holiday based at two wine estates in western Sicily with cookery and wine-tasting

Highlights of Sicily

An ascent of Mount Etna, partly by car and then further on foot (guides available) through the luxuriant vegetation which includes oranges and lemons, bougainvillaea and poinsettias and then higher up the groves of walnuts, cherries, almonds, pistachios and vines. Palermo is known for its street markets, especially Vucciria and Ballaro, where traders and hawkers, pickpockets and shoppers converge amongst narrow streets and stalls of wares. See the traditional costumes and dialect of Piana degli Albanesi, where Albanians settled in the 15th Century. Revel in the splendid site of Taormina above the sea with views to Etna. Local crafts include cork, ceramics, honey, embroidery, raffia. Enjoy the calm and remoteness of the Aeolian Islands with their clear waters, beautiful scenery and peaceful way of life. Enjoy the gardens of the Villa Giulia in Palermo and the Public Gardens in Taormina.

Cultural highlights of Sicily

Palermo contains some of the greatest Arab-Norman buildings in existence - San Giovanni degli Eremiti, the Palazzo Reale with its striking Cappella Palatina and La Martorana. Monreale outside Palermo is the greatest work of Norman architecture in Sicily and contains beautiful 12th and 13th Century mosaics and cloisters. The Doric temples of the 5th Century BC in the Valley of the Temples in Agrigento. Cefalu has the `Portrait of a Man` by Antonello da Messina, dating from 1465 in its Museo Mandralisca.

Festivals in Sicily

Many Sicilian local festivals are linked to Saints’ Days. A few of the most well-known festivals generally include Carnival celebrations in Taormina and Acireale. Easter is celebrated especially in Trapani, Marsala and Piana degli Albanesi. Messina celebrates Ferragosto on the 15th August with a firework display over the Straits. The Sagra del Mandorlo in Fiore takes place in Agrigento in the first and second weeks of February to celebrate the almond blossom. Taormina Arte is a summer festival of music, cinema, ballet and theatre, held in the Greek theatre. The Palio dei Normanni takes place in Piazza Armeria in August.

Gastronomy in Sicily

The gastronomy of Sicily, like much of the culture of the island, has been heavily influenced by its history. Cuscus is a Sicilian version of couscous, and marzipan features heavily in sweets. Local produce includes citrus fruits, almonds, capers, olives, peppers and fish. Local specialities include Maccheroni con le sarde (pasta with sardines, fennel, raisins, pine nuts and saffron), Pesce spada (grilled sword fish), 'alla Siciliana' with capers, red peppers and herbs. Cassata is a popular dessert made with ricotta, candied fruit and pistachios and Cannoli are almond biscuits stuffed with ricotta. Sicily produces a variety of red and white wines including Corvo di Salaparuta and Etna, Marsala and Malvasia.

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