How Much Does a Week in Sicily Really Cost?

For a single day in Catania, I already broke down the real numbers. Here's the bigger question I get asked most often before someone books: what does a full week actually cost, for the 7-day itinerary through Catania, Etna, Taormina, Syracuse, and Palermo? Three realistic budgets, no marketing prices.

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💰 Shoestring: about €350–500 per week

Hostel dorm beds or a simple B&B (€20–35/night), street food and self-catering instead of restaurants (€15–20/day), public transport instead of a rental car, entry tickets only for the must-sees. Realistically €50–70 per day per person, so roughly €350–500 for seven days — not counting getting to Sicily itself.

💳 Mid-range: about €770–1,100 per week

A good B&B or 3-star hotel (€60–90/night), regular trattoria meals instead of just street food (€30–40/day on food), a mix of bus/train and the occasional taxi, the usual tickets (Neapolis, the Etna cable car, the Duomo in Syracuse). That works out to about €110–160 per day per person, or €770–1,100 for the week.

✨ Comfort: about €1,300–2,200 per week

A 4-star hotel or a characterful agriturismo (€100–180/night), restaurant meals without watching the price, a rental car or private driver, guided tours instead of doing it yourself (e.g. the Etna jeep tour instead of just the cable car). About €190–310 per day per person, or €1,300–2,200 for seven days.

⚠️ The biggest cost traps

The Etna day trip: Between doing it yourself (bus + cable car, around €59) and the guided jeep tour (from €80), there's easily a €20–30 gap per person — for two people over a week, that adds up to €50–60 fast.

Rental car vs. bus/train: Between the major cities, bus and train are almost always cheaper and often faster than people expect — Catania–Palermo around €14 by bus, Catania–Taormina about €6 by train, Catania–Syracuse €5–9. A rental car pays off mainly for remote destinations like the Nebrodi, not for the standard route between coastal cities. If your route does need one,compare car hire prices here before you fly rather than at the desk — and budget for the security hold on your credit card, usually €700–1,200, which is frozen for the length of the rental on top of the price.(Affiliate link — booking through it costs you nothing extra and helps support this site.)

Where you eat: The difference between a place right on the main promenade and one street over can be 30–50% of the price, for equal or better quality. More detail in the Catania budget breakdown.

🧾 Don't forget: the tourist tax (tassa di soggiorno)

This one catches almost everyone off guard, because most booking sites don't show it in the headline price. Every Sicilian municipality charges its own per-person, per-night tassa di soggiorno, usually capped after 5-10 consecutive nights and paid in cash directly at the property, not through the booking platform. Rates vary by city and hotel category — as of 2026, Catania charges up to €5/night at 5-star properties (the highest in Sicily), Palermo up to €4.50, and Taormina around €4, with budget B&Bs and lower-star hotels usually charging €1-3. For two people on a 7-night trip, budget an extra €15-70 in cash you won't see in your booking confirmation — small compared to the rest of the trip, but worth having on hand so it's not a surprise at checkout.

💡 Five concrete money-saving tips

• Bus instead of train between the major cities — usually cheaper and faster at the same time.
• Granita with brioche instead of hotel breakfast — more authentic and cheaper (€3–5).
• Shoulder season (April–June, September–October) instead of peak summer — according to our travel tips guide, accommodation prices drop noticeably then.
• Buy museum/archaeological site tickets online or on-site instead of through third-party platforms.
• Have one proper sit-down meal a day, street food for the rest — in Sicily that rarely feels like a compromise.