How to book a ferry from Sicily to Malta

There are 2 connections between Sicily and Malta with total number crossings – 21 crossings per week. Grimaldi Lines operates 1 route, from Catania to Valletta, which runs 1 time weekly. Virtu Ferries operates 2 routes, Catania to Valletta operating 8 times per week and Pozzallo to Valletta approximately 12 times per week.

As the frequency and duration of crossings on some routes varies we would advise that you do a live search for crossings from Sicily to Malta to get the most up to date information.

Sicily Malta Ferry Map

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About Sicily:

Sicily is a region of Italy and the most big island in the Mediterranean Sea, which is separated from the mainland by the narrow Strait of Messina.

The long history of foreign domination from the Greeks to the Romans, Arabs, Normans, Aragonese has led to a mixed culture that is so interesting to explore.

The varied landscape of seas and mountains also makes a serious impression.

About Malta:

Malta is small island country in the Mediterranean Sea south of Sicily.

Despite its small size, Malta has rich history with some of the most ancient structures remaining in the world. Its strategic location and harbors in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea have given the island a rich history. Malta is often described as a large open-air museum with 7,000 years of history.

Today we will talk about the ferry that runs between Malta and Sicily. Let's take a ride on it, see its design and admire the beautiful Maltese sunrise.

What you need to know when traveling to Malta and Sicily

Let's start with official information. How to get to Sicily and Malta by ferry.

1. Where to buy tickets? We have left links to air tickets above. It’s also a good idea to check prices on aviasales.ru. Where exactly to buy - decide for yourself, these are search engines and they will redirect you to direct purchase. Here is a selection of ready-made links: Moscow - Catania, St. Petersburg-Catania, Kazan - Catania. Moscow – Malta, St. Petersburg – Malta, Kazan – Malta
2. Where to live? It is better to book hotels, hostels or cabins on Booking.com. If you book using this link, after the trip, booking will return 900 rubles to your card. Another nice link from Airbnb.ru is a 1,500 ruble discount on your first booking. It is better to compare hotel prices on HotelsCombined.com.(RussianRoomGuru) This is one of the most advanced hotel search engines, which not only looks for the best option for you, but also makes it possible to compare prices in the largest hotel aggregators and direct booking systems.
3. SIM card for internet no roaming. You will need the Internet for GPS navigation and calls home through popular instant messengers. Using this link, install the application on your smartphone and order a SIM card without roaming. Internet in Italy(Sicily) it will cost you only 5 euros for 1 Gigabyte in kilobyte tariffs, in Malta – 10 euro per gigabyte. In addition, this SIM card works all over the world. A nice bonus will be 5 euros credited to your account for the first deposit of 10 euros. A total of 15 euros will be credited. Prices for other countries are in the app.

Alexey Solomatin (blogger, traveler):

Today I’ll tell you what the Malta – Sicily ferry is, how much the ticket costs, where it comes from and where it arrives. It was on this ferry that I traveled from Valletta in Malta to the Sicilian port of Pozzallo and then by bus to Catania. I would like to note right away that I returned from Catania to Malta by plane of Malta Airlines.

Departing from the port of Malta

You can see what the Malta – Sicily ferry looks like in the photo above. It was filmed in the Sicilian port of Pozzallo, because... We left Malta early in the morning and I barely made it in time.
Start over. I bought tickets for the Sicily - Malta ferry on the website of Virtu Ferries Ltd - this is the largest and, perhaps, the most convenient carrier.
Their ferry leaves from Valletta at 6.30 am, arrives in the Sicilian port of Pozzallo about two hours later and then you can use their bus to get to Catania.
You need to arrive at the port of Valletta at least an hour from the departure of the catamaran (ferry), and if you are traveling with vehicle, then it’s better in 1.5 hours. Check in, check in your luggage and board the ferry to Sicily:

1. The route looks like this. Google wrote more than 5 hours, but this is not true. The Virtu Ferries ferry is quite fast. In fact: Departure at 6.30, arrival in Catania at 10.45, total 4 hours 15 minutes:

2. I bought a one-way ticket for the ferry Malta - Sicily (Valletta-Pozzallo) + bus Pozzallo - Catania. I circled my rates in red:

3. The ferry has three main decks. Lower for motor vehicles, upper for first class passengers and middle for us economy class passengers:

4. Everything is very solid, there are shops...

5. Bars...

6. And even a casino:

7. Bow section. Seats are distributed according to the principle “whoever has time, sits down.” Quite convenient:

8. Valletta at dawn from the ferry porthole:

10. Before departure, a picture from the nasal camera is displayed on the monitor:

11. We are leaving. The Maltese Valletta remains astern:

13. I caught a morning plane in the frame. By the way, I bought a return plane ticket from Catania to Malta for 55 euros, which is quite cheap. On average the price is the same as for a ferry. The flight is half an hour. So choose for yourself, either quickly by plane, or with sea romance on the Malta - Sicily ferry:

15. While we are walking along Valletta Bay, the stern is the busiest place:

18. The clouds at dawn are simply unreal, very beautiful:

19. Let's go out to the open sea. After this shot, I fell asleep in an empty chair:

20. Woke up 1.5 hours later on the approach to Sicily:

21. There was a movie on the screens:

22. The coast of Sicily was already visible through the bow portholes:

24. Most of the passengers are still dozing:

26. We are met and accompanied by the Sicilian mafia and the Italian coast guard:

27. We go into Pozzallo Bay, it is behind this breakwater:

28. We go around it. By the way, the photos are so blue because of the darkened porthole, I wanted to remove this blue, but decided to leave it as is:

29. Our trail:

30. At the tip of the breakwater there is a figurine:

31. Reminds me of the Virgin Mary:

32. While we are mooring in Pozzello, people are getting ready to leave. It reminds me of an airplane; for some reason everyone urgently needs to get out. First, those with transport on board go downstairs, then first class passengers are released from the upper deck. We are waiting:

33. Of course, the mess must be left behind, despite the fact that there are trash cans on every corner. But these are minor things:

34. Let's go out. Our luggage is laid out on the asphalt below:

36. At the same time, vehicles are unloaded:

37. Everyone takes what they want, their luggage:

38. The ladder we went down:

40. Ferry Malta - Sicily, general plan:

41. Next to the ferry there are buses with signs Virtu Ferries to Catania. It's hard to make a mistake. You show your ferry ticket to the driver, load your luggage and take a seat behind this cute hairstyle:

42. About two hours on the road, and the bus arrives at the port of Sicilian Catania:

That's all! I hope it was interesting and useful.

While in Malta, one of the free days, my wife and I wanted to take a one-day trip sightseeing tour to Sicily. The islands are nearby, both countries are in the Eurozone, and a ferry runs between them every day. This excursion costs 127 euros per person. I’ll say right away that everything has its pros and cons, but looking at Sicily like this one day tour I do not recommend. I will try not to bore the reader with my whining - let everyone draw their own conclusions. The word Sicily sounds tempting, and the organizers of such tours always have a full bus.

To explore Sicily we had to get up at 4 am. At 4.30 a car was already waiting for us, collecting tourists like us from hotels.

When boarding a ship, the Maltese authorities check tickets and passports, but this procedure is very formal. The catamaran VIRTU FERRIES, like a whale, opened its mouth, where large prey cars were loaded. People were leaking in through some side hole. The vessel is almost new, 5 years ago it was assembled in Australia and came to Malta under its own power.

At 6.30 am, while the island and sea were still in the grip of darkness, our ferry from the Grand Harbor quietly set sail. The Maltese coast was dissolving in the advancing haze of dawn.

I don’t even know what to correctly call such a colossus - a ferry, a ship, a ship, a catamaran. In fact, this is an entire five-story building clad in iron. Inside there is a souvenir shop, cafes, slot machines, and, most importantly, comfortable chairs for relaxation. The sea at the time of our voyage was calm, and the rocking was almost not felt if you sat in a chair. An hour and a half flew by like one minute, and the rising sun illuminated the blessed Sicilian coast.

The port of Pozzallo is located in the middle of absolutely nothing. There is no city or even a village nearby, there is just a port on the shore and some speckled buildings nearby.

The policeman checked the passports of those who came ashore, indicating where to find the bus. Usually in any port there are some taxi drivers hanging around - there is nothing and no one here. Where to look for any in Pozzallo public transport, I still don’t understand. However, 80% of those arriving in Sicily are tourists, while the rest of the passengers sailed here with their iron horse. Organized tourists like us from different countries There were three buses.

Sicily is very different from Malta. I can’t even believe that in the past the islands were a single whole. Malta is a rocky island. There are few traces of agricultural activity to be seen in Malta. Probably the Creator poured all the land due to the islands only onto Sicily, which is why it is bathed in greenery.

Outside the bus window, yellow, straw-yellow, gray and brown fields float by, a large number of fruit trees. In the gardens, like a hospital IV, there is a hose connected to each tree. On the roadside hills there are terraces where every flat piece of land is cultivated. Everything grows in Sicily, and you can harvest several crops a year. There are only two seasons here - hot summer and cool autumn.

According to legend, the surviving people of Troy wandered around for a long time. Mediterranean Sea, and finally got to Sicily. The Trojan women really liked it on the island, and they decided to burn the ships so that the men would not take them anywhere else. However, the Trojans, led by Aeneas, repaired the ships and left the island.
Around the same time, Odysseus, the conqueror of the Trojans, was captured in Sicily by the Cyclops.

The clock hands confidently crossed 9 am. Villages flash on the right and left, but no people are visible either in the field or near the houses. There are not many cars on the road either.

We pass the cities of Ispica, Rosolini, Syracuse. The famous film “Divorce Italian Style” was filmed in the city of Ispica, and the great Archimedes was born in Syracuse. I remember from school that Archimedes died in his hometown in 212 BC during the 2nd Punic War at the hands of an unknown Roman soldier. However, our bus does not take us to these cities. The tour program very cleverly states that we will see these cities along the way...

This is how we pass Catania along the way - the second city of Sicily, its industrialized center. Comes alive here traffic, traffic jams appear. Near this city there is famous volcano Etna. The morning sky sparkles blue, but clouds are gathered over the mountain - capricious Etna does not want to show itself.

Roadside landscapes change dramatically. Chaotically frozen streams of magma resemble the tentacles of a giant octopus. Where the volcanic rock is not covered with grass and trees, one can’t help but imagine how fiery rivers emerging from the underworld moved from top to bottom, burning everything in their path, and how this hot lava cooled, forever changing the terrain.
Perhaps this is the consequences of the terrible eruption of 1669, when the top of Etna split, forming a 12-kilometer crack, on which many craters formed. The lava swallowed up 13 villages, the entire western part of Catania, then, gushing into the sea, the lava that emerged from the bowels of the earth extended coastline for 1 – 3 km. It’s hard to believe, but Ursino Castle, which stood near the sea, turned out to be 2.5 km from the water.

We turn off the highway and drive through narrow village streets. In the alleys between the houses the sea strewn with yachts flashes.

Our destination is the town of Taormina. It is located near the sea at the foot of Mount Taurus, which our double-decker. The road is very narrow and sometimes it gets scary. Probably, driving a large bus on a mountain serpentine requires some kind of mathematical calculation, but the views from the window are simply fantastic, and this distracts you from bad thoughts.

We do not visit the city of Taormina itself. There is a bus stop near the entrance where tourists are usually dropped off. It took 3 hours to travel from Pozzallo to Taormina. The guide gives you 2.5 hours self-study Taormina, showing us where to go. At such moments, I am really surprised by people who go to a restaurant, thus wasting precious time.
We climb the road a little higher up the mountain, where we find ourselves on the pedestrian street Corso Umberto. We walk around the city, study its architecture, while doing shopping the Sicilian way.

Tauromenium (Taormina) was founded by the Greeks at the beginning of the 4th century BC. In 210 BC. Tauromenium came under Roman rule.

In the second half of the first century AD. The apostles Peter and Paul visited these areas, baptizing a large number of local residents.
In the 9th century, during the expansion of the Arabs, the city fiercely resisted. The Arabs could not conquer Tauromenium for 62 years. Later, having captured it, they gave it a new name, Almoesia, in honor of their commander, which lasted for about 100 years.
The arrival of the Normans returned Taormina to the European path of development, which is why men who come here can admire beautiful Sicilian women...

The main street of Taormina - Corso Umberto - begins at the Messina Gate, passing through which you find yourself in the architectural Middle Ages. Corso Umberto is built up with 3-4 storey houses, surrounded by flowers and greenery, where the first floor is always a store or cafe. Corso Umberto goes along the mountainside at an altitude of 210 meters above sea level, its length is about a kilometer. Its narrow lanes are very picturesque. If the alley runs down the slope in steps, then somewhere in the distance you can see the sea; if up, behind the houses a piece of Mount Taorma appears, from which the city got its name.

Moving along Corso Umberto, after about 350 meters you reach Piazza Vittorio Emanuele. Here you have a wonderful view of the Giardini Nakos bay, the nearby mountains, the coast and the Ionian Sea itself. On the square is the Corvaia Palace - one of its main elements is the old Arab tower.

Then we move again along main street, to the next square. Here is located Cathedral St. Nicholas, built in honor of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. In front of it is a beautiful fountain built in 1635.
Where Corso Umberto ends, the houses part again, and you can once again admire the mountains, slender cypress trees and the Ionian Sea.

The town received resort status from the mid-18th century. Goethe, Wagner, A. Dyma, Dali and other famous people loved to be here.
Our last Tsar Nicholas II was also in Taormina at one time. They say that the heir to the throne had a three-day affair in the city with a certain Russian countess.

Perhaps Taormina is the most beautiful city Sicily. It has been a resort for almost 200 years. Many creative people have found inspiration here. Many legends and historical events are associated with Taormina.
Slave uprisings occurred constantly in the Roman Empire, although ordinary people only know the uprising of Spartacus. In 135 BC. Almost all of Sicily was covered in such an uprising, and Tauromenius lived for almost 3 years under the rule of former slaves. I will tell readers about the little-known uprising of 138-132 BC.

In the Sicilian city of Enna, a noble man named Antigen acquired a new slave. Usually all the slaves remembered their past and tirelessly told everything about themselves. Mentally returning to freedom, the slaves drew strength for their present life. But the Syrian named Eun was not like that - he spoke only about the future. The Syrian's age at that time was just over 30 years. Antigen specially bought Eunus in Syracuse, having heard that a slave magician had appeared there.

Eun quickly gained the trust of the owner, entertaining his guests with magic tricks. The most common joke of the slave-magician was playful predictions about how in the future he would become a king, and the patricians, on the contrary, would serve him. For each patrician, the magician determined his future occupation. Sometimes such jokes went too far, but none of the guests had the right to punish someone else’s slave.

If among the patricians all this looked like a stupid joke, then among the common people, predicting the future in general terms, Eun gained a large number of friends and admirers. Strengthening the strength of his fellow sufferers, he quickly became an authoritative leader. Slaves who were in the service of other masters came to talk with the Syrian, having heard his good news.
Achaeus, a close friend of Eunus, later, having been captured by the Romans, recalled how one day Eunus asked to bring him nuts from the forest, saying that they would serve a great cause. Then at night Eun brought Achaeus to a secret meeting of slaves.

Eun made predictions to those gathered, assuring that the time had come to become free again. Moreover, when the Syrian spoke, sparks flew out of his mouth, and this convinced the slaves of Eun’s divine mission. People's eyes lit up, their faces glowed with fire.

Only Achay’s close friend knew how difficult it was for the Syrian to speak at that moment, for the magician put a nut stuffed with coal into his mouth.

But the slaves did not feel the trick. Armed with sticks and stakes, they rushed to destroy and set fire to the houses of their owners. The city of Enna burned in a purifying flame. Pogroms began, which quickly spread to more and more places in Sicily.

The divine magician was proclaimed king. He gathered his former spectators, who had previously been patricians, and forced them to do what he had previously predicted.

The Romans tried to pacify the uprising, but former slaves defeated their legions several times. Moreover, this happened easily and simply, after the convincing speeches of King Antiochus, a former slave-magician named Eun.

However, the combat training of the Romans did its job. 5 years after the start of the uprising, the Romans besieged the army of King Antiochus in the city of Tauromenium (Taormina). A terrible famine began in the fortress, and with the help of a traitor, the Romans opened the gates, killing all the rebels in the city. However, King Antiochus was not among them. A few days before, he secretly left the walls of the fortress, taking refuge in the city of Enna.

Now Enna was encircled, and later a new traitor opened the gates to the Romans. King Antiochus, sensing trouble, fled again. Like a hunted animal, surrounded on all sides, Antiochus saw no way out. His predictions stopped coming true - probably the Gods simply turned their backs on him. A former magician committed suicide by throwing himself from a high cliff into the sea.
138-132 BC An uprising was raging in Sicily, and it all started with a coal that a slave magician carefully placed in a hollowed out nut.

The 2.5 hours allotted for exploring the city disappear in a flash. We board the bus and head off to explore Mount Etna, stopping for an hour in the small town of Nicolosi. It is located 10 km from Catania and is the closest settlement to Etna.

The mountain is covered with clouds, the sky above Nikolosi is also closed. We plunge into the saving +23C. After the Maltese +45C this is real bliss.

The guide takes us to a small shop where a local farmer sells delicacies to tourists: wine, limonela, cheese, almond sweets and honey.
The land around the volcano is very fertile and contains micro and macroelements. Experts highly value Sicilian wines made from grapes grown near Etna. To be honest, for my taste there is nothing special about these products, although the people who came with us were thoroughly overstocked.
But the farmer’s house itself is a museum of the life of Sicilian peasants of the last and the century before last. It is quite curious, because it is built from blocks of volcanic lava.
Volcanic magma is a good building material. Later, while climbing Mount Etna, we saw a quarry where this rock is mined. Etna, on the one hand, destroys, and on the other hand, gives to people construction material. In Nikolosi, in old houses you can see fragments of these black blocks here and there. Earlier local residents They didn’t paint over the façade like they do now. Even the bell tower of the cathedral in Nikolosi is made of blocks of hardened lava.

No one knows exactly when Nicolosi was founded, although it is believed that the town began as a settlement of monks. In any case, the eruption of 1669 almost completely destroyed it.

Living like on a volcano - this phrase denotes some kind of instability in life. For example, it is somewhat unclear to me how people can organize their lives in such a turbulent place, because at any moment they can lose everything?
The population of Nikolosi is 7 thousand people. Walking through the streets, I involuntarily peered into people’s faces. Entering the cafe, I even asked the bartender how long has he lived here? Isn't he scared? The Sicilian explained to me that his grandparents were born here, and living next to Etna, on the contrary, is good.

For example, you two came here, went into a cafe and left money! – the bartender smiled.

It should be noted that even the ancient Greeks were sure that in the mouth of the volcano there was a forge of the god of crafts, Hephaestus.
There are a significant number of tourists in these parts. Many (including us) take away various souvenirs and figurines made from solidified lava, some stay in a hotel, some visit a restaurant, some order a taxi, and this creates jobs for the local population.

But on the other hand, the town of Nikolosi itself does not shine with masterpieces of architecture and simply rich houses, and this is quite understandable. Why build something so outrageous near a volcano? During the 2001 eruption, lava destroyed new hotel, in which no more than 50 people managed to live. No one was hurt then. Residents of Nicolosi are sure that Saint Agatha, the patroness of Malta and Sicily, interceded for them.

Etna's eruptions are usually not dangerous. There are only seven known cases where they led to death.
Lava, as a rule, moves slowly, and a person always has a chance to escape. But how, when and where will the hot streams go? Only God knows this.
Climbing up the mountain, we saw a functioning Catholic women's monastery, near which chaotic black heaps froze. In 2001, the nuns living in the monastery did not want to leave the monastery during the eruption. The red-hot products of the underworld stopped near their homes, not daring to disturb the worshipers.

However, local people also rely on God during an eruption, but they themselves have not been sitting idle for a long time. In the Middle Ages, special teams of volunteers were created. Dressed in leather suits and dousing themselves with water, they tried to make ditches in the mountain in order to ward off fire-breathing death from their homes. Nowadays, they try to change the movement of lava through directed explosions.

We are moving up Mount Etna. After Nikolosi, residential buildings disappear, something is found somewhere, there are even hotels, but people hardly live here anymore. As you climb, the vegetation also changes. Sometimes you can see a beautiful green forest adjacent to black scorched earth, or a two-story house covered with ash right up to the roof.

How? For what? Why? Such questions involuntarily come to mind when you see two houses standing next to each other. One was completely destroyed, but the neighbor even had a garden. It’s difficult to understand, but apparently Etna has some kind of logic of its own.

Surprisingly, green life actively strives to exactly the place where the red death visited. Grass, bushes, and trees take root well on the slopes of the volcano. His land is very fertile. The crater of the 1660 eruption is covered with beautiful coniferous forest. In June 2013, Mount Etna was declared a nature reserve under the patronage of UNESCO.

The weather has completely turned bad. The mountain was shrouded in fog. Raindrops drum on the bus windows. When we finally reach the Rafiji Sapienso observation point at an altitude of 1900 meters, the desire to watch something completely disappears, because the sky, as if having come to its senses, belatedly tries to calm down Etna by raining down all its water reserves on it.

Rufijo Sapienzo is not only an observation deck, but also a kind of tourist centre in the middle of a mountainside with frozen dark rock. There is a hotel, restaurants, cafes, and souvenir shops.

You are given 1.5 hours to walk around the surrounding area. I suggest that my wife not take the funicular with me and send her to the cafe. And I myself, like Empedocles, resolutely rush through the rain to the mouth of the volcano.

A round-trip ticket for the funicular costs just under 30 euros. Both descent and ascent take the same time - approximately 17 minutes. I jump into the booth. Doors are closing. The cable car thinks for a while whether to lift me or not, then a jerk follows. My cabin rushes up a black mountain, as if made of asphalt.

It was probably not for nothing that it seemed to me that the funicular did not want to lift me. Literally after a couple of minutes the smooth movement turned into some jerks, into a crackling sound, into a creaking sound, and then I was stuck - the funicular stopped.
The pause drags on more and more, I don’t have a watch, but it seems like a tourist shouldn’t abandon or forget – every passenger goes through an automatic turntable.

The rain drums on the cabin, and the drops find a hole, and then me. Bad thoughts are knocking into your head along with the drops. What if an eruption began, and all the cable car workers, abandoning everything and everyone, ran down the mountain? Etna has already erupted 16 times this year!

But here we go. Later, my wife told me that on Rafiji Sapienso the lights went out for 7 minutes due to rain.

The views outside the cabin window are quite monotonous, however, in some places, alternating along the slope with volcanic stone, and trying to decorate the dull picture, unusually beautiful yellow flowers growing in shrubs emerge from the soil.

The cable car runs to La Montagnola, to an altitude of 2500 meters. I was lucky, as soon as I got there the rain stopped and a big gray cloud went towards Catania.

If in Nicolosi it was +23C, then in La Montagnola it was approximately +16C. There is no longer any vegetation here, but there is a small cafe and a souvenir shop. However, this is not the highest point of the mountain. Those who want to get to the very top (the height of Etna is 3360m) can negotiate with drivers of special vehicles at La Montagnola.

I raise my head - the top of this black giant column called Etna is covered with snow. The world is amazing. 560 thousand years ago, Etna was still on the seabed and with each subsequent eruption it became higher and higher. The volcanic mountain created itself, also increasing the area of ​​Sicily.

In the 7th century BC, Sicily was integrated into Greek culture. Etna is a Greek word that means “I am burning.” Etna is connected by legend with the Greek Empedocles, the greatest philosopher and thinker ancient world. Let me remind you that it was Empedocles who first determined that the speed of light is a finite quantity - even Aristotle considered his opinion erroneous. According to legend, Empedocles threw himself into the mouth of Mount Etna so that after his death he would be honored as God. However, the Gods did not accept him without sandals.

Nowadays, on La Montagnola, for walks along the mountain, you can rent a warm jacket, pants and special mountain boots, but wear all this equipment. It will not be possible to throw yourself into the main mouth of Etna like Empedocles. The central upper crater is filled with a huge thickness of rocks. Etna does not have the strength to throw out this plug, so new eruptions occur from side craters and holes, of which the volcano has from 200 to 400.

I walk around La Montagnola for a while, photographing the surrounding area. Suddenly tourists from Sweden appear and start taking pictures of me wearing white trousers. I probably looked really elegant, against the backdrop of complete blackness and all sorts of bulldozers, like a big boss who had come to check how the asphalt was being laid.

Somewhere down there is Nicolosi. I can’t even believe that from this lifeless lunar desert All-consuming fiery streams may suddenly burst out and rush down.
What is the inner filling of our planet? It is believed that there is solid fiery lava inside, and life on earth exists on a thin, cooled crust - this is comparable to an egg and its shell.

I take the funicular downstairs, where my wife has been waiting for me for a long time. The sky cleared and the rain stopped. Tourists climb the mountain, exploring nearby craters. And in the sky, as if proving that the forces of light will always prevail over the forces of darkness, a rainbow shines victoriously over Etna.

Afterwards we again drive for about 3 hours to Pozzallo, where we board a catamaran and sail for 1.5 hours to Malta to Valletta. We are met in Valletta and taken to Burgibba, where we arrive at around 12 midnight.

Unwittingly listening to the conversations of fellow travelers, I heard many scolding such an excursion. Summarize. For the excursion we paid 254 euros for two. We got up before dawn. We sailed on the sea for more than 3 hours, rode in Sicily by bus for almost 7 hours, and we can’t say that we saw a lot of things. This day in Malta could have been filled with something better.

But on the other hand, we sailed across the sea on a ferry, and this is already an impression. We learned about Taormina, we climbed Etna. Our home collection of souvenirs now includes the golden-haired girl Etna. In one hand she holds a tray with money, in the other hand she holds her heart on a tray. Etna is hard not to like. Now we know - we need to return to Sicily!

We want to go from Malta to Sicily. Please enlighten me where is the best place to go. I only looked at the schedule, but there is no more information there. You can take a ferry to several ports. Which is the best place to go, what is the most interesting place to see, how to get there and where is the best place to stay for the night (if you are traveling for 2-3 days). And by the way, for how many days is it better to go?
Thanks for any information

We went on a one-day excursion - I liked Sicily - its nature, atmosphere, etc.
We visited the town of Taormina - very beautiful, so small, cozy, I would love to go there again - so I recommend it!
They also took us to Etna - we were impressed.
But if you want to go on your own, then of course there are more opportunities and I would go for at least a couple of days.

Yes, a tour is the best option if you don’t have much time. But, if time permits, then while you are in Malta, you can book a hotel in Sicily (but the hotel in Malta will not return your money for these nights) and drive yourself to Catania (3 hours) or Pozzallo (1.5 hours). Or book everything in advance online.

and drive yourself to Catania (3 hours) or Pozzallo (1.5 hours).

This is clear from the schedule, but where to go there. How to choose from these. What are the nearest cities and in which one is it better to book a hotel? And where are the main attractions and how to get to them???

You see, but you probably shouldn’t do that. First you need to read some guidebook, evaluate your desires and capabilities, first make a list of 3-10 cities (objects) and then try to expand (narrow) it. After all, it may well turn out that an object that someone really likes will not make an impression on you. In this sense, I am “friends” with the Dorling Kindersley series. I usually like the things that these guides suggest you pay special attention to. After selecting the “right” objects, I try to create the optimal route. If some objects turn out to be too difficult to reach, I discard them without regret. I don’t go with excursions, because standard excursions do not specifically take into account my requirements. I will be happy to participate in the development of your route, but for this you must also tell me what is needed from this route.

Ekaterina, thank you very much. I will be happy to hear your proposal for the route. The wishes are as follows. We live in Malta, we want to go to Sicily, as there are ferries. We have time, money and have never been to Sicily. That's all the wishes. Do not really like organized tours, we want to go ourselves, and not for one day, but longer. Accordingly, the questions arise - where? How? how much, etc. I also completely trust Dorling (at least in London I didn’t let him down). By and large, we know nothing about Sicily, so we are ready to listen to your opinion. The only thing I would like to do is go to Etna.

Thank you very much in advance.

Yes, also, we have to leave for Sicily on Saturday (the only restriction)

Lucy: we always travel around Sicily by train (local regional trains) - very convenient and cheap. They go very often, you can just buy a ticket at the station before leaving. Or look here: http://www.trenitalia.com/en/index.html
And there are no problems with hotels there at all - there are a lot of them everywhere - for every budget.
From Palermo to Montreal - bus, because... it's on the mountain and the train doesn't go there!

Serochka: it is possible and even convenient to purchase round-trip tickets - you punch them in a yellow machine on the platform, and you can travel for 6 hours - that is, if you wanted to get off at some station and take a walk - please, then get on the trail .take the train and move on.
Glitches in the schedule are quite common, but for a small number of minutes. True, due to the law of meanness, when you run to your train, for some reason it leaves exactly on schedule. In my experience in Sicily, everything was more or less on time, well, rarely up to 15 minutes late. There was only one time, due to an accident - trains did not run for half a day in the Bagheria - Santa Flavia area (near Palermo). At the same time, the tickets for the trail were rewritten. day.

I didn’t quite understand the phrase

you can travel for 6 hours

should I return back within the same 6 hours?
If I want, having bought a round-trip ticket, to leave in the morning and arrive in the evening, at the same time
1. if desired, get off at a station, then continue on your way
2. go back in the evening at any time convenient for me.
Is this possible?

I went to Malta in August 2015 with my mother. Actually, she and I have long wanted to visit Sicily. But, as the travel agency explained to us, there are practically no organized excursions in Sicily, public transport is poorly developed, and getting anywhere without a car is problematic. I prefer leisure(trips, excursions), but neither I nor my mother know how to drive a car. For this reason, we decided to choose Malta for our holiday this year, where there is a lot of transport and excursions, incl. to Sicily. One day excursion We also paid for houses in Sicily. Its cost was 134 euros per person. The NIGHTMARE began on the ferry (catamaran) of the Virtu Verries company. It was just a terrible ride! I have read reviews here from people who write that strong pitching on this catamaran is practically not felt. It is not true!!! We sailed for about two hours, and for an hour and a half, 70% (!!!) of the passengers were sick and vomited! Team members barely had time to bring and pick up paper bags. Both my mother and I vomited almost the entire way! It was just HELL! We left the catamaran completely physically exhausted. I didn’t want any excursions, or Sicily, ANYTHING... The second unpleasant moment: we were put on a large double-decker bus, in which, in addition to the Russian-speaking group, there was also an English-speaking group. Accordingly, there were two guides, one of whom gave information in Russian, and the second in English. I think this is wrong. I know English, and I was forced to listen to the same information twice in a row. And for those who don't know in English, and for foreigners who do not understand Russian...I went to Malta in August 2015 with my mother. Actually, she and I have long wanted to visit Sicily. But, as the travel agency explained to us, there are practically no organized excursions in Sicily, public transport is poorly developed, and getting anywhere without a car is problematic. I prefer active recreation (trips, excursions), but neither I nor my mother know how to drive a car. For this reason, we decided to choose Malta for our holiday this year, where there is a lot of transport and excursions, incl. to Sicily.
We paid for a one-day excursion to Sicily at home. Its cost was 134 euros per person. The NIGHTMARE began on the ferry (catamaran) of the Virtu Verries company. It was just a terrible ride! I have read reviews here from people who write that strong pitching on this catamaran is practically not felt. It is not true!!! We sailed for about two hours, and for an hour and a half, 70% (!!!) of the passengers were sick and vomited! Team members barely had time to bring and pick up paper bags. Both my mother and I vomited almost the entire way! It was just HELL! We left the catamaran completely physically exhausted. I no longer wanted any excursions, no Sicily, NOTHING...
The second unpleasant moment: we were put on a large double-decker bus, in which, in addition to the Russian-speaking group, there was also an English-speaking group. Accordingly, there were two guides, one of whom gave information in Russian, and the second in English. I think this is wrong. I know English, and I was forced to listen to the same information twice in a row. And for those who do not know English, and foreigners who do not understand Russian, it was generally very “interesting” to listen to a stream of incomprehensible words all the way!
Third point: I have NEVER met a more terrible guide! A semi-literate, tactless girl who read from a piece of paper all the way and couldn’t even read it properly! This guide's name, if I may say so, is Nadezhda. She is a disgrace to Virtu Ferries! Firstly, instead of at least sympathizing with the exhausted people who got off the ferry, she repeated phrases like: “Virtu Ferries has kindly provided you with the opportunity to travel on the ferry”; “Virtu Ferries has kindly provided you with the opportunity to visit Sicily,” etc. It seems that the Virtu Ferries company is simply engaged in charity, and does not sell trips for a lot of money!
By the way, the text for the guide Nadezhda was also not very literate! Most likely, it was simply a poor-quality translation from a foreign language. Here are some pearls of this madam:
"You can try ARTISAN ice cream"
"Pasta made from COARSE GRAINS"
"Scientists have figured out how to make the lava of Mount Etna cause less harm to the surrounding area. During the eruption, they (scientists) MAKE HOLES IN THE LAVA"!!!)))
In general, this is what we definitely remembered))) In general, the entire text was terribly illiterate. Well, at least we laughed!))
We also didn’t like the fact that in the city of Taormina we were given very little time - only 2.5 hours. During this time we had to visit the sights, go shopping on the shopping street and have lunch at a restaurant. By the way, the opportunity to have lunch was, of course, “kindly provided by Virtu Ferries”!!! True, for an additional fee. We were recommended to go to a specific restaurant at least 5 times during the 2-hour drive from the port to Taormina. My mother and I simply couldn’t eat after the ferry; we felt terrible. And those who had lunch generally only had about 1.5 hours to walk around Taormina!
After Taormina we were taken to Mount Etna. They gave us enough time there, but, unfortunately, the weather was bad, and the top of the volcano was hidden in a foggy haze.
I would like to praise the bus driver. His name was Fabio. It is clear that the driver is a high-class professional. He drove the bus through narrow streets and mountain roads during a severe thunderstorm, and when the weather was good, he stopped the bus where they opened beautiful views, and gave the opportunity to photograph them from the bus!
We were brought to the return ferry an hour before departure. Why - it’s unclear!!! We stood on the street for an hour in some kind of pen that looked like a cattle pen. ((When we took the ferry from Malta to the island of Gozo, we waited for the ferry in a large terminal, where there were chairs, toilets, and a cafe. And here We just stood there for more than an hour! And in the end, the departure of the ferry was delayed by about half an hour! In general, the whole trip was ruined by waiting for the return trip on the ferry, and the NIGHTMARE was repeated! not 70, but only 40-50% of passengers.
Both my mother and I spent the next day recovering from the ferry ride...
What can I say in the end? Of course, Sicily is very beautiful island. But one day is clearly not enough to visit it! And if you do decide to go for a day, DO NOT GO with Virtu Ferries!!! Their service does not correspond to the price of the excursion and European standards!
I believe that with such terrible weather they should have simply canceled the ferry and excursion. But the thirst for money is obviously stronger... In any case, when selling an excursion, the company is obliged to warn that there are bad times at this time of year weather and people with a weak vestibular apparatus are better off not going on this excursion!!
Well, the tour guide Nadezhda should just be fired! It is unacceptable for a guide to be so illiterate and limited. More

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