Guide Books and Maps

We used the bicycle guide Sizilien per Rad which is - unfortunately for all non-German speakers - only available in German language.

The first section introduces the reader to Sicily and its people. General and helpful information concerning travelling to and in Sicily is given. Focus is of course on travelling with bicycles. The main part of the book describes cycle routes across Sicily including elevation profiles and tips regarding accomodation and restaurants. The descriptions are easy to follow and illustrated with (hand-drawn) maps. All routes are designed to be combined with each other.

Thanks to the guide, we cycled the beautiful route through Monti Nebrodi and did not even consider to go along the north coast and further to Messina. A cycling couple from Kanada who we met in Taormina was able to confirm that the route along the north coast is not worth it. They didn't have a guide book (as there is nothing available in English language).

A shortcoming of the guide is that it does not contain any city maps or nice colourful pictures. Without caring for the extra weight, we decided to take in addition the guide Sizilien - Richtig Reisen from Dumont with us.

If you want to carry or buy only one travel guide, we strongly recommend the cycling guide.

The map "Sicilia" from the Touring Club Italiano or the German version of it from Kümmerly & Frey Sizilien did a good job. The resolution is 1:200,000 which is just fine for cycling.

Roads are coloured according to their traffic class such that one shall not accidently end up on a very busy road. The map states some height information, but it is really not sufficient to derive elevation profiles from. Last, but not least scenic routes are marked green in the map which may make your choice for one route or another a little bit easier.

However, the map was just an add-on to the GPS routes that Patrick planned on his computer at home before our holiday actually started. We did not follow the planned route precisely, but let's say about seventy per cent. It was an evening of work which certainly paied back.