Route 24: A ride on Sicily

Mount Etna, great food, awesome climate… just watch our for the awful drivers

Sicily is a divisive place. It’s beautiful, especially the eastern end of the island, with Etna brooding on the horizon. Riding a motorcycle around the immaculate roads across the lava fields and visiting the volcano is a sublime experience (and one we factor into one of our routes).

But it’s also dirty, with litter strewn along many roadsides. It’s manifestly poor, with beggars everywhere in the bigger towns. And the drivers are awful - you won’t see an undented car on Sicily.

In other words, if you go on a motorcycling tour to Sicily, go with your eyes open and keep your wits about you on the roads. It can be a fabulous place to ride a bike, but it can also shock the unprepared.

MAPS AND DOWNLOADS FOR A RIDE AROUND SICILY

Map of a motorcycle touring route on Sicily, Italy

Route 1 (our route): start/finish: Taormina. Distance: 135 miles. Riding time: 4.5 hours. Suggested stops: AM coffee: Etna, lunch: Etna (after visiting the crater), PM coffee: Cesaro
Route one map, Route one GPX file

Route 2: Distance: 195 miles. Riding time: 6.5 hours. Flowing roads out along the north coast
Route two map, Route two GPX file

Route 3: Distance: 220 miles. Riding time: 8 hours. Adventure bike route including Etna and some coastal roads
Route three map, Route three GPX file

Please note: This page contains the route files for The RiDE Guide to motorcycle touring in Italy which came free with RiDE magazine in July 2015. These website page are not regularly updated, so please check all critical information before you travel. All route files are in .gpx format. Garmin and BMW users can download the main file, which contains all the routes and our recommended hotels as separate waypoints. TomTom users can download the individual routes and use the Tyre software to convert them. For many routes we also have Google Map links. However, as Google Maps will not plot routes over seasonally closed high Alpine passes (such as Stelvio) when they’re shut, these may not work for every route all year round.