Spend a day in the sunny city of Syracuse in southeast Sicily on a full-day tour from Taormina! With stunning coastal scenery as well as ancient Greek and Roman ruins, the city is the perfect destination for a day of leisurely sightseeing. Discover intriguing attractions like the Greek Theater (There will be a theater set on the archaeological site during summer) and the Ear of Dionysius on a visit to Parco Archeologico della Neapolis (entry own expense), and then explore Syracuse’s island neighborhood of Ortygia in the afternoon.
Posted By : Roam45203813163
Renate Kobler was a great guide and Michele an excellent driver. The itinerary was well-planned and stimulating, with ample time for personal exploration on Ortygia. It is hard to imagine better value for a day-trip to an unmissable location.
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Posted On : 2024-05-01 09:54:15 
Posted By : Sharon_B
A fabulous day trip - it's a long day, but worth it. Great to be picked up from my hotel. I saw, in other reviews, some of the complaints about the duel languages on the coach , but you get used to it. Ortigia was a lovely place - great to get a quick guided tour, and then have some free time to wander a little slmore slowly.
Go on, treat yourself and have a lovely day out
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Posted On : 2023-10-20 15:09:06 
Posted By : Dominey246
Make sure you take cash with you, as the guide will collect money on the coach to pay for the entrance fee to the Archaeology Park. The coach stopped at a service station on the way to Syracuse, so we could all use the loos and pick up a quick coffee/snack. Unfortunately 3 other buses arrived at the same time, so we spent most of the 20 minute break in a horrendous queue for the toilets with no time to spare to buy anything from the shop.
We spent 1.5 hours at the Park but unfortunately our guide spent long periods of time standing in one spot to talk, or walking painfully slowly along.....and then suddenly ran out of time, so we got to take a quick photo from the side of the amphitheatre before having to dash off to our coach. We really needed an extra 20 minutes so we could walk around the amphitheatre and take it all in.
Our next stop was Ortygia. After seeing a map of Ortygia which highlighted the main attractions, we deserted our tour guide as we knew we could walk at a faster pace to see the sights, and still have time for a leisurely lunch.
The trip home was uneventful, with no bathroom break on the way back.
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Posted On : 2023-10-20 11:53:53
Posted By : Suzanne_J
It was fun snd do interesting to have a guide who could tell thx stories behind the amazing history we saw. Bus driver amazing all those bends snd turns. Meet some lovely people over lunch from the tour. Top rating thankyou
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Posted On : 2023-09-06 14:09:41
Posted By : Sandra_R
From the pick up, which was quick and simple, to the end of the day this was a fab trip.
Renata was a great tour guide, very knowledgeable and able to manage a large group around the sites. Amazing places to visit with time to wander on your own in Syracuse.
Comfortable coach on a relaxed tour.
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Posted On : 2023-09-04 16:34:15
Posted By : Compass746591
There was an accident on route and we were delayed by an hour or more. Consequently, we did not arrive at Syracuse until 11am. Our tour was like a route march in the heat of the day. I was so hot and bothered that I didn’t take in a word our guide said. Ortigia is beautiful and I would highly recommend a visit but it wasn’t much fun in a day trip from Taormina. To fully appreciate this beautiful place, I would recommend that visitors consider staying overnight.
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Posted On : 2022-08-05 08:50:40
Posted By : babykong
I don’t drive and using public transport is not a viable option for visiting various sites/cities in Sicily. Hiring a private driver would have been far too expensive, so I had no option other than to join a guided tour.
After doing my research I decided to go with SAT and booked a couple of excursions online, which was easy and straightforward.
On the morning of the tour the bus arrived promptly at the bus terminal, but upon seeing the size of the coach (a huge double decker) I instantly had a sense of dread - as it obviously meant that this group was going to be massive - and it was. We spent the first hour picking up other customers, and the bus was full.
The majority of the tourists were German, there was maybe 8 Brits, six Italians, and a couple of French tourists. As we made our way to Syracuse our guide made various announcements in all four languages.
When we arrived in Syracuse the group was divided into two - the Italians went with the guide who was with us on the coach, while the rest of us went with the other guide!? I kid you not! So six Italians go off for a small group guided tour, whilst the handful of Brits & French are lumbered with the 100 or so German pensioners!
The guide we had (who was lovely and very knowledgeable) spoke firstly in German, then English - during which time the ignorant idiots would talk so loudly that none of us could really hear what was being said. Needless to say I was not best pleased.
After being herded around the sites we were put back on the coach and we headed off to Ortygia. We were told on the coach that once we arrived there we would be doing another guided walk to various sites, before getting some free time for lunch. But at this point I’d had enough and as soon as we arrived I made a break for it and had a lovely three hours by myself exploring the island.
If the group was smaller, or they had divided us more evenly at Syracuse, this would have been quite an enjoyable day out.
In the past I’ve avoided group tours, as I much prefer doing my own thing at my own pace. This trip just reaffirmed how much I HATE group tours. I did do another tour with them to Palermo (which I’d booked at the same time) which I’ll write about in another review.
In a nutshell if you enjoy being herded around like a flock of sheep, standing around for long periods of time waiting for the guide to eventually speak in your language (which you probably won’t be able to hear anyway) and getting elbowed out of the way by ignorant German pensioners - then this is the trip for you.
Personally, I would not recommend this tour.
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Posted On : 2019-10-31 20:30:32
Posted By : 524cristina
Another excellent day trip from Taormina Bus Station with SAT. Lovely guide and driver again. The Greek Amphitheatre was stunning, and our local guide, Eva, was outstanding. She brought the place alive for me ... not just spouting facts and figures.
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Posted On : 2019-10-18 03:00:50
Posted By : tischlerjoann
Horrific rainstorm. Could not get to the bus stop. Too late for 24 hour cancellation. As fa as I know, they do not refund for last mean bad weather.
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Posted On : 2019-07-16 12:22:57
Posted By : ItsIsabellaC
I had a great time on my SAT Group tour to Syracusa. I would say the tour isn't of the WHOLE city itself it's just of the archeological site (ear of Dionysius and Greek, Roman theatres) IN Syracusa and Ortigia. The tour bus was a mix of Germans, Italians, and English speakers all in one. On the bus, our tour guide had to explain everything in all three languages. His English was ok a 6/10. Once we arrived at each location there was a tour guide who joined us that gave the English AND German tour. Her group was the largest 35/41 tourists and had to speak using a microphone. I opted for the tour in Italian which was much more intimate (6 people) and definitely made this entire trip. I imagine I would not have liked standing in a giant group and have to listen to the guide explain the same thing in two languages. In Ortigia we had ample time to go on the guided tour, eat lunch, and walk around on our own and do shopping. Overall I liked the trip but recognize I got the "special" treatment by being in a much smaller group of Italian speakers.
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Posted On : 2019-06-01 16:30:25
