Travelling from Malta to Catania, Sicily, on a €500 budget.
Postcard from Catania, Sicily: David and I randomly booked a flight from Malta to Sicily, and we had just 500 euros to spend on this 4-day trip.
Hi Pal,
How’re you doing? I have an insane headache from sleeping too much on Sunday. I hope you had a better weekend.
In this postcard, I am sharing my trip to Sicily with you. I’ll share some lessons and tips that helped me, and I hope they help you, too, when you plan your trip to Sicily.
Booking the tickets
To be honest, there was no motivation behind this trip. We randomly started talking about travelling and decided to check for flight prices anywhere from Malta. We saw flight tickets to Sicily for less than 10 euros on Ryan Air.
Ah! We paused and looked at our calendar to see when we had events to attend in Malta. We then decided to book a weekend trip from Thursday to return on Sunday or Monday. On checking again, we saw that the flight price for Thursday was €22, whereas Friday was €9.99.
We booked a return flight, which cost us €45.98. We went ahead with work that day and forgot about the ticket we had just got.
Tip
- If you got the value ticket, you could only bring a specific bag size on the flight. If you want to carry a 10kg or 20kg cabin or check-in bag, you must pay for the bag when booking the flight.
The size of the bag you bring should fit into the bag checker in the image below:
Booking accommodation
On the week of our trip, we started looking for accommodation on Airbnb, Google, and booking. Omo! The prices we saw were insane. The lowest accommodation was $35 per night, which wasn’t all that.
Two days before our trip we found a place we liked — it was 20 mins away from the airport by car, and 20 mins walk to the city centre. We booked the accommodation, and it was time to pack up.
Tip:
- Check frequently and compare on Airbnb, Booking, and Google to find the best prices.
- Depending on your plans, choose somewhere in the city centre or accessible to the places you plan to visit.
Packing for travel
It was a 4-day trip. The weather was averaging 20 degrees in Sicily which was fair. So, I packed the basics into a tote bag.
Tip:
If you are flying with Ryan Air:
- Check-in opens 24 hours before your flight. Check-in within that 24-hour window, or else you’ll pay €59 to check in at the airport.
- Print your boarding pass or have the mobile version on your Ryan Air mobile app. Else you’ll be spending some coins too.
- Check the weather to be sure about what to pack.
- Check for the kind of sockets in use for that country.
Day of Travel
On the day of the trip, we left the house at 10 am, took the bus to the terminal and left Gozo for Malta. On arriving at Cirkewwa, we were lucky that the bus going to the airport was pulling into the loading bus stop. We started the 1 hour, 45mins long trip to the airport.
On arriving at the airport, we checked our passports at the ‘Schengen” counter and headed upstairs.
On getting to the boarding area, we scanned our boarding passes and headed upstairs, where we found Relish and ate enough food because we were starving.
Tip:
Before going to the airport:
- Take your international Passport.
- The printed boarding pass or saved version on the mobile app.
- Some cash. Most countries in the Schengen region use euros.
At departure: Because Dave and I didn’t pay to book seats, we sat differently, but then it didn’t matter because it was just a 45mins flight, and we already discussed that wherever we boarded the bus or plane, we should sit differently and get to meet new people.
My seat was super comfortable because it was in the middle — The emergency exit.
On arrival: We had no internet to book a ride and forgive my clueless or ignorant mind. I had no idea I could turn the roaming option on my mobile by tapping a toggle button to use my ‘Go’ internet service in Sicily.
Luckily, we found someone that spoke English, and she shared her internet with us. However, on checking Uber, we figured the price was an absurd 28 euros for a less than 3.5km trip. Ha!
We asked about the public transport and learned that the next bus would arrive in 10mins and once we arrived at central Sicily, we’ll find our way and that we did. We paid 4 euros per person, and we hit the road.
On arriving at the bus stop, we stopped at a convenience store, bought water and started on a 25mins walk to our Airbnb. On our way, we saw this massive cathedral.
One thing that stood out was that we couldn’t find anyone who spoke English. We eventually saw a guy from Gambia, and he turned on his internet for me to connect and download an offline map and that my friend was our only saviour.
Tip:
- When you’re travelling within Europe, chances are that the sim card you got from a particular country could work in other countries, and all you need to do is turn on roaming on your mobile phone.
- Secondly, get an offline language translator app if you can.
- Download an offline map for whatever city/country you’re visiting.
Staying in Catania, Sicily
We arrived at the block, and I was sure that was the apartment, but no one spoke English, and if I had thought about it earlier, I would've saved the host contact on my notes just like I saved the address.
I eventually found my itinerary mail, saw his contact, and called. He sent his partner to get us downstairs. We went upstairs, checked into our room and were given a tour of the apartment. We settled in, showered and went food and grocery hunting. After walking around for an hour, we found a chicken and chips place.
We knew this would be our favourite meal throughout the trip. We had chicken and chips every day. It was so bad that our hosts started dragging us about it. They’ll casually ask, “What did you eat for dinner?” and say, “Chicken and chips jokingly?” You guessed right; yes, we had chicken and chips.
The only day we tried eating something different was when we went to the beach, and on our way back, we decided to stop by a local restaurant. We asked for recommendations, and this was what we got in the picture below:
It was a 5/10 for me. Everyone seemed happy eating the food, and our hosts mentioned this place made the best meals. Hmmm, Best meals bawo.
Tip:
- Save the address, contact number, and map address on your ‘notes’ app just in case the internet is unavailable; you at least have essential details.
- If you can afford it, arrange with your host to send a taxi to pick you up to ensure you get all the way. (Especially if you are travelling at night).
In conclusion
We were able to spend within our budget. A breakdown of our budget:
- Accommodation: €167 for four nights.
- Flights (Return): €47
- Food at the airport: €30
- Transportation: €8 (Bus tickets from the airport. Asides from that, transportation in Catania, Sicily seemed free. Also, we walked everywhere, and our hosts were kind enough to take us on a drive around town).
- Groceries: €10.50 (4 bottles of water, 1 litre of milk, bread, 12 eggs, 1.5 litre of coke, 1.5 litres of Lambrusco wine, two bottles of malt, five packs of 80g indomie noodles).
- Eating out: €60 (Inclusive of Icecream, chicken and chips for dinner, pizza).
- Miscelenouas: €50 (We bought sunglasses because the beach got super hot, and we purchased paracetamol for the headache, plus drinks at the beach).
We spent €372.5 more or less (Some of these are merely estimations). However, we also did not do any life-changing touristy-thingy. The weather was a bit cloudy and rained the day we were supposed to visit Mount Etna. The average cost for visiting Etna was €100 per person.
Finally, we loved every part of the trip. We watched movies, took long walks, ate ice cream and sweets, talked with our hosts, and just watched the city from the comfort of our room.
Overall, I’ll say our trip to Catania was good. We had no itinerary, list of things to do, or places to visit. For the first time, I just flowed with things. It isn’t as clean as Malta nor as beautiful or diverse. But we enjoyed every moment, and that is how to travel on a budget while enjoying every moment.
Let me know if you have any questions; I’ll happily answer.
Till I write to you again, Ciao.
