Agrigento and Valley of the Temples Day Trip from Palermo

A dream come true going to the temples. The courier was knowledgeable and informative, small number of passengers on the bus... Quite a long day....

In my case it was a tour with few people. The guide, Michael gave us many tips to better enjoy the trip

I don't understand why the guide didn't go with the group and did a guided tour of the site - I was very disappointed

Temples are well worth a visit. Queues were an hour for security and entrance in 37'C heat. This would have been less but our driver abandoned us at the entrance. Our tour comprised two minibuses, the other driver escorted his group to the tours and groups entrance so they were fast tracked in!!! Not us, we didn't even know where to go. He wouldn't speak to us in English, just pointed his finger towards the huge queues of people. We also wasted time queuing for toilets as there was no stop on route for breakfast and toilets as expected from itinerary, and we were also hungry. Our driver was also very late, by 20 mins, which added to the "be there 15 mins early" meant we were standing for 35 mins with nowhere to sit. We enjoyed the temples, interesting notes about how they were built too. The main road through is wide and the site more accessible than expected. Not much shade. Reasonably priced sandwiches at the restaurant, limited menu but very acceptable. We also wasted half an hour at the cafe at the pick up point after tour. We were then told we were NOT stopping at the Museum as in our itinerary but were going straight back to Palermo. Expecting to go to the Museum we had purchased tickets for Temples AND Museum at an extra 4 Euros each so really disappointed and annoyed, after all if the driver had arrived on time we would have had time for the breakfast and comfort stop. If he had taken us as a group to fast track our entrance ( as the other driver did for his group) we would have been finished early enough to have an hour at the Museum. We expected a guide for the Temples but no guide for us. Our driver refused to speak to us in English and used a young Italian in our tour group to translate yet a young Irish girl said he spoke excellent English when he picked her up from her residence, possibly as she was giving him extra as she was staying outside Palermo. One of our group is diabetic so the missed breakfast stop was very distressing for him and made him feel very unwell which obviously spoiled the trip for him. There were two minibuses travellng together from Palermo, we didnt have a guide for the temples as expected. I think the other driver DID escort his group comprising the same number of people as in our group, his name is Michael and he was my driver for a different trip to Etna and Taormina and he was brilliant, very talkative, stopped on route, took us to the front of the queue for the funicular, wish we'd had him for the Temples

This was a very pleasant trip for my family (a total of 6 persons) in an air conditioned mini-van. We were picked up at the NH Palermo Hotel by our driver, Michael, who spoke fluent English and was engaging, interesting and informative throughout the excursion. Upon our arrival at the Temples, his instructions were extremely clear after which he took us to a fine restaurant for lunch before returning to Palermo. Once again, his conversation was pleasant and informative. We enjoyed our trip, immensely, and would recommend this experience to future travelers without hesitation.

Well worth seeing, the sites were amazing as well as the museum. The tours guide was excellent!

The tour was listed as an English tour. The driver/guide did not speak English. He talked mostly to the Italian speaking passengers and occasionally had Google Translate on his phone tell the English speakers something in sort of English. The sights were great.

On time pickup from my accommodation. Friendly, communicative driver/tour guide Michael. Adequate time allowed to visit the temples and the museum. Also enjoyed the scenic drive to and from the destination. Very impressed with Michaels driving skills.

Our driver, Leandre, was excellent. A very nice man, he even gave us bottles of water and snacks during the trip, and he always made sure to put an extra step on the ground outside the minibus to make easy for us to get on and off. When you get to the Turkish Steps Scala di Turchi, definitely take a full hour to walk down to the beach and walk up the steps. It really is a sight to behold. My only complaint...the name of the tour is Agrigento and Valley of the Temples. I thought we would see Agrigento AND the Valley of the Temples. From what I understand, there are some nice churches in the city of Agrigento. However, the tour does not go into the city of Agrigento, it only goes to the Valley and the Turkish Steps. I found that to be a bit misleading. Other than that, it was an enjoyable day, and both sites we did see on the tour were worth the money.

It was good tour but the road to Agrigento was bumpy and wasn't comfortable sitting at the back of the mini van! The driver was nice and friendly but was more focus on driving in the twisty road with the minimum commentary!