My Italy travel in 2024 was severely constrained by limited finances. As I pay my own way on research trips, I am always looking for good value and moderate-to-low prices. But this year, with barely any income, I really had to keep expenses as low as possible.
If I wanted an island trip in the summer, my beloved Aeolian islands were out of the question. I’d left it too late for cheap flights or the best choice of accommodation, and I couldn’t afford the length of stay (10 days minimum) I feel the Aeolian islands need to make the travel time worthwhile.
So I looked up cheap flights and cheap destinations in Italy, cross-referencing prices with arrival and departure times and connecting transport. Travel too early or too late in the day, and the whole trip ends up costing more, with the need for taxis or airport stays.
My holiday requirements (well, wishes):
- June travel (very short notice by the time I was booking)
- Flights with manageable arrival and departure times
- Airports with convenient public transport connections
- Cheap but decent accommodation options with short-notice availability
- No car necessary
- Low-cost dining and activities locally
- Southern Italy or Sicily
- Seaside, preferably islands
- And preferably:
- Somewhere new to me, or that I would be happy to rediscover
- Ideally including several destinations I could share with followers and research for Italy Heaven, either new additions or worth updating
I considered several tempting destinations in Puglia and Calabria but flight prices and times weren’t right. I hesitated over northern resort Rimini – very cheap but not what I was looking for (I did take that option later in the year though, and will write about that budget trip soon too).
My final choice didn’t include new ground. Once I’d met my most important requirements and found a great-value itinerary, I had to accept I’d be treading in my earlier footprints. Not a huge problem though. I hadn’t been this way for 14 years, so places might seem fairly fresh, and my knowledge could certainly benefit from the updates and changes I knew I’d find.
My cheap holiday solution
I flew from London Stansted to Trapani-Marsala Airport (Sicily) and spent a week by the sea. I booked accommodation on the Egadi islands and in Trapani, combining island holiday and city break. My seven-night three-centre trip cost £600 for flights and accommodation. This was pretty impressive value for post-Covid Italy, especially considering how many of my requirements I met and that I was booking at three weeks’ notice.
Total final budget
Here’s the price breakdown at the end of my June trip, all expenses in Italy included.
- Ryanair flights: £189. This may have been cheaper if I’d booked further in advance! The price includes the extras I paid for: a hold suitcase and priority security queue at Stansted.
- 7 nights accommodation with breakfast: £411 (€484). I was paying a solo traveller’s premium for hotel/B&B rooms, so a couple would have paid less per person.
- Daily expenditure approximate total £334 (€396). This varied from €36 to €77 per day, averaging €55, and was obviously somewhat discretionary. On top of ferries and public transport I paid for admission fees to attractions, meals, bike hire, a boat trip, an excursion and aperitivi. I enjoyed some restaurant meals but at other times I saved money by eating take-away food or snacks.
- Total cost including discretional daily spend: approx £934
My willingness to spend an average of €55 per day took the total cost of my holiday up – I could have kept this cost lower if I had chosen to live more thriftily. But I think this was still a really good value-for-money trip at such a popular time of year.
How did I do it?
It didn’t help that I booked my travel at the end of May for a trip commencing 17th June. Availability was limited and prices were higher than they may have been had I booked earlier. But I was somewhat flexible over dates, and looked at budget airlines and destinations that I knew were among the cheaper Italian areas. I picked Trapani and the Egadi islands as my destination because I’d been there before and knew they met most of my requirements. Travel from Trapani airport to the islands is straightforward and quite quick.
I love Sicilian islands and was pleased at the thought of returning to this little archipelago. I also looked forward to exploring Trapani in more depth and discovering how the town and islands had changed after 14 more years of growing tourism.
My Egadi islands and Trapani itinerary
This is my June travel itinerary. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend readers follow in my footsteps exactly. I was limited by availability at my favourite hotel in Favignana at such short notice. And having visited the islands before, I was keen to spend a few days getting away from it all on remote Marettimo and doing some hiking (I think Marettimo also had cheaper accommodation on my travel dates). Not everyone will have the same priorities, and I would definitely recommend more than one night on Favignana if it’s your first trip! So further down this page I’ve suggested a first-time itinerary for discovering the islands, and priced it for you, too.
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Day One:
- 7.10am Ryanair flight from London Stansted to Trapani, landing at 11.10am.
- Bus at 12.30 to Trapani port: https://www.airgest.it/bus-e-navette-di-linea/
- Ferry to Favignana arriving 2pm: https://www.libertylines.it/en/
- Exploring Favignana town, gelato, visiting a museum and sights, waterside aperitivo then pizza for dinner
- Accommodation: Hotel Il Portico, Favignana town €94
Day Two:
- Touring Favignana by bike, garden visit and beaches (briefly)
- Ferry to Marettimo at 5.10pm
- Accommodation: Three nights at B&B Sulmare, Marettimo €75 per night
Days Three and Four:
- Exploring Marettimo, walking, a boat trip, aperitivi, meals, visits to the tiny museum, interesting conversation and enjoying the island atmosphere
Day Five:
- Ferry to Trapani and a kind lift from the port by my Trapani B&B hostess
- Exploring Trapani
- Accommodation: Three nights at B&B Terrazze Villanova €55 per night
Days Six and Seven:
- Trapani: town walks, beach time, exploring ruins, museum and church visits, food and drink, a sunset tour to the salt pans outside town
Day Eight:
- Departure day. Bus to airport
- 11.35am flight to London Stansted
Plan your own Sicily and Egadi islands itinerary
For a first-time exploration of the area in a week I’d suggest:
Day One: As long as you can find an early enough flight into Trapani Airport, travel onwards to Favignana as I did (bus to the port, ferry to the island). An alternative airport is Palermo Airport, with buses to Trapani.
Days Two to Four: Favignana. I’d suggest either three nights on the island and one night on Marettimo (if you don’t mind extra travel and would like to spend a night somewhere very different) or four nights on Favignana, allowing time for beaches and trips to the other islands.
Days Five to Eight: As I did, spend three nights in Trapani. Whereas I spent my time exploring Trapani and its salt flats, if it’s your first time here, I’d recommend taking an excursion up to hilltop Erice (bus and cable-car), inland to Segesta or along the coast to Marsala (train) and maybe the archaeological-site island of Mozia and its neighbouring salt pans (bus or taxi from Marsala).
Adjustments: If you’re more interested in weighting your trip towards cultural sights of mainland Sicily rather than island relaxation, opt for four nights in/around Trapani and just three on Favignana. This would also be a way to reduce costs further, as accommodation in Trapani is generally cheaper than the islands; there are a lot of small B&Bs with competitive prices.
If you enjoy hillwalking, have a good head for heights and are visiting when the temperatures aren’t too high, you may wish to consider quiet Marettimo as your island base instead of livelier Favignana.
Sample 2025 Sicily/Egadi itinerary with dates and prices
Specially for readers, I’ve been doing some research and here’s my priced suggestion for a version of this trip in June 2025 (details, prices and availability correct as of 31st December 2024). Please note, these are only ideas to provide an example itinerary, and I take no liability for anything that may go awry …
9th-16th June 2025 Ryanair flights London Stansted – Trapani Marsala £181 per person (hand luggage only). Outbound flight arrives 3.55pm, return leg departs at 4.20pm.
Liberty Lines ferry from Trapani port to Favignana; departures at 6.30pm and 7pm (a 30-minute journey). This should be do-able (again, I take no liability), but if you’re concerned about flight delays, travel disruption and missing that last ferry, consider staying in Trapani first and Favignana for the second half of your stay (the more I think about this, the more I’d be inclined to play it safe, to be honest – I’m a cautious planner).
Four nights on Favignana, 9-13 June: Hotel Il Portico (my choice) – £424 for a double room on the ground floor for four nights (there are fancier rooms). There are plenty of other places to stay on the island, some more lavish and others more economical. Cheaper options: Albergo Bouganville, £329, Le Muciare, £298. Find more Favignana availability and prices
Solo traveller option. 4 nights Favignana: Hotel Il Portico from £391. I like that hotel, but a cheaper option is £254 at Casa du Piscature, economy double room.
Three nights in Trapani, 13th-16th June: B&B Terrazze Villanova (where I stayed, a really nice B&B but it is a longish walk from the centre) – £227 for a double room for three nights. A more central alternative: Il Cortile Fiorito – self-contained holiday apartments with friendly hosts, £180 for a studio for three nights.
Solo traveller option. 3 nights Trapani: B&B Terrazze Villanova, £144. Cheaper alternative: Residence Barbara, £109.
Cost per person for flights and accommodation: £506 staying at Hotel Il Portico and B&B Terrazze Villanova, sharing double rooms, breakfast included. Opting for cheaper but still well-reviewed accommodation on Favignana and in Trapani, as linked above, you could get this total down quite easily to £420 per person, based on two sharing. And there are even cheaper places to stay …
Solo traveller option: Sadly we always spend more. Still, a week’s trip (flights and accommodation) for £544 is still a pretty good deal, and there are cheaper island options if you shop around. To shave money off, maybe spend a night fewer on Favignana and an extra night in Trapani.
Other costs
Both Trapani and the Egadi islands have a good choice of places to eat and drink, including street food options, and meals are cheaper than in other parts of Italy. You’ll need to allow space in your budget for ferries (around €18 one-way between Trapani and Favignana). Buses and trains are cheap, and you don’t need a car for this itinerary.
Is this holiday worth it?
This two-centre week makes a great holiday for surprisingly little money, and between the two bases you can enjoy a very varied range of activities, scenery and sights to suit your interests, from boat trips on the turquoise sea to city rambles admiring historic artworks.
If you are not on as tight a budget as I was, you can take advantage of the lower prices across the board in these destinations to upgrade to a more special or luxurious stay, while still spending a lot less than you would in most parts of Italy.
If you find the Italy Heaven website and my suggestions helpful or entertaining, please consider supporting my website by using my affiliate links when booking your accommodation, or ‘buying me a coffee‘ to help me keep the website online. Thank you very much. Enjoy your travels!
A note: Apologies to readers that I haven’t yet finished updating the destination pages for Trapani and the islands since my 2024 trip. The work is underway and up-to-date details will be on the site soon!