Take a White Lotus-inspired tour of Sicily with this gay travel company

January 11, 2023 Queer Forty Staff 4 min read

Quiiky Tours – the first Italian-based LGBTQ+ tour specialist – is “riding high” with its new White Lotus tour that takes guests on a guided journey to many of the real-life settings from Season 2 of the award-winning comedy-drama, which is set in Sicily.

Guests start the 9-day tour in style, with a two-night stay at the Four Season’s San Domenico Palace in Taormina – the elegant “White Lotus resort” which hosted the eccentric cast of characters in Season 2. The tour then visits other prominent locations from the series, including Noto, Cefalù, and Palermo.

Originally exclusive to its VIP clients, Quiiky’s White Lotus tour sold out its first departure earlier in 2022. The company will now open bookings in mid-January 2023 to everyone for new tours and is currently accepting registrations to be on the waitlist for future dates, which begin in the spring.

Tourists watching the panorama of the city of Catania from the dome of the abbey church of Saint Agatha in Sicily, Italy. (Photo Credit: Quiiky Tours) — Tourists watching the panorama of the city of Catania from the dome of the abbey church of Saint Agatha in Sicily, Italy. | Photo: Quiiky Tours

“The second season of White Lotus, set in Sicily, has supercharged interest in Italy. Taormina is leading the charge, with web searches up over 50% following the series’ record-breaking finale,” observed Alessio Virgili, Co-Founder and CEO of Sonders & Beach, Quiiky Tour’s parent company. “Among the highlights, the tour provides guests with a once-in-a-lifetime experience of spending two nights at the San Domenico Palace and enjoying first-hand the luxury and sophistication of this 14th-century former convent. While the resort’s sumptuous accommodations, beautiful gardens, and courtyards are enchanting in themselves, there is also the realization that you’re walking through the very rooms as did renowned actors such as Jennifer Coolidge, Theo James, and the fabulous F. Murray Abraham.”

Seductive Sicily

In addition to accommodations at the San Domenico Palace, Quiiky’s White Lotus tour takes guests to the center of Taormina and the nearby beach resort town of Giardini Naxos, the location of the series’ fictional La Cambusa beach club. Lying in the shadows of the Mt. Etna volcano, the town is known for its sweeping beachfront and nightlife, as well as its museum and ancient excavations, which are nearby. Guests will also take a boat to Isola Bella Beach, whose namesake is a tiny island known as “the Pearl of the Ionian Sea’’. They can swim in its crystal-clear waters and, later, enjoy dinner at one of the many highly-rated restaurants along the coast of Taormina.

White Lotus tour guests will then head to Noto, a town whose architecture from the early 18th century is considered among the finest examples of Sicilian baroque style. The town is the fictional setting for Meghann Fahy and Audrey Plaza’s girl trip (though the actual Villa Tasca, where they stay, is in Palermo).

On the way to Noto, guests will stop for a tour and wine tasting at the lavish vineyard of Planeta Feudo di Mezzo. The vineyard hosted the characters of Aubrey Plaza, Will Sharpe, Theo James, and Meghann Fahy in the series. In addition to tours and luxury accommodations in Noto for two nights, guests will be treated to traditional cassata sponge cake at the Caffè Sicilia, often called the best café in Italy.

The Ruins of Taormina Theater at Sunset (Photo Credit: Quiiky Tours) — The Ruins of Taormina Theater at sunset

Isola Bella is small island near Taormina, Sicily, Italy. (Photo Credit: Quiiky Tours) — The Ruins of Taormina Theater at sunset

The tour continues to Cefalù, taking guests through scenic, winding roads and picturesque villages that reveal the beauty and rural splendor of the Sicilian countryside. It passes the ancient port town of Catania, a UNESCO World Heritage Site whose “old town” features late-baroque architecture. The town is considered one of the most LGBTQ+ friendly in Sicily, on par with Palermo. The opening scenes of Season 2 of the White Lotus were filmed along its azure waters and beaches.

Following a two-night stay and tours of Cefalù, guests will then travel to Palermo, where they will enjoy luxury accommodations and guided tours for two nights, culminating with a lavish farewell dinner that ends the tour.

“In The White Lotus, Tom Hollander’s character Quentin says, ‘Sicily can be very seductive,” noted Virgili. “Our tour will show you why.”

Interested in booking the ‘White Lotus’ Tour with Quiiky Tour? More information is available at https://www.quiiky.com/white-lotus-tour/.

This article first appeared on our sister site, Vacationer.