Sicily: Trapani + Aegadian Islands
After almost 3 years of living in Southern Italy, I can’t believe it took us this long to get to Sicily and it is now firmly on my “must return to” list. There is so much to see and do on the island and you could easily spend two weeks here. We spent a long weekend just in the western part of the island, spending our time in and around Trapani with an incredible boat trip to the Aegadian Islands (Favignana and Levanzo — we will have to make a trip back to see Marettimo). This was an absolutely amazing answer to the “I need a vacation after this vacation” feeling that we were having after our busy Scandinavia road trip.
Vorrei dire un particolare grazie di cuore al nostro amico Tony, che vice a Trapani, e ci ha aiutato ad avere una prima incredibile visita in Sicilia e sperimentare la sua città in modo così bello.
How To Get There
We flew from Naples to Palermo (RyanAir there and EasyJet back to Naples) and rented a car through Avis. The drive to our AirBnB was a little under an hour and was incredibly easy. Overall, we didn’t find driving in Sicily to be hard or much different than driving in Naples.
Tip for when you head back to the airport: If you have a little time to kill, there is a great playground near the lungomare in Terrasini only about 15 minutes from the airport. There are plenty of bars and restaurants around here as well for a final meal before driving to the airport. It is also fun for kids because you can see the start of the runway from the coast here so you can watch the planes as they come in to land. We hung out here before heading to the airport for our late flight.
Where to Stay
We knew that we wanted to visit the center of Trapani, San Vito Lo Capo, Erice, Segesta, the islands, and possibly areas like Scopello and even Palermo. We found a great AirBnb hosted by Antonella that was about a 20-30 minute drive from Erice, Trapani, and San Vito Lo Capo. It was incredibly quiet and the views (especially of sunset) were incredible. You could access the sea directly in front of the house via the rocky coastline or walk about 5 minutes in either direction to sandy beaches. Spiaggia Rio Forgia, just down the road, had a small kiosk that sold gelato, drinks, etc and there were public toilets and showers. There was also free public parking if you don’t feel like walking. Also a short walk from the house was a great gastropub (Alviró). We had drinks and dinner here after our boat day because it was so close and easy after a long day in the sun. The food and drinks were fantastic — my partner especially loved a cocktail that combined aperol and mezcal. Again, the sunset views as well as the views of Monte Cofano are stunning.
This was definitely a quiet and more secluded area so you need a car and don’t have a ton available to walk to, but it was peaceful and the views were stunning. I definitely recommend it as a home base to explore this area.
Where to Eat in Trapani
Ristorante Antichi Sapori: Try the cous cous, a typical dish of this area.
Frutti di Mare “Il Chiosco”: Go here for an aperitivo of oysters, mussels, clams, and other seafood specialties. Parking is a bit hard on the street.
Ristorante Camío: Great spot for an aperitivo from about 6pm-7pm to see sunset around 8/8:25pm (we visited in mid June). There are always a lot of people in this spot!
Gelateria Meno Tredici: Best gelato
Bar Incontro: N. 1 Arancine in Trapani
Enoteca Versi di Rossi: Best wine bar
MOAI Sunset Restaurant: Amazing spot for an aperitivo on the Mura di Tramontana with an incredible sunset view. This was an easy spot for a drink before dinner at La Perla.
Ristorante Sirena di Sansica Girolamo
These were all recommended by our friend Tony who lives in Trapani! When we were in the city center, we parked at Parking Andros and pre-booked it online. It was affordable, easy, and convenient.
Boat Day
The absolute highlight of the trip for me was our boat day where we went from Trapani to Favignana and Levanzo, two of the Aegadian Islands. The water off of these two islands is unreal, both in color and how clear it is. Our friend Tony connected us with the captain, Rosolino, and helped us organize the tour. It was a group tour, so we were on the boat with about 9 other people. However, it was a mini yacht so it never felt crowded or like we were on top of each other. There was a cabin with a couch and a bathroom (or a head, as my partner corrected me) down below. There were comfortable lounging spaces on the top deck as well as on the bow of the boat. The price was €80 per adult and €50 for a child. We were on the boat from 9.45am - 5pm and were served snacks, drinks (including alcohol) and lunch.
Once we arrived in Favignana from Trapani, we stopped in several different bays to swim. Rosolino and his crew had masks, noodles, and a life preserver available as well as a fresh water sprayer on the swim deck to rinse off after you go out of the salt water. In Favignana, we stopped in Cala Azzurra, Bue Marino, and Cala Rossa. From there, we pulled into the port for about an hour and Rosolino walked us to his favorite gelato spot (Bar Europa), where we tried gelato in brioche (basically a fancy ice cream sandwich) for the first time — it was incredible. I highly recommend the salted pistachio flavor. Once everyone returned to the boat, Rosolino had a beautiful lunch set up at the back of the boat with typical Sicilian foods.
After we finished eating, we headed out to Levanzo. We stopped by the old fishing village (one of my favorite views of the day) and saw the Prada Villa and then continued on to a few final swim spots: Punta Faraglioni, Cala Dogana, and Cala Fredda. At our final stop, Rosolino gave us all a toast of Zibibbo wine with biscotti, which you dunk in the wine (one of my favorite treats). The group we were with was a ton of fun and we felt like we got a fantastic experience at an amazing price. We would recommend Rosolino to anyone who visits the Trapani area and wants to get out to the islands.
Rosolino Santangelo +39 340 586 4533 (WhatsApp)
Beach Day
Based on many, many recommendations we drove about 30 minutes from our AirBnb to check the beach in the seaside town of San Vito Lo Capo. This is said to be one of the most beautiful beaches in Italy and has been described as, “the Maldives of Italy.” As is to be expected with anything described as the most beautiful of anything, there were definitely a lot of people. We lucked out however in that the weather wasn’t great when we first got there (it cleared up beautiful within an hour or so) so we easily found parking and got chairs in the front row at one of the lidos (there are many to pick from). There were also free areas of the beach where you could set up without having to rent chairs from a lido. The water was absolutely incredible. Crystal clear and bright blue, shallow for a long distance off the shore, and relatively calm which made swimming very pleasant for my four year old.
On the drive out to San Vito, you pass Màcari. This beach also looked fantastic and was recommended to us. There is a little tram that will take you from the parking lot down to the beach where you can either rent chairs or enjoy the free parts of the beach.
Excursions
On our final day, we had to check out at 11am and didn’t fly out until 9.45pm. We didn’t really want to spend the day at the beach and not necessarily have access to showers and then travel home with soaking wet towels and bathing suits, so we spent the (very hot) day exploring on land in Erice and Segesta.
Erice is an incredibly well preserved medieval village on top of Mount Erice with breathtaking views over Trapani. We took the cable car up from Trapani (about a 10 minute ride). We parked here and bought our round trip tickets online. We spent the majority of the morning exploring the small streets, eating way too much (you have to try the typical pastries, which are called genovesi), and counting how many cats we saw. As soon as you get off the cable car, you will see an information kiosk. They sell a pass that gets you into the major sites around the village, like churches, the castle, towers, etc. It was free for my four year old and €6 per adult. As we wandered around we found a few sites that were not included in the pass we purchased, but the entrance fees for those sites were minimal and worth it. We ate lunch at Caffè del Balio. They had a great mix of typical Sicilian dishes, like arancine, panelle, Trapanese pesto, and of course, granita with brioche.
Segesta is a 5th C Doric temple, about a 20 minute drive from the cable car parking lot in Trapani and on the way back towards Palermo. We bought our tickets, including the bus ticket that would take us the 2km from the entrance up to the amphitheater, on site when we arrived. The bus arrives next to the gift shop/bar every thirty minutes and drives you up to the theater. I definitely think getting the ticket for the bus (€2.50 per ticket) was worth it because of the heat. We walked around the area by the theater for about 30 minutes and caught the bus when it came back. From there we walked up to the temple, which took about 5 minutes. The views in this area are beautiful and the ruins are beautifully preserved. We saw signs that made it look like they do concerts and events on site, which would be really cool to check out.
