There didn’t seem to be any guides to Western Sicily when we were researching our trip, and so we took the advice of locals when creating our itinerary for the trip – it’s a tactic I’ll be adopting on future trips. We were based close to Marsala, a very authentic Sicilian town, it was beautiful, but after spending a few hours in the town we were ready to explore further afield, so the following three days were spent at various other destinations across Sicily’s beautiful Western coast.
If your idea of a perfect getaway is escaping the usual tourist route, and instead immersing yourself in true Azores culture then Western Sicily should be the place you head to. We flew into Palermo and drove an hour south to Marsala, staying at Villa Dorotea through Scent of Sicily. Our beautiful villa was the perfect spot for exploring the various destinations across the Western side of the island. Here are a few of the places that we visited, each of which I would highly recommend should you find yourself in this beautiful part of the world.
San Vito Lo Capo
I admit that I am a beach snob. When you’ve visited the Maldives more than 10 times, you tend to become this way, so for a beach to make me say WOW then it truly must be spectacular. Well, the crystal clear waters and white sands of the beaches (in image above) around San Vito Lo Capo were truly Wow-worthy. The main beach is fairly ‘busy’ for Sicilian standards – mostly filled with locals enjoying the beautiful bathing opportunities, but cast aside any thoughts of beaches on the Costa Del Sol, oh no, Sicilian ‘busy’ has nothing on that!
The town itself is small and charming, with a few more options for overseas visitors that more local towns such as Marsala, so we found ourselves spoilt for choice when it came to choosing a spot for lunch. Eventually, the Ristorante Pizzeria on the beach itself seemed to be the perfect spot, and should you find yourself there, I highly recommend the Aranchini balls!
Saline Dello Stagnone di Marsala
I’ve written a full post on Las Salinas which you can view here; the Salt Flats are not only the best place to view the sunset in Marsala, but also a perfect place to explore true Sicilian cuisine. A word of warning – the staff here speak little English, but every dish on the menu is scrumptious (as we discovered when our Aperitifs turned out to be a sampling menu of almost all of the dishes!).
Serisso 47
Our best meal of the trip was at Serisso 47 in Trapani, a town 35 minutes drive North from Marsala. We had the entire restaurant to ourselves when visiting on a Sunday evening, and enjoyed mouth-watering and perfectly cooked Pasta dishes followed by Fillet of Beef & Fish courses. The waitress spoke the best English that we’d heard during all our time there, and translated the menu for us which only ended up making our decisions harder as each dish sounded even tastier than the last! I highly recommend this restaurant if you are in Marsala or Trapani.
Favignana
Favignana is a small island, a 20 minute boat journey away from Marsala or Trapani, and it is well worth spending a day exploring the beautiful island. We rented bikes from the port and followed the roads and paths around the island discovering coves and bays as well as some of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen! I’d highly recommend renting a bike so you can see as much as possible of the island, but be sure to pay attention to the map as there are only a few cafes dotted around! I wrote a full post about our trip to Favignana here.
You can buy tickets to Favignana from the ports before boarding but be sure to check departure times online first though, as there are often only just a few trips each day!
Riserva Naturale Della Zingaro
The Reserva Naturale was Sicily’s first nature reserve, and is a beautifully unspoiled 7km stretch of dramatic coastline. You have to pay €5 per person to enter, and be sure to take bottles of water with you as it’s a bit of a walk to the stunning beaches. Twenty minutes from the entrance, we found ourselves at Punta della Capreria – a lagoon of crystal clear waters and a perfectly unspoiled pebbly beach (in images above). The following 3km of coastline features equally as stunning coves and bays. We spent our final morning on the island here before making our way back to Palermo for our flight home.
If you’d like to see more about what we got up to in Sicily, you can watch the Vlog here!
For accommodation, I’d highly recommend Scent of Sicily, and we stayed in Villa Dorotea; perfectly positioned for exploring the West Coast.
xoxo
