A traveler's guide to Sicily
Pick a corner. Sicily is not a beach you add to a city a hundred kilometers away.
Sicily's beaches are a coast wrapped around a whole country of food and towns. San Vito Lo Capo is the famous pale sand. The southeast has smaller, prettier swimming near Noto and a busier season. Palermo and Catania are cities you pass through or stay in on purpose.
When to go
June and September are the swimming months with fewer cars. August is Italy on holiday, which includes this coast. May is lovely and a touch cool. The sea stays warm late.
The beach
San Vito is a long bay of pale sand and shallow water, busy and still beautiful early. The Aeolian view from the north is a different trip. The southeast's beaches are smaller and often pebbly, with clear water and a town nearby. Lidos rent chairs. Free sand exists beside them.
In the water
Swimming is easy at San Vito and more of a rocky entry elsewhere. A boat from a small harbor is how you reach the coves. Snorkeling is good where the bottom turns to rock. The straits and the exposed capes are not a casual float.
If you only remember this
- A car is the honest way. Trains miss the beaches.
- August bookings are a spring chore.
- Eat the town's lunch. The beach club is not the island's best kitchen.
- Afternoons inland are hot. Swim then, sightsee at dusk.