Sailing in SICILY
Sicily is a popular sailing destination and Ragusa and Licata are home to what we think are the largest winter liveaboard communities in the Mediterranean. We wintered in the latter in 2019/20..
We divide the island into three sailing zones:
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East
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South
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North
Arriving from 4 seasons mainly in Greece, we cannot say that the sailing in Sicily is to anywhere near that standard. The east coast offers Taormina, Siracusa, and Catania, all of which have important attractions, but only Siracusa offers a real bonus to those arriving by sea and our experience of trying to moor there was unpleasant. The other two are as well reached by land. The south coast is mainly devoid of sailing interest and since the prevailing wind is westerly and quite stiff, so peaceful overnight anchorages are almost non-existent. Neither Trapani nor Marsala appealed much to us. Agrigento and Selinunte (see image) both have the world's most magnificent Greek temple ruins, but again they are better reached from land, and only one of the Selinunte temples is visible from the sea, and none of those at Agrigento.
The Aegadi Islands at the western tip offer a modest amount of good cruising with some excellent anchorages. Beware of the excessive port costs at Favignana however.
Palermo is rightly a major tourist destination in its own right and access downtown from the various marinas is good, but apart from having your own floating hotel room this is not a sea facing community and the marinas are not places of much charm. Apart from Cefalu, the rest of the north coast suffers from the same prevailing wind problem with few safe anchorages.
The other jewel in the Sicilian sailing crown is the volcanic Aeolian Islands off the the north easter tip. It is only really safe to visit them in summer. Aim for June or September if you possibly can.
Charter yachts are concentrated in Palermo and Portorosa for the Aeolian Islands.
The information published at this site has been compiled from publicly available information sources or personal experience. Please feel free to submit additional information or corrections to that already published.
Sicily Interactive Sailing Map
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SICILY - Marinas & Ports Selection
Below you will see by default ALL the marinas from Messina to Syracuse to Marsala and round to Palermo and the Aeolian Islands. - there are 50 in our database. They are divided into three zones - East, South, and North.. Each brief description is linked to complete marina and nearby facilities..
Registered users can use the selection system below and view full details of the facility including CONTACT DETAILS.
Click on the image OR on the "More Details" button to view those details. Registered Users can use the Selection system below to view ONLY those marinas that meet their essential needs. The "Zone" here is north or south, and we show the name of the town. Sometimes nearby facilities are linked to the nearest larger town.
