The Detour Diaries

Planning a trip to Sicily? Here are some of my tips for visiting Erice, Sicily’s mountain town!

When to go to Erice

There are two things to think about in terms of when to go to Erice. First, the season. In my opinion, the season doesn’t matter too much. It is important to remember that Erice is on the top of a mountain and therefore is usually a bit more windy and definitely a couple of degrees colder than cities next to it (i.e. Trapani). So I’d recommend bringing a layer more than what you need at the base of the mountain.

The other important thing to remember is the weather on the day. Erice is often covered in clouds, which doesn’t impact your ability, but may impact views from the top. If that’s important to you, I’d recommend waiting for a sunny day.

Finally, the last thing I would say is that I visited in early May, which is peak wildflowers season. This made some of the drive and the garden at the top absolutely beautiful. It’s not “necessary”, but I loved so much of Sicily because of the flowers (see my upcoming post on Zingaro Nature Reserve!).

How to get to Erice

There are two primary ways to get to Erice. First, you can drive up yourself. There is a mountain road from Trapani that is easy to use. The road itself is quite windy with a lot of switchbacks, but it’s a very nice road. However, the problem you will face is parking. There is limited parking in Erice and it can run out. I’d recommend getting there before 10am or during lunch (1-2pm) if you want to find parking.

The easier way to do it is to take the cable car from Trapani. It runs starting at around 10am (at least in low season) and takes about 10-15 minutes. You can buy tickets online ahead of time (15 euros). But it’s important to know that it sometimes doesn’t run because of the wind, so check ahead of time on the website. (But also important to remember that they only update the status for the day when they open – around 10am – so don’t look at 8am for the status of the day).

What to do in Erice

I really liked Erice, but there’s definitely only enough for a half day visit. I wouldn’t recommend spending more than a day (or staying overnight) in Erice. Here are some ideas on what to visit and where to eat in Erice.

What to visit

Most of the best things to see in Erice are the castle and cathedral ruins in the city. The most famous site is Castello di Venere (Venus Castle – pictured below). You can get a ticket to just the castle for 5 euros, or you can bundle it with other sites for 10 euros (per person).

The castle inside is not that impressive, it’s mostly a great visit for the views from the castle area (see some pictured below).

However, it’s still nice and I’d recommend it.

When you exit the castle, the next best thing to do is walk behind the castle to the gardens, which also have some great views and are just a beautiful place to be.

Other than the main castle, there are some other historical sites, including the cathedral. But it’s mainly just nice to walk around the city. We used it as a lunch break between Trapani and our next stop in Scopello, which broke up the drive a bit and was a good half-day trip.

Where to eat

There are a lot of options to eat in Erice, but it is necessary to make a reservation for popular places, particularly on holidays or on weekends. I can’t comment on all of the restaurants because I only went to one.

We went to Osteria di Venere, which is centrally located in the old city (most restaurants are). Overall, it was an okay choice, but not overwhelmingly good. The food itself was fine, but they really messed up the serving, with meals of different people coming out 15 minutes apart, or serving the antipasti, primi, and secondi in different orders and all mixed up between people. However, despite the confusion, the food was fine and it’s an okay choice for a city that is pretty touristy.

After lunch, we also went to Gelateria Liparoti, which is really highly-rated. I had great gelato there, but the granita that some other people got was not nearly as good as other granita types that we got during our time in Sicily.

Overall takeaway on Erice

Erice was great and I think it makes a great day trip from Trapani, or on your way between Trapani and another location! Don’t skip going inside Castello di Venere, and definitely take the cable car on a sunny day if you can.