Yachting on Sicily

Traveling by yacht along the seacoast of Sicily is one of the most popular kinds of holidays among the tourists. Sicily itself is very beautiful, but if you have a look at the Aeolian Islands and other islands near Trapani and Ragusa you will understand why there are so many yachts at the moorings of the main ports of Sicily: Palermo, Messina and others.

To hire a yacht on Sicily is possible at any place at the sea cost. The most popular places are still Palermo and Messina because of their beneficial geographical position. The first reason is that they are situated on the way of the main tourist traffic routes. Besides that the most picturesque and beautiful isles (the Aeolian near Messina and the Isle of Ustica near Palermo) are situated there.
You can hire a yacht on these isles too. The price of renting an ordinary yacht in the port of Lipari Island (the Aeolian Islands) starts from 1000 Euros per week.

There are places for mooring in all prestigious resorts. The differences between them are in the size of the yachts to moor. There are very small moorages which only 4-5 small yachts can use. But there are others which can be used by some hundreds of yachtsmen at once. One of the greatest ports is Portorosa in the province of Messina where there is one of the best complexes on Sicily, where yachtsmen can use a floating pier in a special bay and a housing construction for 500 people.

The best port for yachting is Marsala located in the west of Sicily, where about 100 yachts can be serviced at once. Marsala is a very convenient place from which you can travel by sea to the isles of the Egadian archipelago.

In the south of Sicily you can hire not only a yacht but a small fishing vessel together with a crew. You can do it in many villages near Agrigento.

Marines in Sicily

Sicily is one of the busiest yachting centers of the Mediterranean Sea. Getting a yacht charter is a part of an exciting holiday because of the beautiful landscape and a great number of small islands in the vicinity of it. Every year thousands of yachts moor at the coast of Sicily. Most of them moor and are attended at the marines.

The best season for yachting on Sicily is between the end of April and the beginning of November. At this period the marines are full. Parking can be a problem that time. And that is not only because of a great number of yachts. That is partly because a lot of marines attend to permanent clients and do not attend to new guests.

The average price for parking in the Sicilian marines is between 2-4 Euros per meter of the length of the yacht per day. In many Sicilian marines radio communication is only in Italian. So, if you do not know Italian, you can invite a local skipper while you are making a cruise along the island.

Marines are situated along the perimeter of the Island. The average number of yachts in a marine is about 50-200. In big ports the number of yachts is greater. After the construction of a great tourist port in Licata in the province of Agrigento Sicily is expected to possess the biggest marine in Europe, which will be able to attend to 1500 yachts.