Erice and Segesta

Following breakfast, you will meet with your private driver and embark on a day tour to Segesta, with its well-preserved Doric Temple and the unforgettable medieval hilltop town of Erice.

Segesta was once the most important regional town and trading center, and now it treasures two Classical monuments for you to visit: the Temple of Segesta and its theatre. To reach the temple, you will face a 5-minute climb, consisting of small terraces that run between agave plants. The temple was probably never finished, but it is among the most intact ones in Sicily. The theater, high up on Monte Barbaro, has views out to the city of Trapani and the sea.

Your tour continues as you wind your way up to Erice, where you can even reach by cable car. Erice is situated about 2,500 feet above sea level. It immediately impresses with its defensive walls and castle, affording breathtaking views over the Trapani Gulf, the saltworks, the Egadi Islands, Cofano Mountain and on clear days, all the way to the African coast. This little town is enhanced by the unpredictable weather that can take you from sunny afternoon to foggy evening in the space of a few minutes.

Walk through the labyrinth of quiet and tiny alleyways, passageways so narrow that only a single person can get through at a time. Aside from the streets and the 60-odd churches, among which the Duomois the most interesting and worth visiting, the most typical and best-known aspect consists of the little courtyards showing pretty windows with embroidered curtains and a fairytale atmosphere. Erice is home to Sicily's most famous pastry shop where you will find really the must of Sicilian pastries: cassate and cannoli. But there are even two stronger pieces: Genovesi and almond biscuits the way the nuns of the nearby convents used to prepare them.