East Coast Sicily Pozzallo Trip Report

We stayed a week in Pozzallo at the beginning of October 2017 and chose this small seaside town because it was the best to use as a base for visiting Modica, Ragusa and Scicli by public transport. We got to Pozzallo from Siracusa by train and then visited Modica and Ragusa by bus, as well as Marina di Modica for our coast walk to Sampieri and beyond and Scicli by train. All of these day trips worked well. Things to bear in mind are that the main bus stop for Modica, Ragusa etc is on the sea front while the train station is right in the other direction. Bus tickets are available at the nearest bar on the sea front, just the other side of the road from the bus stop whereas train tickets can't be bought on the train or in the station, you have to go to a travel agent's in the centre of Pozzallo. Timetables aren't made to be respected but generally we were able to get where we wanted to go and back with a little waiting sometimes but no mishaps.

The other good thing about Pozzallo is the beautiful beach which stretches as far as Santa Maria di Focallo and beyond and is of golden sand with softly shelving shores and perfectly clean. Great for walking, sunbathing, swimming or just sitting and resting.
Even on Sunday (ok it was October) there were long empty spaces and it was definitely one of the best beaches for walking on we've ever encountered.
The town itself is nothing special, there's a nice weekly market and some shops along the main road which runs parallel to the coast and of course at least two excellent pasticcerie for granita and cannoli but the selection of fish and prices were nothing special. Accommodation in Pozzallo was more expensive than other more famous destinations such as Trapani or Ortigia and this was surprising, especially since we were there in low season and the town was certainly not busy. We also visited the castle, which is free, but there really isn't anything else to see in the town itself. Pozzallo is also the port for ferries to Malta.

All in all, if you want to use public transport to visit the area and also to enjoy the excellent beach at the same time it makes a good choice......, if you have a car maybe there could be other options with accommodation which is better value for money.