Hello all!
Husband and I are planning to rent a car from the Palermo airport and want to day trip to Trapani (salt flats) and Erice before heading to a farm stay near Agrigento.
Is it safe to leave our luggage in the car? (hidden off course). We have left luggage in our car when visiting Puglia and had no issues.
Am I being paranoid?
thanks in advance
I don't think anyone can actually say yes or no to this question. Ask for a car with a trunk and park in an area that is busy.
The Trapani salt flats are out in the middle of nowhere, and parking is right where you’ll be walking around, so it shouldn’t be an issue. Look up its location before going over because the salt farm can be hard to find. We plugged it into our GPS before going on the trip. Near the salt farm is a WWII bunker that you’ll pass by. To me, the salt farms at Marsala (about 12 miles from the Trapani one) are nicer, especially for photos. They too are out in the middle of nowhere and can be hard to find because the roads are poorly marked. There are two parking lots at the Marsala farms, very near where you’ll be walking. The only people at the farms are there to see them, or work there, so chances are slim that you’d have an issue. We didn’t. Parking at both salt farms is free, but there may be a guy (at Marsala) pretending he works there asking for a euro to watch your vehicle. He was funny and honest when we called him out, so we gave him a euro.
In Erice, there are a couple parking lots. One is by where all the busses pull in by where you catch the cable car. There’s another down the hill a little, and one in town by the church of San Giovanni Battista. Since the one by the church is right in town, I’d park there since more people walk by. Believe all the lots in Erice are pay lots, so have a few Euro coins as many of the machines don’t take the smaller coins. We parked at our hotel.
Not a good idea in general. The fact that you didn't have issues in Puglia doesn't make it a safe thing to do in Puglia either! It's a risk.....you might be fine or you might not......
Holly, it’s a fine and safe idea, unless someone breaks into your car and steals some or all of your belongings. A few years ago, I had a similar idea when arriving in Palermo, headed for Erice, and I thought of stopping at Segesta. “How would it impact your trip if someone stole all your luggage on the first day, and how willing are you to risk that?”, a wise advisor asked me? There are evidently some thieves who make their living this way in Sicily, especially at open parking lots at tourist sites. I decided to drive directly to Erice, then go to Segesta the next day with an empty car. That worked out wonderfully.
We have driven in a good many parts of Europe (not Sicily) with luggage in our car. In over a hundred days of driving we have not had a problem. What else are you going to do when changing locations? Just follow the suggestions above and you should be okay. Yes, there is a risk factor, but there is a risk factor just in getting out of bed.
Thank you everyone for your replies!
Many thanks to jaimeelsabis for your detailed information about the salt flats and parking.
