Southwest Sicily.

You are planning to stay in SW Sicily? Not our favorite area of the island.
We preferrred the SÉ, Ortigia.

I very much enjoyed Mazara del Vallo and used it as a base to visit the beautiful ruins at Selinunte. Mazara del Vallo's historic center is a maze of alleyways, a casbah, It is a fishing town of about 45000 directly on the coast. It has a distinct mixture of Christian, Arabic and Jewish influence. Tunisia is quite closeby and there is a definite Tunisian influence on the foods. It has beaches but I did not swim there. We got there by train from Palermo and used both the train and bus to get to nearby Selinunte. From there we took a bus to Agrigento. San Vito lo Capo is perhaps the most beautiful beach on the western side of Sicily. I assume you can reach it by bus from Mazara del Vallo or Palermo or elsewhere. No train service there. if your interest is in wines Marsala might be a good base. I have not stayed overnight in Trapani but that would be very close to beaches, the salt pans, Erice and Segesta. Trapani is serviced by train. It is also close to Scopello and the nature reserve. Both Marsala and Trapani would put you into close proximity of the island of Favignana for a daytrip.

We stayed in Marsala and enjoyed it. It is close to Mazara del Vallo, Trapani, Erice, Selinunte, and the salt farms of Trapani and Marsala. We did have a rental car.

We spent 10 days in Trapani last fall. It was our base for getting to Erice, Marsala, Mazara del Vallo, the salt pans, Cretto di Burri, Poggioreale, Selinunte and Segesta. It was easy to get around with a combination of trains (to Mazara del Vallo and Marsala), a couple of private drivers (to the salt pans, Cretto di Burri and Poggioreale and Selinunte), busses/andor cable car (to Erice and Segesta) and ferry (to Favignana). There are beaches in the Egadi Islands which were accessible on the ferry, but we didn’t visit any. (If you go, ask around at the ferry offices on the waterfront; there are several companies that specialize in the beach destinations.) San Vito lo Capo reportedly has some of the loveliest beaches in western Sicily, and I know you can get there by bus, but I’m not sure how complicated that is. It seemed like a lot of work on the day we were thinking of visiting, but I think that might have been on a weekend. Anyway, we decided against it in the end, as we’re not super beach-people. While Mazara del Vallo was pleasant enough, I certainly didn’t find it to be a highlight of our time in SW Sicily. I think I was overly optimistic regarding its casbah, because it can't hold a candle to Tunis and elsewhere. We were there on a weekday for lunch and had a hard time finding an open restaurant. However, do see the Dancing Satyr if you’re in Mazara del Vallo. It was the highlight of our day there. Overall, we were very happy with our base in Trapani. It is a pleasant little town with enough to keep you busy easily for a day or two. Transportation to everywhere else we visited was easy, the restaurants in town were pretty good, and our Airbnb was great.

Edit: There are ferries, not hydrofoils, from Trapani. The hydrofoils depart from Marsala. In Favignana, there is one small, sandy beach an easy walk from the dock. Not enough to make a 3 day vacation out of for sure (although other spots on the island are), but if you are doing a one-day beach thing, especially with little kids, this is pretty easy.

We need more information. What do you like to do? Sounds like you want to see the beach. When is the vacay? What else pulls you to SW Sicily? What do you mean by SW Sicily?

If SW, I’d argue for Agrigento for beaches and the Valley of the Temples and connections, if you’re married to SW Sicily. If you’re open to other places on the island and only have 3 days, I’d argue for Palermo (NW) or Siracusa (SE).

Palermo is a bigger city with lots or architecture, street food. Mix of a lot of different cultural influences including Norman, Arabic, etc. Near beaches. A bit crazy, in a good way.

Siracusa is a former Greek power. Baroque architecture. Calmer.

Both near beaches, but a little to get there.

Thanks to everyone who tried to make my trip easy. What I summed up, that what I love all of it can’t me rushed. I m keeping all the advise and guidelines and when we will be back next year for 2 weeks will be able to see all with ease and properly. I made a trip to Palarmo instead last minute and loved it. Ciao.