A Guide to Visiting Selinunte Archaeological Park

Selinunte Archaeological Park Birra Dello Stretto

Would you believe that Sicily is home to some of the most impressive and well-preserved Greek ruins outside of Greece? Let me answer that question for you with this guide to visiting Selinunte Archaeological Park!

The south coast of Sicily is surprisingly home to not one but two of the most incredible Greek ruins you’ll ever see. The Ancient Greeks spread their civilization across the Mediterranean and, thankfully, the ruins of two of their colonies at both Selinunte and the Valley of the Temples in Agrigento have withstood the test of time. Both of these archaeological sites now contain some of the best preserved Greek temples outside of Athens.

Whilst the Valley of the Temples is the most popular, with many day trippers from the cruise ships visiting, I have to wonder whether this has been thanks to some clever marketing. Certainly the guides we spoke to might have though as much…

From what I’ve seen, the Valley of the Temples is beautiful and clearly a must-visit but I’m here to tell you all about Selinunte Archaeological Park; the largest archaeological park in Europe.

A GUIDE TO VISITING SELINUNTE ARCHAEOLOGICAL PARK

HISTORY

The ancient city of Selinunte dates back to approximately 628 BC and was one of the most important cities in Sicily, second only to Palermo. With importance came money and the Ancient Greeks used it wisely; to build no less than seven temples dedicated to Gods and Goddesses including Aphrodite and Zeus. One of the temples, Temple C dates back to around 560-550 BC!

At its peak, Selinunte would likely have been home to around 30,000 inhabitants before it was pretty much destroyed by the Carthaginians following their takeover in 409 BC. Unfortunately, it seems that the city was never rebuilt and lay in ruins pretty much as is seen today.

Two final interesting facts, before we look into what you can expect to find at the Selinunte Archaeological Park, are that firstly, Selinunte means ‘celery’ and recent archaeological work has found that the ancient world’s largest agora (sort of like a city square or open space) is right here – 33,000 square metres!

THE ‘EAST’ TEMPLES

Selinunte Archaeological Park is home to at least seven temples, within the 270 hectares, built in the Greek Doric Style though only one, Temple E, remains standing. The rest are in ruins of some form or another but, again, still rather impressive.

Upon entering the park, you’ll naturally wander up to the stunning Temple E with its ancient columns in almost perfect condition. However, a controversial decision meant that Temple E is actually a re-built version of the original. In its heyday, the temple would have been painted beautiful colours even though now what we see seems grand enough!

Behind Temple E lie the collapsed ruins of both Temple F and G, each more monumental than the last. Whilst Temple G was probably never completed, it would still been considered the fourth largest Doric temple in the Greek world (the 2nd largest in Sicily however!). What a view it would have been sailing towards Sicily with these temples towering over the cliffs. We were able to scramble over the ruined blocks and columns as part of our guided tour. Our guide stood next to one of the remaining upright columns that gave a great sense of scale; until we were told that actually the total height would likely have been around 30 metres. That is huge!

THE ACROPOLIS

A short land-train journey away from the East Temples is the Acropolis and the remains of a bustling Carthaginian city. There are the ruins of an additional four Greek temples here with palm trees effortlessly framing a row of columns of Temple C.

The East Temples were more impressive, probably quite obviously given the re-building of Temple E, but it was great to wander through the ancient streets of the city imagining what life might have been like all those thousands of years ago.

KEY INFORMATION

The Selinunte Archaeological Park can be accessed for just €6 per person and is best visited with a rental car; there’s a large car park on-site. It will take around an hour from Trapani and an hour and a half from Palermo. From Selinunte, you can reach Agrigento in just over an hour too.

If you’re relying on public transport, the best way to reach the park is to take a train from Trapani or Palermo to Castelvetrano which is then linked by bus. The bus takes in the region of 30 minutes and, from the drop off point, it’s only a short walk to the entrance. This sort of journey will take some prep work but you’ll find the current (November 2023) timetable for the Marinella di Selinute service here.

For those fancying a bit of a break along with some food and drink, look no further than Gelateria del Porto within the park itself. Expect stunning views along the coastline as well as refreshingly zingy granita (the lemon flavour helps in the sun!) and ice cold beer!