Italy / Sicily
Eraclea Minoa
Eraclea Minoa is a sandy beach facing west-south-west, 7.2 km west of Montallegro (Sicily, Italy). The sea averages 25.0 °C in August, its warmest month, and 14.7 °C in February; it is 21 °C or warmer in July–October.
Average sea surface temperature by month. Current month outlined.
Month by month
October at Eraclea Minoa
Beach-day index 7.5/10 · Italy median 6.5
| Measure | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sea °C | 15.3 °C | 14.7 °C | 14.8 °C | 15.6 °C | 17.7 °C | 20.9 °C | 23.5 °C | 25.0 °C | 24.0 °C | 22.0 °C | 19.4 °C | 16.6 °C |
| High °C | 12° | 12° | 15° | 18° | 23° | 29° | 33° | 33° | 27° | 23° | 17° | 13° |
| Low °C | 5° | 4° | 6° | 8° | 12° | 16° | 19° | 20° | 17° | 13° | 10° | 6° |
| Rain mm | 92 | 78 | 72 | 50 | 23 | 19 | 7 | 12 | 53 | 84 | 90 | 88 |
| Cloud % | 64 | 63 | 60 | 55 | 45 | 29 | 17 | 19 | 40 | 48 | 58 | 61 |
| Wind m/s | 4.4 | 4.5 | 4.4 | 4.0 | 3.8 | 3.3 | 3.3 | 3.2 | 3.4 | 3.5 | 4.1 | 4.4 |
| Daylight h | 9.9 | 10.8 | 11.9 | 13.1 | 14.2 | 14.7 | 14.5 | 13.7 | 12.5 | 11.3 | 10.2 | 9.6 |
| Record high/low | 21°/-2° | 20°/-2° | 25°/-1° | 28°/2° | 34°/6° | 40°/9° | 40°/13° | 42°/15° | 38°/12° | 32°/7° | 25°/3° | 20°/-1° |
| Beach index | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.8 | 3.9 | 6.9 | 8.9 | 8.9 | 8.9 | 9.2 | 7.5 | 4.2 | 3.1 |
Long-term monthly averages: air from NASA POWER (2001–2020), sea from NOAA OISST (1991–2020); records are the extremes of 2001–2020. How the index works.
When to go
The beach-day index peaks in June–September; September scores 9.2/10 with highs of 27 °C, sea at 24.0 °C and 53 mm of rain.
In September that is 0.3 points above the median of the 925 beaches in Italy covered by this atlas.
At its warmest the water here is 0.8 °C cooler than the Italy median for August (25.8 °C).
Across the year the sea averages 19.1 °C, warmer than 55% of the coastal beaches in the atlas.
January is the wettest month (92 mm) and July the driest (7 mm); the yearly total is about 670 mm.
Daylight runs from 9.6 hours in December to 14.7 hours in June; in mid-September the sun rises at 06:47 and sets at 19:16 local time.
Orientation, sun and shore
The shore faces west-south-west (245°). Open water fills about 44% of the horizon close by, which makes it an open stretch of shore.
The sun sets over the sea in every month; in mid-June it goes down at 20:28 local time on a bearing of 301°.
Straight out to the west-south-west the next coast is roughly 200 km away, so waves are mostly wind-driven sea rather than ocean swell. The beach is on an island of about 25,639 km².
About 1 km offshore the sea is roughly 7 m deep and 25 m at 3 km, a shallow, gently shelving sea floor. Behind the beach the ground is about 13 m above sea level 500 m inland and 13 m at 1.5 km, a flat coastal plain.
Within 1 km, the land is 58% grassland, 29% tree cover and 6% bare ground, sand or rock (satellite land-cover map, 2021): a largely natural setting. Water makes up 51% of that circle.
- Grass 58%
- Tree 29%
- Bare 6%
- Crop 4%
- Wetland 3%
Land cover: ESA WorldCover 2021 (10 m). Orientation from OpenStreetMap land polygons sampled in 36 directions; depths and heights from the GEBCO 2020 grid (about 450 m cells), indicative only.
Bathing water quality
The official EU bathing-water site “Foce Fiume Platani”, 380 m from the beach centre, was rated Excellent for the 2025 season. It was Excellent in 11 of its 11 classified seasons since 2015.
- 2015Excellent
- 2016Excellent
- 2017Excellent
- 2018Excellent
- 2019Excellent
- 2020Excellent
- 2021Excellent
- 2022Excellent
- 2023Excellent
- 2024Excellent
- 2025Excellent
Source: European Environment Agency, EU Bathing Water Directive assessments · national site profile. Classes are based on four seasons of bacteriological sampling.
OpenStreetMap marks nudism here as “yes”.
From above
Facilities within 1 km
- –Restaurants, cafés & bars
- –Public toilets
- –Showers
- –Car parks
- –Lifeguard stations
- 4Viewpoints
Counted within 1 km of the beach (bus stops 1.5 km) from OpenStreetMap features and Overture Maps places, release of 2026-10. Unmapped does not mean absent.
Nearest services
The nearest place to eat or drink is 1.4 km east (Mithos Beach), the nearest grocery shop is 5.3 km north (Parlapiano Fruit SRL), the nearest fuel station is 4.7 km north (giardinello carburanti) and the nearest pharmacy or clinic is 10.6 km north (Farmacia Arico).
| Service | Nearest mapped | Distance | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Food and drink | Mithos Beach | 1.4 km | east |
| Groceries | Parlapiano Fruit SRL | 5.3 km | north |
| Accommodation | Eraclea Minoa Mare | 1.4 km | east |
| Pharmacy or clinic | Farmacia Arico | 10.6 km | north |
| Fuel station | giardinello carburanti | 4.7 km | north |
| Car park | — | 1.2 km | east |
| Public toilets | — | 1.1 km | east |
| Bus stop | Ribera, Rifornimento TotalErg SS386 | 10.6 km | north |
Straight-line distance to the nearest feature within 20 km, from OpenStreetMap and Overture Maps places. A category is missing when nothing is mapped within 20 km.
Around the beach
Nature
- Riserva Naturale Foce Fiume Platani nature reserve 900 m N
Getting there
| Airport | Code | Distance | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Falcone–Borsellino Airport Palermo | PMO | 88.1 km | north |
| Vincenzo Florio Airport Trapani-Birgi Trapani (TP) | TPS | 89.5 km | north-west |
| Comiso Airport Comiso | CIY | 127 km | east |
Straight-line distances from the beach; road distance is usually 20–40% longer.
1 town or village of 1,000+ people lie within 10 km (about 2.3K residents); within 30 km there are 23 (about 169.6K).
Map
Loading map…
Data on this page
- Air temperature, rain, cloud, wind, humidity: NASA POWER climatology 2001–2020, 0.5° grid.
- Sea temperature: NOAA OISST v2.1 monthly normals 1991–2020, nearest ocean cell 9.6 km away.
- Beach outline, surface, rules and public facilities: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), feature n12128676800; restaurants, cafés, bars and lodging: Overture Maps places (CDLA-Permissive-2.0).
- Towns and time zone: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Airports: OurAirports (public domain). Sunrise and sunset: NOAA solar equations.
- Photos: Wikimedia Commons, author and licence under each image.
- Satellite view: Copernicus Sentinel-2 (ESA), scene S2B_33SUB_20230621_0_L2A.
- Orientation: OpenStreetMap land polygons (ODbL). Depth and terrain: GEBCO 2020 grid.
- Bathing-water quality: European Environment Agency (site IT019084014004).
- Settlements: GeoNames places with 1,000+ inhabitants.
- Nearest services: OpenStreetMap and Overture Maps places within 20 km.
- Land cover: ESA WorldCover 2021, 10 m (CC BY 4.0).
- Search popularity: about 590 Google searches a month for the name (KeywordTool, October 2026).
Data compiled 2026-10-13. Something wrong? Report a data error.