Hi folks,
This will be our second trip to the magical island of Sicily. We usually rent a car and stay in a different agritorismo or hotel every 3-4 days.
I was thinking of hopping over to one of the Aeolian Islands for a few days. Has anyone experience with visiting the islands and do you have recommendations? I suppose I’d have to leave our rental vehicle in Sicily while taking a ferry.
Thanks
We visited Lipari in 2018 and loved it. We stayed at Residence Acanto, in a huge sunny apartment with a wonderful host, Guiseppe. Lipari has two harbors: Marina Lunga (for large ferries) and Marina Corte (for small boats). The two main streets that connect these harbors
meet at the top of the hill near Residence Acanto, so it’s a great location.
The town center is packed with great restaurants, shops and gelaterias. My husband got a haircut there. Loved wandering around.
And there are boat tours to the other islands. We took one to Stromboli not knowing that the principal activity is hiking up to the volcano, which we passed on. The boat stays til after dark so you can see the eruptions (at the time, they happened every 20 minutes & lasted 10 seconds).
We had 4 nights in Lipari and wished we had longer!
though the last time was in 2006 i have been to stromboli many times and it is one of my favorite places in the world. i am part of an fb stromboli group and see regular news and updates about the island. seems for the most part it hasn't changed much. great place to have a quiet, relaxed break. july-august is the busiest time with the population swelling to 4-5 times the normal of around 400. you can go to stromboli by hydrofoil from milazzo or messina. don't know if there is service from anywhere else in sicily. you can also take an overnight ferry from napoli. the boat makes a stop at all the aeolian islands, i believe. the volcano is the top attraction with hikes at night. you have to go with one of the authorized guides. they provided the boots, hard hat plus lamp and stick. it is somewhat strenuous but not difficult. you have to ask the guide service and decide. the eruptions are spectacular and happen with a regularity that you are bound to see a few. other than that the real charm for me was the village itself. narrow streets, no cars, and whitewashed houses with colorful doors and windows. the asymmetric architecture and the caper-shaped chimneys are a photographer's dream. the one restaurant i have to recommend is punta lena. try the pasta alla strombolana or as it says now in the menu, pasta stefano. there are several hotels in different price ranges and i am sure you will find airbnb listings. back in the day, private homes were available by word of mouth. the only other island i visited was vulcano in 2021. it was a day trip from milazzo and basically went there to climb to the rim of the dormant volcano. no guide is necessary here and it is fairly easy. The views are otherworldly with 'sulpher steam' still coming out of the ground. don't know about hotels and restaurants. hope this helps.
