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Route · 7 days · one-wayYacht charter route · Sicily

Palermo via Long.

Round-trip from Palermo: seven days to Mondello, Cefalù and the Aeolian volcanoes of Lipari, Salina and Vulcano, then home along the Sicilian coast.

The route

Day-by-day route

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Mondello
Day 1

Palermo → Mondello

An easy eight-mile warm-up north to Mondello, the sandy bay under Monte Pellegrino where Palermitani swim on summer weekends.

Distance

5 NM

Sailing

~1h at 5 kn

At a glance

Route at a glance

Best season

April – mid-October (peak May – Sep)

Duration

7 days

Departure

Palermo

Sailing area

Sicily

Route summary

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The full story

Day-by-day journey

Named anchorages, mooring notes and things to do for every leg of the week — the map follows along as you scroll.

Day 1 / 7
Mondello
1
Day 1

Palermo → Mondello

Most crews use the first afternoon to shake the boat down rather than cover ground, and eight miles suits that fine. We usually slip out of Marina Cala after the handover, round the headland below Monte Pellegrino, and have the anchor down off Mondello inside a couple of hours. The bay is a shallow scoop of sand, pale green water over four to six metres, well tucked from any northerly. Ashore, the old bathing pier sits on stilts above the shallows, a leftover from the town's early-1900s heyday. Swim, sort the fridge, learn where everything lives on board. If you want a proper first dinner, the fritto misto and pasta con le sarde in the village hold up. Those keen on a walk can climb the switchbacks up Pellegrino for the view back over the Conca d'Oro.

Things to do

Drop the hook and swim off Mondello

Stroll the stilted Liberty-era bathing pier

Climb Monte Pellegrino for the Conca d'Oro view

Try pasta con le sarde in the village

Mooring tip

The little marina at Mondello takes yachts stern-to for roughly €60–90 a night and shelters you from the north; otherwise drop the hook on sand in four to six metres and run back to Marina Cala for a secure overnight.

Cefalù
2
Day 2

Mondello → Cefalù

Worth leaving by nine to make the miles comfortable before the afternoon sea breeze gets up. The coast east of Palermo runs low and built-up for a while, then the ground rises and Cefalù announces itself: a wall of medieval stone under the great crag of La Rocca. The marina takes you stern-to and sits well sheltered from the north, a short walk from the old town. The twin-towered cathedral is the reason to come ashore, its 1130s apse mosaics among the finest Byzantine work in Sicily. Later, climb the stepped path up La Rocca to the ruined castle and the so-called Temple of Diana; the light softens after five and the view down onto the tiled roofs and the beach earns the sweat. Eat where the lanes meet the water and order the local anchovies.

Things to do

See the 12th-century cathedral's Byzantine mosaics

Climb La Rocca to the Temple of Diana

Swim the marble pebbles at Mazzaforno

Sunset drinks on the Bastione waterfront

Mooring tip

Marina di Cefalù puts you stern-to for around €80–120 at peak and keeps you out of the northerly swell; book ahead in July and August. In settled weather you can anchor off the bay in five to seven metres of sand instead.

Lipari
3
Day 3

Cefalù → Lipari

This is the day that commits you to the islands, so treat it as a passage: full fuel and water, an early start, watches set. Thirty-eight miles of open Tyrrhenian usually means motoring through a glassy morning and sailing the back half once the breeze fills. Stromboli's plume shows itself long before Lipari does. Come in to Marina Lunga at the town and top up at the fuel berth by the entrance before you take a berth. Once you're settled, the standout swim is up the north coast at the old pumice quarries, where white spoil slopes run straight into pale turquoise shallows. Back in town, the archaeological museum in the castle is genuinely first-rate on Aeolian prehistory. Finish with a plate of fried squid and a glass of Malvasia down on little Marina Corta as the ferries come and go.

Things to do

Swim the white pumice quarries on the north coast

Tour the Aeolian archaeology museum in the castle

Wander the cathedral lanes above Marina Corta

Fried totani and Malvasia at Marina Corta

Mooring tip

Marina Lunga berths you stern-to at roughly €70–120 in peak season; call the fuel berth at the harbour mouth and refuel on the way in, since space tightens fast on August evenings.

Salina
4
Day 4

Lipari → Salina

After the long haul, a gentle one. Salina lies six miles off, close enough that there's no rush to leave; we tend to swim first and cross late morning. It's the wettest and greenest of the group, two old volcanoes side by side, and the only island here with springs enough for real farming. Tie up at Santa Marina on the east side, well protected from the north. The set-piece walk is Monte Fossa delle Felci, 962 metres and the highest point in the Aeolians, four hours up through fern and chestnut to a rim view over the whole archipelago. If that's too much in the heat, taxi over to Pollara, the drowned crater where they filmed Il Postino, and swim beneath the cliffs. Whatever you do, join the queue at Da Alfredo on the front for a mulberry granita. The capers and Malvasia here are the real thing.

Things to do

Mulberry granita at Da Alfredo on the quay

Hike Monte Fossa delle Felci, 962 metres

Taste Malvasia and capers at Hauner

Swim the Pollara crater from Il Postino

Mooring tip

Santa Marina Salina takes you stern-to for about €60–100 a night and is snug in northerlies; if the harbour's full or you want quiet, Rinella on the south coast is the fallback.

Vulcano
5
Day 5

Salina → Vulcano

Twelve miles down the chain, mostly sheltered behind Lipari, so an easy sail if the afternoon westerly obliges. Hold close along Lipari's east side past the pale pumice above Canneto, then come through the Bocche di Vulcano into Porto di Levante. You'll smell the island before you tie up. Get ashore early for the Gran Cratere: the path starts just south of the port and climbs 391 metres in under an hour to a rim that looks straight down into the crater and out across every island in the group. It's the best short walk in the Aeolians, but the summit closes when gas readings spike, so ask before you set off and carry water. Down at sea level the fumarole-warmed shallows by the beach stay bath-warm, and the mud pools by the harbour open some seasons and not others. Cross the neck of the island on foot for sunset at the black sand of Sabbie Nere.

Things to do

Climb the Gran Cratere rim at first light

Soak the fumarole-warmed shallows by the beach

Ask if the harbour mud pools are open

Walk to Sabbie Nere black sand for sunset

Mooring tip

Levante runs on local buoy moorings, so phone the concession ahead in high summer and reckon on a steady stream of ferry and hydrofoil wash. Prefer the hook? The black sand at Porto di Ponente grips nicely in three to eight metres, though it sits wide open to any northwesterly.

Cefalù
6
Day 6

Vulcano → Cefalù

The longest single hop of the week, and it pays to be off the mooring by six with coffee made in the dark. Clear the Bocche di Vulcano and steer roughly 240 degrees for the Sicilian coast. Mornings out here usually start dead calm and you'll motor, but the northwesterly often fills after lunch and hands you the last hours under sail. It's the loneliest water of the trip; keep an eye astern for the hydrofoils funnelling into Milazzo and run proper watches so nobody's fried by arrival. La Rocca, the 268-metre pillar behind Cefalù, lifts over the horizon a long way out and guides you in. Berth at Porto Presidiana on the east flank of the headland, then walk ten minutes into the old town. Save enough energy for the climb up La Rocca in the last of the light, and a long dinner in the lanes off Via Vittorio Emanuele afterwards.

Things to do

Take the Salita Saraceni steps up La Rocca

Track down the rock-cut Lavatoio washhouse

Study the Christ Pantocrator mosaic in the Duomo

Cool off at the old-town beach at dusk

Mooring tip

Reserve Porto Presidiana, the harbour on the northeast side of La Rocca; season transit space is tight, with three to five metres inside. In calm weather the old-town beach anchorage on sand works too, though it turns unworkable the moment a northwest swell rolls in.

Palermo
7
Day 7

Cefalù → Palermo

No need to bolt out of Cefalù before breakfast; the run home is 36 miles and usually a soft morning motor-sail. Stay a mile off the beach, tick off Capo Plaia and the loading cranes at Termini Imerese, and line up a final swim under the limestone of Capo Zafferano. The little bay at Sant'Elia, the fishing hamlet on the cape's east side, does nicely for lunch and one last dip. Round into the Gulf of Palermo and Monte Pellegrino fills the view again, the city gathered at its foot. Get lines, fuel and the inventory squared away first, because Friday is when the whole fleet troops back and the fuel quay backs up. Then go ashore: Ballarò market in the Albergheria runs into the evening, so eat panelle and sfincione on your feet before a last look at the Quattro Canti and the cathedral.

Things to do

Swim beneath Capo Zafferano off Sant'Elia

Eat panelle and sfincione at Ballarò market

Cross the Quattro Canti to Palermo's cathedral

Refuel and run the inventory before handover

Mooring tip

Villa Igiea and the Cala both handle the returning fleet; check which berth the base has assigned you the day before, then med-moor on lazy lines in four to six metres. Hit the fuel quay early on Friday, because it clogs up as everyone comes home at once.

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