Panarea in two days
The island is small, but it does not run out in an afternoon. Here is how to split two days between village, coves, boat and volcano, without rushing.
The island is small, but it does not run out in an afternoon. Here is how to split two days between village, coves, boat and volcano, without rushing.
Off the hydrofoil, a coffee at the port and then south on foot: the road to Drautto runs between white villas and bougainvillea, with the islets always on your left. In twenty minutes you are at Cala degli Zimmari, the only sandy beach: first swim.
From Zimmari climb the headland: the huts of the prehistoric village are 3,500 years old and the view explains why someone chose to live here. Below, Cala Junco: the natural pool between columns of lava. Packed lunch, long swim.
Walk back to San Pietro in the low light and climb up to the terraces for an aperitivo while Dattilo and Lisca Bianca turn pink. It is the hour when the island tidies itself up for the evening.
Dinner in one of San Pietro's family-run restaurants, booking ahead in August. Those who are not done carry on at the Raya terrace; those who walked a lot head home under the stars. Street lights are few in Panarea and the Milky Way is really there.
Rent a boat at the port (no licence needed for the small gozzi) or set off with a skipper. The route is always the same: Dattilo, Lisca Bianca and Bottaro with their underwater fumaroles, where the sea really does bubble, and then Basiluzzo, the giant with sheer walls. Swims in water you cannot reach from land and, with luck, dolphins in the channel.
In the afternoon, if your legs allow, take the path to Ditella and La Calcara, the beach of the fumaroles. Or a siesta on the terrace. In the evening set off by boat again, northwards: a swim beneath Strombolicchio and then the Sciara del Fuoco in the dark, with the volcano's orange flashes seen from the sea. You get back late, and sleep very well.
With a single day, choose between land and sea. On land: the walk to Zimmari, the prehistoric village and Cala Junco, back in time for aperitivo. At sea: half a day by boat around the islets and the afternoon on the rocks of San Pietro. Either way, do not leave before sunset: it is when Panarea is at its best.
And if you have more than two days, the third is for Punta del Corvo, the island's summit: an hour's path between capers and Mediterranean scrub with all the Aeolian Islands around you, or a day trip to Salina or Lipari, half an hour away by sea.
Six houses and villas within a private seafront estate in Panarea, steps from everything in this guide.
See the houses