Ferries from Lipari

People have been shipping things out of this harbour for about seven thousand years. Lipari's obsidian was traded across the western Mediterranean in the Neolithic, and the island was still exporting pumice from quarries north of the town until 2007. The ferry terminal is the current use of a port that has always had one.

The archipelago's own network

Lipari is where the Aeolian islands connect to each other rather than to Sicily. From our timetable: Vulcano with 19 sailings at about 10 minutes — the most frequent crossing in the archipelago — and Salina with 18 at roughly an hour.

Fifty active sailings in total. Which of the island's two harbours each uses, and why it matters if you have a car, is on the Lipari guide.

The pumice quarries

The white scars on the northeastern coast above Canneto are the old workings. Pumice extraction ran until 2007, when it stopped on environmental and heritage grounds, and the loading chutes still run down to the water.

They are visible from the boats going north and are the clearest evidence that this was an industrial island long before it was a holiday one.

⚠ Two harbours, and the swell decides

Marina Corta below the castle and Marina Lunga to the north are both in use, and hydrofoils are moved between them when conditions in one make berthing difficult.

That is a same-day decision rather than a fixed timetable. Check the quay when you arrive to board rather than assuming the one you landed at.

Arriving

The town rises around the citadel rock, with the archaeological museum inside the walls — a genuinely serious collection covering the obsidian trade, the Greek and Roman periods and the wrecks around the islands.

Everything is walkable from either harbour, and the two are a few minutes apart on foot.

Season

Vulcano and Salina run year round because people live on them. The wider network and the Naples services belong to roughly May through September, and August fills every hydrofoil seat in the archipelago.