Panarea trip planner

The chic, celebrity resort hideaway amid the Aeolian Islands of Sicily

Where to stay on Panarea

Panarea is trendy, which means astronomical prices. Low season hotel rates more than double in August, but it's a splurge year-round.

For something cheaper than the Liscia Bianca below, try the Rodà (tel. +39-090-983-006). Otherwise, accept offers of rental rooms at the docks or wander around looking for signs. In July and especially August, though, the island tends to be fully booked well ahead of time, and unless you're on the morning's first ferry in, your chances of finding anything at the last minute are pretty grim.

Hotel Liscia Bianca
Panarea, Isole Eolie. tel. +39-090-983-004. Closed Nov-Feb. €€ » book
This hotel complex at the foot of the dock is thoughtfully laid out, with the restaurant and upstairs terrace bar overlooking the port and outlying islets, but the bungalow rooms set behind, back from the main road and ringing a pretty little garden. The accommodations are tooled to recall the Mediterranean peasant homes that characterized this island just 40 years ago—whitewashed walls, simply patterned tile floors, and plain, sturdy solid wood furnishings. The frilly wrought iron bed frames back firm mattresses on stiff boards, and each room is fronted by a ceramic-paved terrace covered by an arbor bursting with flowering vines. The baths are modern, the staff accommodating.

Where to dine on Panarea

If you can wiggle out of hotel pension plans, try the following:

Da Antonio il Macellaio
Via S. Pietro 20 (just along road toward Iditella). tel. +39-090-983-258. Open daily.
A butcher shop grown all out of proportion, with a proper restaurant out back—on two levels of open terrace with the oven in one corner—and a bit further down the hillside a large, open-air pizzeria on a stone deck shaded by a vast reed-mat roof. Islanders, especially the seasonal variety, flock here for what passes as a cheap meal on Panarea, so reserve ahead in August. Their dishes are standard Sicilian island fare, but well prepared: maccheroni alla norma, the pungent pennette all'eoliana (pasta quills with capers, olives, basil, and tomatoes), grilled fresh fish or agnello (lamb), involtini di pesce spada, or simple pollo (roast chicken).

Hike the road toward Idatella to find Da Paolino (tel. +39-081-837-6102), a family-run seafood spot on a cool second-story terrace overlooking the sea. The main course is whatever papa fished that morning, and mamma cooks it up along with heaping plates of spaghetti.

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