5-Day Self-Drive Family Trip to Sicily's Aeolian Islands

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This morning visit one of the most astounding examples of Byzantine Norman architecture, the Cathedral of Cefalù, a UNESCO World Heritage. It's a 1.5-hour self-drive to Milazzo and a short boat ride to Lipari. Visit the museum to learn all about the history of the islands. The museum complex is located on the enormous rhyolitic rock of the Castello of Lipari, an imposing dome of volcanic formation with characteristics of natural defence.

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Continue your Aeolian Islands itinerary in Lipari. This is the largest, busiest and most accessible of the Aeolian Islands, a little port with a pretty, pastel-coloured seafront. Like its island neighbours, Lipari has volcanic origins. There is a panoramic headland walk from Lipari town. Take a boat trip to visit Panarea and Stromboli and admire the explosions of the volcano by night.

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Explore the island of Vulcano, relax at the beach, try the mud baths and hike to the crater. The warm mud is considered an excellent treatment for rheumatic pains and skin diseases, and rolling around in it can be fun or recline in the dozens of submarine fumaroles which emit steam at high pressure, obtaining the beneficial effect of a hydromassage. From Vulcano harbour, climb the crater on a 3-hour hike. It's visibly smoking crater and acrid sulphurous fumes make a great first impression.