Sicily · Egadi archipelago
Yacht Charter Egadi Islands
Favignana, Levanzo and Marettimo from Trapani — the wildest islands Italy has, and the quietest.
The Egadi are the far west of Italy and they feel it. Three islands off Trapani, a marine reserve that is the largest in Europe, and a week that has more in common with North Africa than with the Tyrrhenian. If the Aeolians are the famous Sicilian week, these are the one people come back for.
Three islands, three different days
Favignana is the largest and the only one with a town. Its shape comes from the tufa quarries cut straight down into the sea — you swim in them now — and its history from the tonnara, the tuna trap that made the island rich and gave it the mattanza. Cala Rossa and Cala Azzurra are the anchorages everyone photographs, and they deserve it.
Levanzo is a single white village and one road. The reason to stop is the Grotta del Genovese, where Palaeolithic paintings of animals and dancing figures have been on the wall for eleven thousand years. It is reached on foot or by tender and it is booked, not wandered into.
Marettimo is the far one — nine hundred residents, no cars worth the name, and water rated among the best snorkelling in the world. There is a single harbour, a handful of restaurants, and nothing else at all. Most weeks end here because nothing follows it well.
Where the fleet actually is
Two yachts are based at Trapani, with seven more at Portorosa on the north coast that can be positioned west for your dates. It is a small western fleet and we would rather be plain about it than let you discover it after enquiring.
They are catamarans and sailing yachts, roughly twelve to twenty metres, crewed or with a skipper on request. There is no motor yacht based in western Sicily and no day-charter operation here. The Egadi are week water — for a day out with a tender and a bathing platform, the Amalfi Coast is where we run that.
The reserve is the point, not a restriction
The Area Marina Protetta delle Isole Egadi covers fifty-three thousand hectares and is zoned: some water is open, some is limited, and a little of it around Marettimo is closed to anchoring altogether. It is why the posidonia meadows are intact and why the fish are still there.
In practice it shapes where you spend the night rather than where you can go, and your skipper handles it. The islands are busy for perhaps three weeks of the year; either side of that you will share Cala Rossa with two boats instead of thirty.
Practical notes
- Base: Trapani, two yachts — seven more at Portorosa can be positioned west for your dates
- Favignana for the quarries and the tonnara, Levanzo for the cave paintings, Marettimo for the emptiness
- Trapani and Palermo airports both serve the base; Trapani is twenty minutes away
- Europe's largest marine reserve, zoned: anchoring is limited in places and your skipper will know where
- No motor yachts and no day charters in western Sicily — this is week water
Reached from: Trapani
Where to dine
A table by the water
La Bettola
FavignanaBluefin tuna at its peak — bottarga, lattume, tuna over the coals.
Egadi Restaurant
Favignana PortoCatch of the day, fresh pasta, views over the harbour Favignana is known for.
Il Pirata
Cala Dogana, LevanzoA harbour trattoria with essential island cooking — the smoked swordfish is a must.
Bar Aurora
MarettimoA historic bar on the island's only port — Sicilian granita and the morning catch.
Tramonto
MarettimoSunset dinner with just-landed fish — book well ahead in summer.
What to do
Anchorages & excursions
Grotta del Genovese, Levanzo
Palaeolithic carvings from 6,000 BC — guided visit only, sea access.
Cala Rossa, Favignana
Tufa quarries rising from turquoise — no beach; you enter straight from the sea.
Cala Bianca, Marettimo
An isolated pebble beach between white cliffs — snorkelling over Posidonia meadows.
Tuna Museum, Favignana
In the historic Florio fishery — the ethnography of the mattanza and the tuna industry.
Punta Troia snorkelling
An Arab-Norman castle on the headland plus lobster and moray on the seabed. Sea only.
The fleet
Yachts available for the Egadi Islands
Vessels that operate here, from flagship motor yachts to smaller crewed boats. Every rate is quoted on enquiry.
Itineraries
Yacht charter itineraries in the Egadi Islands
What a week here actually looks like, day by day.
Good to know
Questions we are asked about the Egadi Islands
- How do the Egadi compare with the Aeolian Islands?
- The Aeolians are volcanic, dramatic and busy in August; the Egadi are low, wild and empty. First visit to Sicily, take the Aeolians. Second visit, or if what you want is an anchorage to yourself, take the Egadi.
- Can we sail the Egadi and the Aeolians in the same week?
- Not well. They are at opposite ends of Sicily and the passage between them costs two days of a seven-day charter. A fortnight does both; a week does one of them properly.
- Are there motor yachts available in the Egadi?
- Not based there. The western Sicilian fleet is catamarans and sailing yachts, chosen for week-long charters. We would rather say so than position a boat that does not belong in this water.
- Does the marine reserve limit where we can go?
- It limits where you can anchor, in parts, and it is the reason the seabed is still worth swimming over. In practice it shapes the overnight stops rather than the route, and the crew deal with it.
- What does a charter in the Egadi cost?
- It depends on the yacht, the season and whether you take a crew, so we quote on enquiry rather than publish a figure that would be wrong for most enquiries. Send us your dates and party size.
Destinations
Nearby destinations
Charter here
Enquire about a charter in the Egadi Islands
Tell us your dates and how many of you there are, and we will come back with the right yacht and a full quotation.