Which Panarea and Stromboli Boat Tour Should You Book?

Comparison card: Navisal from Milazzo, from $57, rated 4.4, large motorship, against Tornado from Lipari, from $86, rated 4.6, small speedboat

Why the Navisal cruise suits most visitors in Sicily

If you are staying on the Sicilian side, Milazzo is where the boats leave, and the Navisal cruise gets the basics right at the lowest boat-tour price on this site: two proper landings, more than two hours on Stromboli, a stop off the Sciara at sunset and a return the same evening.

Its weaknesses are real. The rating is 4.4 from 1,026 reviews, which is solid for a big boat in this niche but below the small-boat trips. It is a large motorship, so you share the deck with a crowd, and commentary is a recorded audio track in Italian, English, French and German. The Sciara stop is short, and the landing tax is paid separately at the Navisal office.

If a crowd would spoil the day for you, base yourself on Lipari for a night and take a small boat. If you can live with it, the Navisal day is good value.

The “by day” trap from Tropea

Two Tropea listings look like Stromboli trips but do not land there. The Savadori Vulcano, Lipari and Sciara del Fuoco by day ($68, 4.4 · 162) lands on Vulcano and Lipari and gives the Sciara a 15-minute photo stop from the boat. The Tripodi Vulcano, Lipari and Stromboli by day ($71, 4.1 · 582) also lands on Vulcano and Lipari, then spends about 30 minutes on scenic views off Stromboli. Neither stops on Stromboli, and both pass the volcano in daylight.

The Savadori Vulcano, Lipari and Stromboli day trip does land on Stromboli, but only for about 75 minutes, and it sails past Panarea without stopping. It is back in Tropea at about 19:00, before dark. If you came for the glow of the volcano at night, book one of the “by night” trips instead. Our Stromboli by night page explains the difference.

The tours side by side

Every boat tour on this site follows the same basic shape. You land on Panarea at San Pietro, land again on Stromboli at Scari, and then the boat holds off the Sciara del Fuoco, the scar on the volcano’s north-west flank, as the light goes. What changes from tour to tour is the port, how long you get ashore, how late you get back and how many people share the deck.

Tour	Port	Islands landed	Time on Stromboli	Back in port	Boat	From	Rating · reviews
Navisal cruise excursion	Milazzo	Panarea, Stromboli	about 2¼–2½ h	about 21:30–22:30	large motorship	$57	4.4 · 1,026
Tarnav boat trip by night	Milazzo	Panarea, Stromboli	about 2¼–2½ h	20:00–20:30 from 1 Oct	large motorship	$63	4.2 · 2,138
SAT chic day tour	Taormina (coach to Milazzo)	Panarea, Stromboli	about 2½ h	Taormina around midnight	large shared boat	$125	4.3 · 523
Noema Aeolian Islands day	Cefalù area (coach to Milazzo)	Panarea, Stromboli	about 2½ h	around midnight	large shared motorboat	$108	4.7 · 28
Tornado small-group boat tour	Lipari	Panarea, Stromboli	about 2 h	21:00–22:00	small speedboat	$86	4.6 · 156
Arianna trip with snorkelling	Lipari	Panarea, Stromboli	fairly short (not stated)	after dark (not stated)	small boat	$68	4.7 · 47
Empeeria cruise with stops	Lipari	Panarea, Stromboli	about 1½ h	7½–8 h day	large group	$76	4.4 · 352
Empeeria three-island cruise	Lipari	Vulcano, Panarea, Stromboli	about 1½ h	11–12 h day	not stated	$92	4.5 · 257
Regina Eolie full-day trip	Lipari	Panarea, Stromboli	longer than Panarea (not stated)	about 8 h day	not stated	$74	4.2 · 217
Tornado small group from Vulcano	Vulcano	Panarea, Stromboli	about 2 h	21:00–22:00	small speedboat	$100	5.0 · 3
Tripodi Panarea and Stromboli at night	Tropea	Panarea, Stromboli	about 2½ h	about 22:15	motorboat	$74	4.4 · 190
Savadori Lipari, Panarea and Stromboli	Tropea	Lipari, Panarea, Stromboli	about 1h40	about 22:30	large tour boat	$76	4.5 · 764
Tripodi three islands by night	Tropea	Lipari, Panarea, Stromboli	about 1½ h	about 22:15	not stated	$74	4.1 · 677
Comerci night cruise	Tropea or Vibo Marina	Lipari, Panarea, Stromboli	about 3 h	about 22:30 (Tropea)	boat with snack bar	$79	4.2 · 408
Savadori Stromboli by night	Tropea	Stromboli only	about 3–4 h	22:30–23:00	boat with bar	$68	4.4 · 255
Comerci Stromboli by night	Tropea	Stromboli only	close to 4 h	around 22:00	not stated	$79	4.3 · 50
Savadori Vulcano, Lipari and Stromboli day trip	Tropea or Vibo Marina	Vulcano, Lipari, Stromboli	about 75 min	about 19:00 (no dusk stop)	busy boat	$76	4.6 · 460

All prices are per person and come from the listings. “Not stated” means the operator does not publish it, so ask before you book if it matters to you.

Two things stand out in that table. Most of the big-boat tours with hundreds of reviews rate between 4.1 and 4.5, while the higher scores sit with small boats or listings that have few reviews. Noema’s 4.7 rests on 28 reviews, Arianna’s 4.7 on 47 and the Tornado trip from Vulcano on only 3, so treat those numbers as early signals. The second point is that time on Stromboli varies from about 75 minutes to close to four hours. If you want a sit-down dinner in the village and a swim off the black beach, look for two hours or more.

Which tour fits where you are staying

Staying in Milazzo or elsewhere on the Sicilian mainland

Book the Navisal Panarea and Stromboli cruise (our breakdown). At $57 it has the lowest from-price of the boat tours on this site, it gives you about two hours on Panarea and two and a quarter to two and a half hours on Stromboli, and it is back in Milazzo between about 21:30 and 22:30. From 15 September boarding is at 10:45 for an 11:15 departure. Navisal sells the same sailing under other names too, so don’t book it twice by accident.

The alternative is the Tarnav boat trip by night (our breakdown), the most-reviewed tour on this site with 2,138 reviews and a 4.2 rating. It costs $63 but includes the landing tax, and it plans about 30 minutes off the Sciara. From 1 October it is back at 20:00 to 20:30. More on the Milazzo options in our Milazzo departures page.

Staying on Lipari

Take the Tornado small-group boat tour (our breakdown). It leaves Marina Corta shortly before 11:30, has four swim stops including Cala Junco, gives about two hours on each island and is rated 4.6 from 156 reviews. Commentary is in Italian, English and French, partly as a recording. If price matters more, the Arianna snorkelling trip costs $68. The Empeeria boats give you less time ashore, carry larger groups and run commentary mainly in Italian. See all the Lipari departures.

Staying on Vulcano

The Tornado trip from Vulcano runs the same day as the Lipari boat from Porto di Levante, so you skip the evening ferry. It has only 3 reviews so far.

Staying in Calabria

Book the Tripodi Panarea and Stromboli at night trip (our breakdown) if you want both islands with time to spare: about two and a half hours on each, a 30-minute Sciara stop, back about 22:15. If Stromboli is all you care about, the Savadori Stromboli by night trip leaves at 2pm and gives three to four hours ashore. More in our Tropea guide.

Staying in Taormina

The SAT day tour from Taormina (our breakdown) adds a coach of about an hour and a half each way to Milazzo, a tour leader and a midnight return, for $125. If you have a car, Milazzo is about 1h06 away by road and the Navisal cruise costs less than half that, but you then drive back late at night. Our Taormina page weighs both.

Want a small boat

Choose Tornado from Lipari or Vulcano, or Arianna from Lipari. The Milazzo, Taormina and Cefalù departures use large shared boats, and the Tropea listings either describe a large boat or don’t state the size.

Want to hike

No boat day trip here includes a hike, and two hours ashore is too short for one. Book a guided sunset hike such as the Ashàra sunset trekking (our breakdown), $34 and rated 4.7 from 1,697 reviews, and sleep on Stromboli. As of the May 2025 ordinance, you may walk alone up to 290 m and with an authorised guide up to 400 m; the summit has been closed since the 3 July 2019 paroxysm. See our volcano hike page.

Know before you book

The Aeolian landing tax is currently €5 in summer and €2.50 out of season. Tarnav includes it; Navisal and most Tropea operators collect it at check-in, often in cash.
Every boat must stay 2 nautical miles off the Sciara del Fuoco coast, so you watch from a distance. Binoculars help.
Explosions are never guaranteed. Activity varies week to week, some evenings show only glow and noise, and the Sciara stop is cancelled in rough sea.
Sunset on Stromboli moves from 18:45 at the end of September to 18:23 by mid-October, so autumn stops are darker.
Food is not included on any of these boats. Plan lunch on Panarea and an early dinner on Stromboli.
Bring a warm layer for the crossing home and cash for the islands.
Commentary language varies: check the listing if you need English.

Frequently asked questions

Which Panarea and Stromboli tour is cheapest?

The Navisal cruise from Milazzo starts from $57 per person, the lowest from-price of the boat tours on this site. The landing tax is extra and paid at the Navisal office.

Which tour has the most reviews?

The Tarnav boat trip by night from Milazzo, with 2,138 reviews and a 4.2 rating. It includes the landing tax.

Is there a small-group tour?

Yes. Tornado runs a small-group speedboat from Lipari (4.6 · 156 reviews) and from Vulcano. Arianna also uses a small boat from Lipari.

Do the Tropea “by day” tours land on Stromboli?

The Savadori and Tripodi “Vulcano, Lipari … by day” trips do not land on Stromboli. The Savadori day trip lands for about 75 minutes but has no dusk stop.

Can I climb Stromboli on a boat tour?

No. As of the May 2025 ordinance, guided groups may go up to 400 m and the summit is closed. Hikes start in the village around sunset, so you need to stay overnight.

Ready to choose? Check dates for the Tornado small-group boat tour from Lipari, or compare the Milazzo departures, whether a ferry makes more sense and what to expect on the day.

Which Panarea and Stromboli boat tour is right for you?