Malta, Sicily and Salina

Seven nights that move north by sea, from the Maltese archipelago to Sicily and on to the Aeolian Islands. The thread is the Mediterranean itself: Phoenician coasts, Greek and Roman remains, and volcanoes that are still alive.

Length: Seven nights
Pace: Three stays
Style: Walled cities, volcanoes, vineyards, islands
Route: Mdina, Malta to Mount Etna, Sicily to Salina, the Aeolian Islands

Mdina, MaltaTwo nights
Mount Etna, SicilyTwo nights
Salina, the Aeolian IslandsThree nights

Mdina seen from the air. — Photo: Karl Paul Baldacchino / Unsplash

Days 1 to 3 · two nights

Mdina, Malta

The journey opens in Mdina, the walled hill city at the centre of Malta. There is time for Palazzo Falson, the medieval house of the artist and collector Olof Gollcher, still filled with his paintings, carpets and arms, and for the short ferry from Sliema across the harbour to Valletta, best taken as the light goes at dusk.

Where you stay

The Xara Palace

The Xara Palace is a 17th-century palazzo within the walls of Mdina, looking out over the Maltese countryside. It has 17 individually designed rooms and suites, and its restaurants include The de Mondion, The Medina Restaurant and Trattoria AD1530.

Snow on Mount Etna under a cloudy sky. — Photo: Giuseppe Famiani / Unsplash

Days 3 to 5 · two nights

Mount Etna, Sicily

A boat carries you from Malta to Sicily, and the road north to Etna passes the Greek and Roman remains of Syracuse and Ragusa Ibla, where La Chiesa del Purgatorio is one of the few buildings to have survived the earthquake of 1693. From the estate, the south face of Etna can be climbed from the Sapienza refuge, across craters and old lava, with a guide and only once the weather and the volcano allow. In summer there are concerts, opera and films in the Teatro Greco at Taormina, a theatre of the 3rd century BC that seats up to 10,000.

Where you stay

Monaci delle Terre Nere

Monaci delle Terre Nere is a wine estate on the lower slopes of Mount Etna at Zafferana Etnea, looking towards the volcano and the sea. It has 27 rooms and suites, including two freestanding two-bedroom villas, and its restaurant, Locanda Nerello, cooks mostly with produce from the estate's own farm. There is a seasonal outdoor pool, a library and a garden.

A grassy slope above the sea, looking out to neighbouring islands. — Photo: Lyle Wilkinson / Unsplash

Days 5 to 8 · three nights

Salina, the Aeolian Islands

The last crossing is by boat to Salina, where the hotel stands among vines outside the village of Malfa. The local Malvasia, a sweet amber wine, is tasted in the vineyard cellars of Malfa, and a day on Stromboli brings a climb up its slopes to Ginostra, the village tied to the film Stromboli.

Where you stay

Capofaro Resort

Capofaro sits on a small plateau above the sea between the lighthouse and the village of Malfa, surrounded by Malvasia vines and looking towards Panarea and Stromboli. Its 25 rooms are divided between the estate and the lighthouse, and there is a pool, a bar, an open-air gym, wellness treatments and yoga. The kitchen draws on the estate garden and the island's fishermen.

Ways to make it yours

This is a sample. The hotels, the pace and the order are where we start, not where we finish: every journey is designed around the people taking it.

Made around you

Most travel is bought. This is designed.

Before anything is booked, we talk: who is travelling, how you like to spend a morning, and the hotel preferences below the obvious, from the kind of bath you like to the time you wake and how much daylight you need in a room. You see options where options matter and clean recommendations where they don't.

The same person remains your point of contact from the first reply to the trip after next. No handovers. No team.