With new airports and improved transport links popping up Europe-wide to make travelling ever easier, it’s rare to find destinations truly off the beaten track. Enter: the Aeolian islands. Off the north east coast of Sicily, the group is made up of Lipari, Vulcano, Salina, Stromboli, Filicudi, Alicudi and Panarea, alongside a set of minor islands and rocks.

A long time favourite destination of adventurous Italians, they’re becoming ever more accessible to foreign tourists, despite the fact they’re not easy to reach. In fact, these sublime islands are only accessible by boat, making them far more effort to reach than the majority of Italian destinations. It’s rare to hear a single complaint about them from those who have visited, though. Instead, it’s widely agreed that the extra effort to get to them is absolutely worth it.