Favignana Snorkelling Tours

Every boat tour on this route lists snorkelling. Almost all of them provide masks. What separates them is how many times the anchor actually goes down, how long it stays down, and whether the hull can enter the two best spots at all.

The five places worth the mask

Cala Rossa, Favignana. The famous one, and it earns it: clear water over pale rock, good visibility, and enough fish that several operators describe it as the day’s best snorkel. Named for the sea reddened by blood during a Roman naval battle off the coast, or so the story goes. Every itinerary stops here.

Bue Marino, Favignana. A cliff face of cut tuff dropping into deep water, where the island’s old quarries meet the sea. The seabed falls away quickly, which makes it the best of the stops for anyone who wants depth rather than shallows. Needs a boat that can anchor close in — the large cruise vessels sail past.

Grotta degli Innamorati. The Lovers’ Cave, invisible from land, with two entrances. On the small-boat tours the skipper anchors outside, hands out gear, and you swim in. It is the stop guests write about most, and it is only available to shallow-draught boats.

Cala Azzurra, Favignana. Sandy-bottomed and shallower, named for the blue. The gentlest of the Favignana stops and the best one if you have children or nervous swimmers in the group.

Cala Minnola, Levanzo. The afternoon stop, under the Faraglione. Quieter than anything on Favignana because far fewer boats cross, and on the tours that reach it, often the best water of the day.

Which tours actually snorkel most

Egadi Discovery’s six-hour day from Favignana lists five swimming stops in six hours, and because it leaves from the island it spends none of that time crossing from the mainland. Rated 4.8 across 179 guests. It is the highest swim-time-per-hour ratio anywhere on this site.

The Egadi Boat Experience from Trapani is the best-rated snorkelling tour with real volume — 4.9 across 448 — and its signature stop is swimming into the Grotta degli Innamorati with gear supplied by the crew.

MeM boat’s RIB makes four dedicated snorkel stops on Favignana and carries a freshwater rinse shower, which after four salt-water stops is a genuine comfort. It is a newer listing with few reviews.

Egadi Charter’s RIB deploys a floating mat at the anchorages, so you can rest on the water between snorkels rather than climbing in and out.

Gear, and the one exception

Masks and snorkels are included on almost every tour here, along with life vests and floaties. They are loan gear: serviceable, not precision-fitted. If you care about seal and fit, bring your own mask — it packs small and it is the difference between a good snorkel and a leaking one.

The exception is the Trapani mini-yacht tour, which asks you to bring your own snorkelling gear. It is stated in the listing, and it is easy to miss.

If you are not a confident swimmer

Be clear-eyed about this: nearly every stop is entering open water from a boat. There is no wading in from a beach at Cala Rossa or Bue Marino. The sea is calm in high summer and life jackets and floaties are standard, but it is swimming, not paddling.

Tell the operator when you book — some list non-swimmers as unsuitable, and the good ones will position the boat and the floats accordingly. Cala Azzurra and Levanzo’s Cala Fredda are the gentlest stops, and the sailboat tour is one of the few that actually lands at Cala Fredda rather than anchoring off it.

The format question

Snorkelling favours small boats, for one reason that has nothing to do with comfort: a twelve-guest boat can anchor where a two-hundred-passenger vessel cannot. See small-group tours for the full case, or RIB and dinghy tours for the fastest hulls.

Not sure which to book? The full comparison ranks them by intent, including best for swimming time. Or check availability for your dates.