The beaches we go to — Itinerario in scooter

This is not a sightseeing tour: it is the list of where people go swimming when they live here. Along twenty kilometres of coast there are four different seas — the pale sand and flat bottom of Fontane Bianche, the golden sand and beach clubs of Arenella, the flat rocks of Ognina where you get in straight off the stone, and the cove of Minareto inside the marine protected area. You set off, look at how the sea is that day and stop where it suits: on a scooter, changing your mind costs nothing.

• Minareto, access 35 of the Plemmirio: sand, shallow water and a posidonia meadow
• Arenella: golden sand, a gently shelving bottom, one beach club and plenty of free beach
• Ognina: no sand, rock platforms and small coves — the place for mask and fins
• Fontane Bianche: three kilometres of pale sand, the best equipped of the four

• The Pillirina beach, at Punta della Mola, can no longer be reached on foot: access 34 of the marine area is closed by order of the Harbour Master's Office because of landslide risk. You can only get there from the sea.
• At access 35 (Minareto) parking is free, but you go down to the beach by a stairway cut into the rock: awkward in flip-flops. Part of the shore is leased to the Grand Hotel Minareto, the rest is free.
• There are no beach clubs at Ognina: only rocks, platforms and a few bars near the small harbour. If you want an umbrella and a sunbed, stop at Arenella or Fontane Bianche.
• On the rocks of Ognina and the Plemmirio you need rubber shoes: the stone is sharp and there are sea urchins.
• Inside the marine protected area the rules change from zone to zone. Minareto is in zone C, the most permissive, but before snorkelling elsewhere it is worth asking the Consorzio Plemmirio.