Etna Tour and Lunch in a Winery with Wine Tasting

To be clear, this rating should have been a 5 (Excellent), and really was a "5" for the Tour Company & Guide (Taxi Catania NCC), but Viator messed up royally by failing to communicate properly between the Tour Company and me (the user). As a result, when we got to the meeting point at the port exit, we found no tour guide, and after waiting for an extra 30 minutes, I finally called the Tour Company to find that he had no confirmation from Viator that we were coming, and was not expecting us. He recovered quickly and arrived within 30 minutes and the tour got under way. Initially there was a great deal of tension and consternation in the air, but once we put that aside, we had a great tour, with an up-close view of Mt Etna, a fantastic lunch and wine tasting at a local winery, and a stop at Taormina. We got to do everything we had expected and learned a lot from Giuseppe despite the "rough start". To specifically address the lack of communication and verification on Viator's part, this tour was booked and paid for in April, 2019 for a November tour date. Despite multiple attempts by the tour company to send messages to me through Viator, nothing ever reached me. In retrospect, I should have checked myself, but I assumed that a confirmed and paid tour would receive better Customer Service from Viator. I received routed communications from other tour companies through Viator on this cruise, but in this case, the tour was almost a disaster because Viator dropped the ball and failed to pass on communication requests. Really dinged my confidence in Viator's ability to deliver as promised.

Manuel was on time, knowledgeable and lots if fun! It was our 2nd visit to the Gambino winery and it was just as terrific as the first.

Our tour guide Giuseppe was very knowledgeable throughout the day, particularly about Mount Etna and its well worth the visit. We walked up the side of one crater and saw amazing views. We also visited a winery Gambino where the food and wine flowed and was the highlight of the day. We were lucky to have a great guide and nothing was too much so we were free to take our time and relax.

Giuseppe was reliable, professional, knowledgeable, charming, and a wonderful addition to our day! We could not have planned the day more perfectly. My Etna was a sight to see, the honey farm was a great change of pace, and the winery was fantastic! We were treated like friends at every venue and we thank Giuseppe for a wonderful day in Taormina!

Our day began with an on-time pick up in an extremely comfortable Mercedes. As we made our way to the Mt. Etna funicular, our knowledgeable driver told us about the geology of the area, pointing out which parts of the landscape were volcanic and which weren’t. Winding our way up the south side of the volcano, we stopped several times to talk about the vegetation, the past eruptions and how lava stone is used commercially. To go to the top of Mt. Etna, we took the funicular up to the bus staging area and then took the bus to the 2950 meter altitude point. From there, we walked around a bit. We visited in mid-May and even though the weather was wonderful in Taormina (around 20 degrees C), the weather on Mt. Etna was fierce: 0 degrees Celsius with winds of 30 kph or more. We had each worn two sweaters and jackets but still, we wished we had worn hats and gloves. As a result of the wind and cold, we did not try to climb the remaining bit up to the crater. Too dangerous. There were many people visiting Etna that day so the entire trip up and back took around two hours. But it was worth it! How many times do you get to go to the top of a volcano? After Etna, we went to Gambino winery, located on the northeast side of Mt. Etna. After the ferocious winds on Etna, we felt like we deserved a glass of wine (or two). Gambino winery did much better than that: they served six different delicious Sicilian wines! These yummy wines were accompanied by a delicious meal of cheeses, couscous, cold cuts, olives, sun-dried tomatoes and other sautéed vegetables. What a fantastic day: a private tour with a fantastic driver/guide, (almost) summiting Mt. Etna and ending with superb local wines accompanied by a delightful meal. Take this tour; you won’t regret it!