Mount Etna Day Trip from Taormina

It was an impressive trip up the mountain by bus, cableway and jeep. The people speak english quite well so it was easy to understand. The walk around one of the craters was intens with a lot of cold wind. But very interesting! We really needed the jackets that we've rented. After the jeepride back we walked down to the beginning of the cableway. We really loved the views!!

Didn't realise how commercialised etna was. Nice courier, big coach, view was fantastic from the top, we were lucky, no clouds. Enjoyable trip.

Was no more than a very expensive return bus trip. Poorly organised, long queues, all very rushed and chaotic.

The trip up Mount Etna is well worth it. Amazing views and if you go the extra to 3000 meters you are almost at the top of the mountain. The only thing which let our tour down was the lack of organization. The ticket booth and cable car entry is quite narrow and chaotic. Out tour guide told us to wait for her and then at the top rushed off with half the group to pick up the guide leaving the rest of us behind to sort out our own tour of the craters. I think it actually worked out better for us so my tip is to go round by yourself.

We paid for the full tour of the cable car and 4x4. We were collected late at 9am then spent almost 2 hours driving to the volcano - we had to wait to get on the cable car and when we got to the top we had to wait over an hour for the 4x4 to get to the top of the volcano. We spent so much time waiting that when we got to the top we had to come straight back down to get the bus by 2:15 or be left behind. Not enough time to even walk around at the top. Not to mention the rudeness of the lady hosting our group. I had taken two children and she had a crack at my parenting for bringing two young children on the tour without proper clothing. When I was trying to ask and determine if I could hire clothes or not she just kept having a go at me as a parent. I ended in tears. I would never put my kids at risk and I just wanted to have a conversation with her without her being rude and disrespectful to me. Complete waste of money and time , so disorganised and way too crowded. In all my travels I’ve never seen a natural attraction so crowded: better off just going yourself and taking your time so you can see everything at your pace and if you have to wait (because it is nature and you don’t know) then you can wait and still experience the sight without being rushed back.

Very informative and well led tour with a caring staff. For those without an automobile, the tour is a very good value since both sites can be visited within a day tour. The only negative is that more time is required to see Villa Romana del Casale than was provided.

We stayed a couple of nights in Taormina and this was well worth it. A wonderful old town and we went to the opera one evening in the old Greek Amphitheatre. The Etna trip was well organized and was good value. Unfortunately the mountain had erupted a couple of days before we got there so there was no trip to the actual crater, for safety reasons. The guides took us as high as they were permitted. We enjoyed the trip.

We went on the upper craters trip which was a great experience. It obviously costs more but I’m not sure the trip is worth doing if you just go to the base station. If you do that, you will basically be left in a coach park surrounded by souvenir shops and food outlets, and left to wander around the lower slopes for an hour. You can walk further up but that would be hard work given conditions underfoot and under the Sicilian sun. The upper trip involves going up the cable car and then being driven further up in rough terrain vehicles. Once near the top, you then get a guided tour around the upper craters (note the tour does not go to the very top crater, too risky - you are about 350 metres below the very top). Amazing views, fascinating landscape. Only hitch was our coach was a little late at the start of the trip (20 minutes) due to traffic, but other than that it was extremely well organised with very clear instructions provided in Italian and English.

This was a great day excursion. Our guide, Aleksandra, was very pleasant, informative and knowledgable. Unfortunately, the weather was not good. I wish they would have given us the option to decide if we still wanted to go all the way to the top knowing that we couldn't see 2 feet in front of us. I probably would have chosen to go to the 2 lower craters( one of which is a 25 minute walk up). Really nothing to see at the top. If I were to do this again, I would not book in advance and decide upon arrival if I wanted to spend the extra money to go up. No need to do this if there's nothing to see.

We had booked a tour to visit the upper crater but Viator failed to deliver the tour and put us on a foothills tour. Viator failed to offer a refund. Overall spoilt the trip and would recommend not booking the upper crater tour as waste of money.