Mount Etna Tour: Explore Silvester Craters and Taormina

Explore Mount Etna and Taormina from Palermo. Hike craters, ride a cable car, and visit Sicily’s glamorous town in one unforgettable day.

Duration: 11 hours, 30 minutes
Cancellation: 24 hours
Highlights
  • Mount Etna - Make a brief stop while ascending the volcano, then arrive at Rifugio Sapienza where you can explore the area at your leisure or climb to the summit independently.
  • Taormina - Enjoy a self-guided tour of the town. Wander around, unwind, or visit the Greek Theatre (admission fees not included).
What's Included
  • Multilingual tour escort or driver-escort
  • In-vehicle air conditioning
  • Pick-up & Drop-off at meeting point in Palermo
  • Visits as per itinerary
What's Not Included
  • Meals and beverages
  • Gratuities
  • Etna ascent fees (if you wish to climb above 1900 meters)
  • Entrance fees
Additional Information

Multilanguage tour who will take you to Mount Etna up to 1900 meters. Short stop on the way climbing up the Volcano. Continuing our climb we will reach the ski resort Rifugio Sapienza (1900 meters a.s.l.). Here you will have free time to walk on the Silvester Craters, to explore the area and to relax.
Lunch and ascent to the top (over 1900 meters) are…

Location
Piazza Ruggiero Settimo, 15
Piazza Ruggiero Settimo
Departure is Fixed at 6:40am from Piazza Ruggero Settimo 15 (between Prada Store and Hotel Politeama) please be ready 10 minutes before. Due to traffic, the pick-up could be arranged with a flexibility of approx 15 minutes.
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
4.8
(18 Ratings)
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Kathy_l
Oct 3, 2024
A must do tour - Marcel our driver made this a great experience. We loved climbing to the top. A long day from Palermo but needs to be done
Review provided by Viator
Zbigniew_b
Sep 28, 2024
Absolutely fabulous - Excellent tour and atmosphere... Absolutely fabulous staff. Great views. Super experience and Taormina is amazing...
Review provided by Viator
Laurie_s
Aug 28, 2024
What a day!!! - Marcello and Nicola were brilliant. Weather was awful but they kept our spirits up. Marcello drove in very difficult conditions and Nicola kept us well informed at all times. Thank you
Review provided by Viator
Matthew
Aug 4, 2024
Great trip, worth the journey. - Mt. Etna is an incredible active volcano that you can hear rumble! Taormina is a beautiful town with delicious granita. Great experience, would highly recommend.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Anna1402
May 3, 2024
Well worth it - Very well organised trip. Marcello was great, professional, and very friendly. When visiting Mt Etna, Marcello helped us to get tickets, and we had enough time to go up in cable cars and a jeep all the way up. Taormina was very pretty. I just wiesh there was a bit more time to explore. We didn't have time to see the Greek amphitheatre as the queue to buy tickets was too long. If you want to visit it, try to get tickets online to save time. Overall, it was a long drive but well worth it.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Elmarco1
Jan 23, 2024
Finding Our Roots - Every day got better than the day before! Valeria set a perfect itinerary for our purpose of visiting where our Grandparents came from. Highly recommend Tour of Sicily!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jaynec288
Jun 25, 2023
Excellent tour - Whole day tour which took us pretty much the width of the island and back with astonishing views and some really interesting commentary along the way. Tour leader Nicola has so much knowledge about the geography, language, culture and history of Sicily and the importance of Mount Etna for the local community. And along with driver Salvatore was also able to provide us with some really useful advice about crossing roads in Sicily, buying a cup of tea and how queueing is done (or not done) in Italy. It was a very small group and all very friendly. Outside of the travelling time there was about 4 hours to distribute between Mt Etna and Taormina and as there were so few of us we were able to agree the distribution between us. The tour doesn't include the cost of the ascent up Mt Etna from the car park area but there is no obligation to go any further than that. I must admit when I heard the cost of the full ascent I felt as though all the air had been sucked out of my lungs. But we decided to do it as you're only there once! It involved an epic ride in a cable car followed by a further trip in what looked like a cross between a bus and a moon buggy. We were met at the top by a guide who took us on a half hour tour around the area; it was like a moonscape and the views were amazing. There is a lot of driving time involved in this trip compared with the time you get to spend in the locations, but unless we had based ourselves on the East of the island that was always going to be the case. And let's face it, getting ferried around all day in a Merc is not something that happens to me very often.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Nstinch54
Jun 7, 2023
Perfect Sicilian Duo - We lucked out with absolutely beautiful weather. I was so grateful to find a day trip that went from Palermo over to Mt. Etna as both places were on my Sicily bucket list and we were short on time. Nicola was a wonderful guide who sprinkled a very long bus ride with the history of Sicily and several Sicilian anecdotes. We spent some time in Taormina after Mt Etna. All in all, the trip was wonderful experience and a great way to start out vacation in Sicily! Grazie Nicola and Giacamo!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Anna_m
Oct 3, 2024
Great sights to see! - It was an interesting and exciting trip. Marcello was our driver. There was good communication and he was very prompt. It was an easy pickup and a good location. Marcello had a wonderful welcoming personality and was very informative about what was going to happen. He was a good driver and we always felt safe. Both Mt. Etna and Taormina were wonderful and I would highly recommend going to those sites. . Marcello recommended some things to do and see at both locations. We chose the ATV ride around the volcano. We loved it! The whole trip took 12 hours exactly. It was a fun interesting and informative day. The Mercedes Van had 7 customers and the driver. It was a pretty tight fit for 8 adults. It would have been more pleasant with more room.
Review provided by Viator
I455cdlaureng
Jul 10, 2023
Would Recommend to a Friend - A great day trip, would absolutely recommend to a friend or anyone interested in visiting Sicily. The Mount Etna excursion to the top of the volcano is such a unique experience and one of the highlights of my trip. The tour guide and driver for my excursion were amazing and engaging. A lovely experience overall (just wish there was more time spent in Taormina, put the time spent at Etna was worth it)
Review provided by Tripadvisor
From $162
up to 15 guests
1 Adult
Cancellation: Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start of your experience (local time).