Mt Etna ( 2.000 meters) and Taormina Day Trip from Cefalu

We booked this tour of Mt Etna and Taormina well in advance of our holiday to Sicily. Viator confirmed the booking in good time and kept us appraised of the trip. The day before the trip, our party received a text confirmation of the excursion. We arrived at our pick up in good time of the transfer and waited for the coach. And waited. And waited. We were supposed to be collected at 06:05am. At 07:00am we placed a call to Viator as we were still waiting. We were advised that Viator could not get through to the local company and apologised. Three hours later, I received a call from the local tour guide advising that the date had been changed; this had been passed to Viator three weeks ago but this had not been passed to us. An alternative day was offered which we could not make as other plans had been made. We cancelled, Viator placing blame on the third party, the third party placing the blame on Viator. We are yet to receive the refund, however, I cannot recommend Viator owing to the reasons outlined in this review. Our party were sincerely looking forward to the trip, however owing to miscommunication internally between Viator and their vendors this did not take place.

Compagnie très réactive, le tour est très interessant et laisse le temps de monter en haut de l’Etna

I was really unsure of what to expect from this as I read plenty of mixed reviews with different advice given so will cover as many of my own initial queries as I can! We were picked up from Cefalu train station in a plush transfer bus, we had a lovely guide who was fluent in English, French and of course her own Italian tongue. Absolutely no problems here. It took around 2.5 - 3 hours to get there. (we were one of the first to be picked up though) I would advise doing the full tour to the top if you can. It is expensive, but you see much more from the top. I wasn't going to go to go up to begin with, but at this point, it is worth paying the extra to get the most from it.. We paid €65 each when we got there which included both the cable car and the jeep to the top. (This made it a bit better as I thought you had to pay for both separately costing more) We managed to do the whole lot with ample time left. Yes it was busy but the queues moved quickly as the cable cars and jeeps are constantly circulating. The cable cars hold 6 people, the jeeps were around 20-30 odd capacity. We went in August (last week) and it was 28 degrees on the ground. I wore good trainers, shorts and a light top. I did take a jacket and although it did get colder as you go up, it wasn't freezing and my jacket was enough to keep me from the chill in the wind. It was cooler after the cable car section but I didn't really need my jacket at this point, after the jeep I needed to put it on.. (I am from the UK though and maybe a little more used to this temperature? As there were others with full on coats/ jeans etc...?) I've read reviews where people are saying the walk up would be/ is easy enough... I am 29 with an average fitness and personally wouldn't do it given the choice... It looks steep, in some places sandy/ashy and rocky... Probably more of an experienced hikers walk. You are allowed to take the lava and rocks home as souvenirs, it was amazing views from the top and we were guided by a specialist around other craters. You don't go really close to the active part of the volcano but you do get to feel some ground holes which are heated from it. There is also lots of history around the other pre-active craters which you are in full view of. There are plenty of shops around.. dont buy souvenirs from the upper level shop as the lowest level shops are much cheaper. (Even cheaper when we got back to Cefalu and realised there were plenty of Etna souvenirs everywhere in the town) We went to Taormina after.. I will be honest, by this point I was tired and fed up. My feet were hot and I didn't take sandals and also forgot to top up the sun lotion and was slightly burnt. (Don't be fooled by the wind on the volcano.. you're still directly in the sun and is easy to forget) It was so hot in Taormina and I just wanted to be out of the sun. We found a nice little restaurant and got some home made lasagne and chilled here until it was time to go. Others explored and enjoyed their time thoroughly. We took a scenic route home, they said this was because we got back to the bus early, so not sure if this happens for all. Although it is way more €€ than I would usually like to pay on an excursion overall, It was worth every penny and has been the highlight of my holiday ... I would have been gutted to go and not have gone to the top.