From Taormina: Etna Walking Tour Wine Food Tasting in Winery

About This Experience

The Etna day that balances the volcano and the wine most evenly: a small group of no more than eight, a private minivan up to the tourist station at around 1,800 to 2,000 metres, an easy-to-moderate walk among lava flows and lateral craters with a lava tunnel on the way, and then a winery on the slopes for Etna wines paired with food.

Pick-up covers ten points around Taormina, Giardini Naxos and the coast hotels, and the drive up takes about an hour. At the top the walk is optional: the guide leads roughly an hour and a half through the flows and craters, or you can stay at the station with a coffee. In winter the same walk becomes a snowshoe outing, with snowshoes hired on the spot for a small fee.

Then the winery. A sommelier pours red and white Etna wines with typical local ingredients and recipes, which is a generous tasting rather than a sit-down lunch. Seven hours door to door, with hotel drop-off at the end.

With 338 reviews at 4.9 this is one of the most consistently praised Etna tours from Taormina, and the small-group cap is the reason: the guide has time for everyone on the walk. Book it if you want to stand on the mountain and taste its wine in the same day without a big coach.

Highlights

• Small group limited to eight people, in a private air-conditioned car or minivan
• Easy-to-moderate walk of about an hour and a half among lava flows and lateral craters at 1,800 to 2,000 metres
• Short visit inside a lava tunnel with the guide
• Etna red and white wines paired with local food at a winery on the slopes, with a sommelier
• Hotel pick-up and drop-off at ten points around Taormina and Giardini Naxos

What's Included

• ✓ Hotel pick-up and drop-off
• ✓ Local expert guide
• ✓ Air-conditioned car or minivan
• ✓ Easy-to-moderate walk of about an hour and a half
• ✓ Visit to a lava tunnel of about 15 minutes
• ✓ Lateral craters and lava flows
• ✓ Food tasting
• ✓ Wine tasting
• ✓ Bottled water

Not Included

• Snowshoe hire in winter (paid on the spot)
• Anything not listed in the inclusions
• Tips

What to Bring

• Hiking shoes or sturdy trainers
• Jacket and long trousers: it is cold at 2,000 metres
• Hat, rain gear and a camera

Good to Know & Caveats

• The walk is optional. If you would rather not, you can spend the hour and a half at the tourist station with its bars and shops while the group walks.
• In winter the walk becomes an easy snowshoe outing; snowshoes are hired at the station for a small fee that is not in the tour price.
• Tell the operator about food allergies or intolerances when you book so the winery can adapt the pairing.
• The tasting is generous but it is not a cooked lunch; eat breakfast and expect to be back on the coast in the late afternoon.
• Group size is capped at eight, so departures fill quickly in September and October.

Meeting Point

Pick-up at one of ten points around Taormina, Giardini Naxos and the coast hotels, with drop-off at the same points.