Handpicked experience · Sicily
Sicily, Italy
Six hours by private vehicle between Taormina and the hill village above it, with the walking, the admissions and the guiding all left to you.
Air-conditioned private transport between Taormina and Castelmola
Free time in Taormina for the Greek theatre area and the cathedral
An optional stop at the Turrisi café in Castelmola for almond wine
Views of Etna and the Sicilian coast along the drive
Taormina's centre is closed to traffic, so the vehicle sets you down at one of the old gateways and everything from there is on foot. The main street runs the length of the ridge between them, which is level enough, but the lanes dropping away on either side are stairs cut into the hillside. Comfortable shoes are not a nicety here.
This is transport and time rather than a guided excursion. The Greek theatre charges its own admission and no guide comes with you, so if you want either, arrange them separately. Understood that way it is good value for a hillside that is genuinely awkward to reach and park in; misread as a full tour it will disappoint.
Castelmola sits several hundred metres higher, reached by a sequence of tight hairpins with a drop on one side. It is short but relentless, and anyone prone to travel sickness should sit in the front. What waits at the top is the best view of Etna in the area, with Taormina laid out directly below.
The famous bar on the village square serves the local almond wine and is decorated, floor to ceiling, with phallic sculpture. It is a long-standing local joke rather than anything sordid, but it takes visitors by surprise and is worth knowing about before you walk in with your parents or your children.
Open it to pick a date and work out the price.
What the fare covers, and what to budget for separately.
The practical detail, and the answers people actually ask for.
No. This covers private transport and free time in both places. A guide and any site admissions are separate arrangements, so plan for them if you want them.
No, the historic centre is pedestrianised. You are set down at one of the gateways and walk in from there along the main street.
No. It charges its own admission, paid at the entrance. The free time is enough to visit it if that is what you want to do with the hours.
Short but tightly wound, a run of hairpin bends climbing several hundred metres. Sit in the front if you are sensitive to that kind of road.
It serves the local almond wine and is decorated throughout with phallic sculpture — an old village joke rather than anything seedy, but a genuine surprise if nobody has warned you.