Bus Etna Experience of Italy

All went as expected; we saw some fantastic views, we had a safe trip, and everyone was ready to offer all the information needed. Everything went perfectly. The trip to Etna was the peak moment of our journey to Catania. Amazing place.

I am quite surprised there are so many negative reviews. The night before the trip I looked at the leaflet and only then did I realise it was an open top bus. Today was 42 degrees so this massively worried me as travelling with a 2 year old and 6 year old. Anyway, turned out to be fine as they put a roof on for shade! Yay! The bus journey was smooth. Driver was lovely… he doubled and triple checked we had everyone before we left Etna and one lady was a late returner! We stopped twice on route to Etna for pictures and for a drink/wee stop. The only reason I give 4 stars not 5 is that it is only when we arrived that we realised once there for a 3 hour stop ultimately you do need to purchase some sort of add on tour. The cable car is 50 euros per person, the cable car mini bus tour was 87 euros a person and then the Etna train tour is 10 euros each. I am gonna be honest with 2 kids we did go budget and I am actually glad we did as the train tour got a thumbs up from both kids and us but once I had paid the 95 euros for the bus I hadn’t expected to then have to pay lots more. Overall we had a super day and I would recommend the trip. Commentary in all languages on bus too and free headphones to listen.

What a great trip, the bus drivers are amazing travelling those roads and so narrow. Amazing. The drivers were very professional and made sure everyone was safe at all times. We travelled through some littles towns on the way to Mount Etna. What a miracle and saddening the damage the eruption did. Seeing an old church nothing left but the cross and the roof. As we travelled up the 2000 m it got colder be mindful even if it is beautiful bring a windbreaker or a sweater it go very cold. Lots of souvenir shops to choose from. You can go quadding or take a little train around for 1 hour. There is trekking hiking as well or go on your own and there is a chair lift.

We booked the tourist bus to Etna at their office the day before we intended to go. The girl was very friendly and helpful and also booked us on the cable car and jeep to go further up the mountain on arrival.

The bus was actually about 15 minutes late which wasn't a good start but it didn't really make much difference in the end! The driver was very nice and quite amusing and we enjoyed our ride in the open bus, although it did get a bit breezy until he put the sides up later on when we were all getting very cold! The audio guide was ok, interesting in parts but the headphones were very cheap and didn't always work!

We made a stop at Nicolosi on the way up; nice little village for a coffee. Then we stopped on the way up to Etna at a house buried by the lava. It was brilliant to see all the lava fields and stark scenery on the way up.

On arrival at Rifugio Sapienza, the terminus for the bus, the driver escorted us to the cable car station and sorted everything out which was really helpful.

We throughly enjoyed the cable cars, the jeep which took us further up the mountain and a tour round one of craters and were so lucky that the sun came out, The views were stunning, both of the volcano and the clouds below us. Also Etna was very active at the time, so that made it even better!

We had four hours there which was plenty of time to do all the above and then have a snack in one the cafes there.

We left on time and the drive back was much quicker and warmer!

All in all, a great day out with the Tourist Service!

The tour started at 11:30 am and got to Mount Etna at around 1:30 pm when it was expected to be able to purchase tickets for two rides: the cable car and 4x4 bus to go to the top of the mount. Still, unfortunately, it was too late to purchase the 4X4 bus ticket and only the cable car ticket was available for sale up in the mount at the arrival time! The ticket sellers in the store already explained that there was enough time for the two rides away after the arrival time, but it was not so! Therefore, it is important not to take a late morning departure time; sadly the store ticket sellers are not honest with this!