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Hotel Class: 
5 Stars - 34 Opinions
Via Nazionale 137, Taormina, 98030, Italy
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of people enjoy staying here
34 Opinions
Beach below the main street.
clock tower, Taormina, Sicily
Papá ed io a Taormina
Taorminas Duomo
Can someone tell me how I can visit Mt. Etna from Taormina via bus or train? I do not want to hire a tour group/operator.
Is the best way to take the train to Catania and then go on the circular railroad?
Thanks!
Kevin
It depends on what you mean by visiting Mt. Etna, the Ferrovia Circumetnea (www.circumetnea.it) will not take you to the summit and doesn't go all the way around the volcano (end of the line is Riposto), but you could get off at Bronte, for example, and go walking in the national park. See http://www.bestofsicily.com/etna.htm
The tour buses from Taormina go to Giarre, Zafferana, Rifugio Sapienza/Etna South or to Linguaglossa/Etna North (with ascent to the summit by jeep), and the one to the Alcantara gorges includes a trip on the Circumetnea between Randazzo and Adrano. You can also get a public bus (AST) to Rifugio Sapienza from in front of the train station in Catania, but it leaves at 8:15 which may be too early for you to get there from Taormina. This may give you some other ideas http://boris.vulcanoetna.com/ETNA_excursions.html
Its not a huge town you can walk from one end to the other of the main street - Corso Umberto I - in bout 10 minutes but take time to discover the intriguing steep alleyways off it and the little details everywhere. Of course the boutiques and top brand designer shops will also occupy your time.
Close to the part of the Via Luigi Pirandello that goes down the hill you will find a nice view point with a huge marble bench (at least I remember it looked like marble). From there you can clearly see the lower part of Taormina and Isola Bella. I found that view point close to sunset and watched different colors change as the night reminded us that we need to find a good place to eat.
I went to Taormina after being invited by a couple of italian friends. I found that like I was told, Taormina is a really good place to visit. Located in Sicilia, You have a lot of places to visit and outstanding spots to swim or to lie under the sun. The sea water this month (August) was something between 26 / 28 degrees celsius. Taormina doesn't have sandy beaches, instead there's gravel or round stones (I don't know the english name for that kind of stones), but the water is so clear that makes the place a really good spot for scuba diving. You will see a lot of PADI schools almost in every beach.
Rent a car in Catania airport, when you arrive, or a scooter "vespa" in Taormina to get know the village. The car is better to travel to other spots, but if you plan no to go to the outskirts I would say the scooter is the best choose because when you go to beach you will not have problems trying to find a place to park.
Basically Taormina is a village very old, and a lot of civilizations have been there, leaving their marks everywhere, from the buildings to the food. The main street is Corso Umberto, it's where things happen. All other streets come to Corso Umberto, and so it's croweded most of the day and night. You will spot people from other countrys, but most of the tourists are italians. Most probably you will also notice that there's a lot of gays in Taormina - I don't know why but somehow this is a hotspot for them.
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Address: Via Nazionale 137, Taormina, 98030, Italy
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