Parco dell'Etna Travel Guide

 rosata Says:  You book and pay at the Funivia dell'Etna office and catch the next cable car. At the same time decide before you set off if you would like to pay for the jeep to take you further up after the cable car. There is a sign that people with heart conditions cannot travel.The... 

 rosata Says:  Rifugio Sapienza at about 1900 metres above sea level is the highest driveable level on Mount Etna. Here there is parking, a hotel, the cable car to take you higher, the jeep trip to take you higher still, cafes, souvenir shops.I have been here numerous times and each time... 

 rosata Says:  PAGE UNDER CONSTRUCTIONIt is wonderful to see plants and trees and wildlife high on the lava slopes of Mount Etna. 

 rosata Says:  There is a website given below with a list of 11 marked walks (sentieri in Italian) on Mount Etna.I will post more information as I walk them, so far so good.As with any of the walks it is a good idea to have a walking pole or two and don't forget the binoculars. 

 brendareed Says:  Close to the rather large parking lot at Rifugio Sapienza is one of the highlights for many people, but especially for those for whatever reason cannot go higher up on Mount Etna (accessible at this point only by the cableway or four-wheel-drive vehicles) – the Silvestri... 

 brendareed Says:  This was the highlight of Hubby’s trip to Sicily. Having previously lived in Hawaii where we toured the volcanoes on the Big Island, and we have visited the Mount St. Helen’s volcano in Washington State, USA, so we were no stranger to lava flows and the devastation that can... 

 hquittner Says:  Off the bus the only places you can go are up or down. The terrain is unvarying but there are vistas.This is 2900m so do not run! (The buses go no further up).The time allotted allows for a climb to the nearby ridge(up;recommended for the able), or to the Torre del... 

 hquittner Says:  Your bus lets you out at a level area with a slight decline. The path is over cool or slightly warm dry lava and ascends at less than 8 degrees for some 500 ft where you can look into the Valle del Bove and acroos the expanse. We did not go up but my son and his wife... 

 hquittner Says:  Presently there are only 2(?) ways to ascend Mt. Etna. One is to be lodged at the hostel at Refugio Sapienza(el. 1900m)and be young, strong in good climbing condition, properly informed and dressed;get up early (it is a 4+ hr trek). The details on how you do this I do not... 

 brendareed Says:  Getting to Mount Etna was the most problematic part of my trip planning since I could not find any really good advice for how to do this. Most of the sites online seem to be run by tour companies that gave me the impression that we had to take a tour bus. Well, this was not... 

 brendareed Says:  There are two locations with shops and cafés to eat in at Mount Etna that we came across. Because it was the end of the November, many of these shops were closed. Although we did find a wonderful little souvenir stand at Piano Provenzano that we enjoyed shopping in with... 

 hquittner Says:  This is an easy place to buy the world's most unusual flavored honey. It tastes just like the honey served for breakfast at our hotel nearby.They say it is shipped world-wide. It comes in orange and lemon (also lime?).The jars are of varying sizes for an easy... 

 brendareed Says:  We had read in our guide book about the cirneco, a breed of dog native to the Etna area. But we didn’t expect to meet one of these Sicilian hounds while there. However, as we were walking up to the Silvestri Crater, one of these dogs walked past us. Three more greeted us at... 

 rosata Says:  Descending the mountain from Rifugio Sapienza on the SP92 in the direction of Zafferana Etnea turn left at a junction marked Monte Pomiciaro. Last time we were there (September 2012) the road sign stated the road was closed but we went anyway and it was asphalted and fine to...