Taormina: Alcantara Gorges, Etna Wine & Randazzo Adventure

We enjoyed the scenery from the comfortable coach and the on-time aspect of the entire day. Since I am a walker, I loved our first stop and could have enjoyed more time there. Although the 2nd stop has a lovely cathedral, the market was full of junk or produce (nothing a tourist wants) and the cheese & sausage tasting silly since we were headed to the winery where they served exactly that. I would have much preferred a pasta with our wine but the mushrooms with the antipasta were delicious. The wine, not so much. Grounds were fantastic with the caves, the dinning room set beautifully and service quite good. Overall, a good value day tour, thank you.

From start to finish a smooth and well run tour. Thoroughly enjoyed exploring the Alcantara Gorge, Randazzo and the exceptional wine tasting. Aleksandra was a great host and provided a thorough guide to all of the places we visisted. Would highly recommend if you wish to get out and see the real Sicily behind Taotmina and Naxos. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Great trip all round ...from the gorge , Radazzo food tasting but especially the wine tasting ...very informative host,she explained all the processing and family history around the making etc.... Lovely day......(Renatta was an excellent guide).

Our tour went ahead despite the forecast of heavy rain. So it was armed with umbrellas and rain jackets that we ventured out. It rained constantly which meant we couldn’t get down into the gorge at Alacantara but took some photos from the top. At Randazzo, the markets were OK but nothing special. We were a large group of 47 and by the time I got to the food tasting, little was left. As the day went on the rain got heavier. At 1900 metres on Mt Etna, we exited the coach just long enough to take some photos from under our umbrellas and then opted for the tour guides recommendation to have lunch in the restaurant further down the mountain. Those who wanted to walk around at 1900 metres or go to the top we’re very disappointed, including us. We checked with the SAT office in Taormina that the tour was proceeding the day before and we spoke about the forecast for poor weather. They decided to still go ahead rather than cancel the tour, which had been cancelled in the previous days. We would like to mention that our tour guide, Alfredo, and our bus driver were fantastic.

My trip occurred on a day of torrential rain storms. I felt that the tour company would cancel but that did not happen. We mostly accomplished to get soaking wet and have lunch on mt ETNA since the upper areas of the volcano were also closed that day. So basically we drove around all day wet in a bus. The tour guide and bus driver were very nice and did a wonderful job considering the day. The company should have reimbursed everyone on this trip or at least given us a credit for another trip.

With so many tours on offer, we really wanted to find one that was value for money, so we went to the Tourist Information office in Taormina and had a chat with the people there. They asked us what we were after, what days we had available, and we settle on this tour. We arrived at the bus depot (just before 8am), took our seats on the bus and off, collecting other passengers along the way. Our tour guide was tri-lingual (Italian, English and German - I later heard him speaking French as well!) was VERY INFORMATIVE and happy to answer questions as we travelled along. First stop was the Alcantara Gorges - WOW!! Be prepared for the COLD, but invigorating water, then wander through the national park. Next stop: "RANDAZZO", to see the Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta - built from Lava bricks!! A walk through the local markets (not the best markets), however, a visit to the Deli was FANTASTIC! sampling delicious cold cuts of meat, dips, and cheeses! Living in Australia we're limited with what we can bring back - so I bought some delicious pistachio biscuits :-) Following this stop, we went off to Etna! WOW! What a fabulous experience! Having been up to Vesuvius, I chose not to go to the top of Etna (optional extra) however, my friend did go, and she wasn't disappointed. She said the guide for that part of the tour was extremely informative and helpful in answering questions. I stayed in the little village - gift shopping and walking around the destruction caused by the volcano - including seeing the mostly-covered hotel! I must say, our tour-guide on the bus was incredible in explaining so much about not only what happened in the area as a result of the eruption, but also his personal experience! I'd HIGHLY recommend this SAT for a day out - you won't be disappointed!

<p>Probably could have done with longer in Randazzo but we saw the sunday market. Etna was really good and the food in the refuge restaurant was fabulous and really cheap. Alcantra Gorges was unbelievable and breathtaking and is well worth a full day visit. Great trip all round.</p>

<p>We had a really fun day on this tour. It gives you a great chance to see what this part of Sicily has to offer, cramming quite a lot in to a relatively short space of time, without making it feel rushed. The star of the show is definitely the Etna trip - it's a fascinating place even though it was extremely cloudy at the top so there weren't many views to see!. I would urge people going on this trip to bring warm clothing, even if it feels like a hot day down below, as it's very cold at the high altitude and there were patches of snow on the ground even though we went in June and the temperature in Taormina down below was 30C..</p> <p>The Alcantara gorges provided a nice walk around, though we didn't think they were particularly spectacular. Personally I think the tour could ditch the Randazzo part completely as it's not an especially nice village and there's not much to do there although the stop-off does provide an opportunity to grab lunch.</p> <p>I feel it important to mention that a few things mentioned on the itinerary on the Viator tour didn't actually happen. For example:<br/> - the guide did not come around the gorges with us we were left to walk around on our own<br/> - there was no cable car on the trip and this was not even mentioned at any stage.<br/> - the guide did not come with us to the craters: we were basically dumped out of the 4x4 and left to wander around on our own.<br/> - disappointingly, we did not actually go to the summit. We went high up Etna, but not to the summit. The guide actually said to someone on the way back that it is not allowed for tourists to visit the summit any more - so why advertise otherwise?</p> <p>None of these issues were massively problematic and we still had a good day, but it seems odd to mention things like this on the itinerary if they're not going to be provided, or even mentioned. I would urge Viator to revise the details provided on this site, so that they match what is actually provided.</p>

<p>The trip was good but he only covered Mount Atna. This trip covers Randazzo and Alcantara Gorges. They never even mentioned those two places once in the trip. I paid for all three and got only one out of this.</p>

<p>Enjoy the whole day. The highlight of the day was Mount Etna. We were so lucky to have had a beautiful and clear day. Would highly recommended this day tour to everyone. The tour company was excellent as they had organised the day before to pick us up from our hotel and take us closer to the pick up point for the tour.</p>