2024 - March - Etna

What would a visit to Sicily be without Mount Etna? For me at least, it was clear that I definitely wanted to see it up close.

But what’s the best way to get there?

The ideal starting point for your tour is the valley station of the Rifugio Sapienza. It is located at an altitude of 1,910 meters. You can get there by car or, for example, from the starting point of Catania on your own with a public bus. But a trip from Taormina, where we were staying, is also a good option given the distance. From there, it is best to book a trip with a private bus company.

Once you have arrived at the Rifugio Sapienza valley station, you now have several options. For example, you can go hiking from here, as you are now at an altitude of 1,910 meters. However, several hiking trails have been buried by the last eruption in December 2023. We also saw hikers who were struggling on the snow-free ski slopes instead. That didn't look like much fun.

On the other hand, the participants obviously had a lot of fun on quad tours. You can book them in the Rifugio Sapienza area or online in advance. Usually, two people drive off-road on a quad behind a guide.

In winter, snowcat rides through the snow are also offered and for a few months skiing is also possible here.

I can definitely recommend a ride on the Funivia dell'Etna cable car to a height of 2,504 m. It's not cheap though. I actually can't even tell you the original price because you can only find offers from third-party providers on the internet. But you should expect to pay around 50 euros per person for a trip up and down the mountain.

However, we had bought the complete package for 75 euros per person. In addition to the cable car ride, this also includes a ride in a Mercedes Unimog up to a height of around 2,900 m. There, the prescribed mountain guides will be waiting and will walk with you to some beautiful viewpoints and side craters. But of course everything always depends on the weather.

Speaking of weather: I actually booked our trip based on the weather forecast, because you can only really see anything on a very sunny day. It is also advisable to start early, because clouds often form up above from midday onwards.

If it's too cold up there, you can borrow jackets and/or shoes at the mountain station for 5 euros per person. From what I've seen, you can even borrow socks.

We got by very well with our normal jackets, despite a temperature of only 5° C (felt like 3° C) but thanks to the beautiful sunshine.

A little anecdote: In our small hiking group there was also a 14-year-old German girl who suddenly shouted loudly to her father on the ridge, "Daddy, there's LTE up here!" And what can I say, she was right. And of course we all sent live photos from the top of the mountain.

But it is also impressive if you stand briefly under one of the four main craters. White steam is often emitted that looks like clouds and is then blown away by the wind.

By the way, you don't have to be afraid of a sudden eruption on a tour like this. Etna is considered a controlled volcano. Eruptions are always preceded by small earthquakes. This means that it is actually very easy to predict when eruptions are to be expected.

But once it has happened, the lava cannot be stopped. During the last really big eruption in 2002, the cable car was destroyed, among other things, and then had to be painstakingly rebuilt in 2004. This is probably why the ticket prices are so high.

Because of this constant activity, the height cannot be determined exactly. It is given as around 3,357 m. This makes Etna definitely the largest active volcano in all of Europe.

If you are now interested in a trip to Etna, I recommend my other reports on Sicily:

https://vakantio.de/reisetante/2024-maerz-taormina

https://vakantio.de/reisetante/2024-maerz-syrakus

https://vakantio.de/reisetante/2024-maerz-palermo?published=1