Etna-taormina-Isola Bella

Posted By : KMLamm
Alfio was our wonderful tour guide for our trip to Taormina, etc. Alfio was friendly, professional and a very safe driver. We missed the bus tour option and he was available to drive our family in a van up into the beautiful mt top town of Taormina. Highly recommended going to see a different side of Sicily. We had lunch at a restaurant sitting outside that over looked the ocean and Mt. Edna, the weather was beautiful it was fantastic. Alfio took pictures of us with the beautiful backdrop of mt Edna.
He would also stop and point of scenic viewpoints we might’ve otherwise missed. I recommend also the steps with the stations of the cross to the top of Taormina. We came across it by chance and even my teenagers noted how beautiful it was.
Taking a second tour today with this company to Syracuse on our last day in Sicily. These tours made our trip extra memorable. Thank you. Xx

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Posted On : 2023-12-20 04:10:12

Posted By : serenacZ4554JV
Nice excursion!
thanks to Mario, very helpful and kind, he gave us information about the city of Catania, places to visit and typical places
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Posted On : 2023-11-01 14:06:10

Posted By : Mark T
We booked a tour for Etna 2 hours , Iso Bella - 30 minutes and 3 hours Taormina , starts 10:00 - 18:30 , when we started the tour they said that the tour in Iso Bella will be only 10 minutes , then they asked if we have a face mask ( covid 19 ) and if we don’t have a mask we can buy from them for 1 euro for 2 masks ( no one said anything about a mask when we booked ) when started the tour , the driver was driving like crazy , like there is no rules , we arrived to Etna and there was no tour just 2 hours of free time , after it the driver said that we will have 5 minutes stop at Iso bella , when we arrived to iso bella , the driver stoped the van on the road and said to us that we have 2 minutes for photos and thats it , then he drived like crazy to Taormina and we spent 3 hours there … the driver treat us very bad , poor tour
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Posted On : 2022-12-10 03:08:05

Posted By : natalianH4563AS
In the morning the weather was not the best to go to Etna and to visit the other points of interest, but the trip was still going to happen because the agency said there was going to be better weather in a few hours. Once we got up to Etna, first it was snowy and super windy so almost impossible to walk around, but mostly dangerous. Noone mentioned what type of clothing was needed to walk once reached 2000m, especially because it was not expected for us to find such a big amount of snow.
On the way to Taormina, we stopped in the street where we could have taken pictures from the top, pretty far and basically with no info on how to reach the beach and the actual island from up there. According to the program of the trip, there was supposed to be a stay of 1 hour and a half on the top of Etna, then three hours in Taormina, to finish with 30 minutes in Isola Bella, before going back to Catania. Because of this, everyone believed they could have visited the island and the beach later, expecting to be closer there and to easily reach these spots. We then reached Taormina, after 10 minutes of stopping to take pictures, and there the driver said after three hours we were going back to Catania. Some people of our group asked if after the three hours we were going to stop in Isola Bella as planned, but the driver said that the time we had to take pictures far away from the island was covering that half of hour supposed to be spent on the island later. He said that in this period and because of this weather there is not much to do on the island so the spot we stopped was enough. See how the weather now becomes an excuse, while before, the trip was not cancelled and it was all ok when it was not.
Talking about the experience of the taxi, the driver was a bit rude, and not the best at communicating in English, not a good thing for international tourists. He was also rude to those tourists who tried to ask about the stay in Isola Bella. Moreover, he was speeding all the time, not slowing down on the turns on the mountain and at some point, we were about to crash with a car in front because he did not stop on time. He was sometimes at the phone while driving and this is not safe at all. Also, in the van, the seatbelts were not working correctly.
In the end, for the big amount of money we spent, we do not recommend this service because of our experience, resulting not what we were expecting and what we paid for.
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Posted On : 2022-02-22 13:57:08

Posted By : Iseeeverything
WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THIS TOUR TO MY WORST ENEMY!!!

Came off the cruise ship hoping to take a private tour from the pier, we were approached by Desire and Yahya. They offered us an 8 hour excursion in 2 private mini vans, to accomodate for our party of 12, which sounded great until we paid.... DESIRÉ, YAHYA, JAMEL, & DI(??) are by far the worst, uncaring and manipulative "tour guides"

"Two minutes, two minutes" they promised, but an hour later neither bus, car or van arrived. 40 minutes later, only one bus showed up.. In that time, we attempted to get our money back, as they were clearly wasting our time. They were incredibly rude, dismissive and AGGRESSIVE. Shouting at us to calm down, screaming vulgar and discrimnatory words at my 80 year old aunt in her face.

Finally after another half hour, the second van made an appearance only to be carrying 3 other passengers. Despite asking for 2 PRIVATE vans to seat 12 total, they insisted we would all fit in one.. LIES, LIES AND MORE LIES BY "TOURIST SERVICE" at the port of Catalania.

We had asked for a bottle of water to share between the 12 of us, as it was well over 27°C in the scorching sun. Jamel, one of the scammers then grabbed the bottle out of our hands yelling at us to give him money for the bottle. When I said that a €5 bottle was plenty to exchange for our wasted time, he proceeded to pour the water on the floor whilst swearing at us.. Incredibly unprofessional.

Now the BEST part of the experience; when I took out my phone to take pictures of the scammers, they immediately grabbed my arm trying to get hold of my phone. I yanked away only to be held down by 4 of their colleagues while three others shouted and spat in my face. A tourist on a nearby bus ran over in fear of my safety.. (if you are reading this, thank you).

I spoke calmly when trying to explain that spending an hour and a half promising taxis, taking €500 and refusing to give it back was unacceptable. Only to be harrased and physically hurt. Luckily I got away with a sore arm, some minor bruising and a deaf ear.

In all my years of traveling, I have NEVER experienced anything like this, EVER. My family and I are absolutely appalled by their behaviour and lack of remorse. Clearly money is more important than anything.
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Posted On : 2019-10-04 11:16:34