Etna & Alcantara

based on 21 reviews

Duration:8 hours to 9 hours (approx.)
Location: Catania, Sicily

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A complete excursion for nature lovers. We will visit one of the most interesting areas of Etna, with lava flow caves, side craters, lava flows and, in the afternoon, the gorges of the Alcantara river will amaze us with columnar basalts and freezing waters.

WHAT'S INCLUDED

WHAT TO EXPECT

1. Mount Etna
Once on-board of our 4×4 jeeps, we will make our way towards Etna’s hill. We will leave the wonderful “Riviera dei limoni” (Lemons’ coast), to approach Etna’s villages. We will then get on the road that leads through the volcano’s slopes, crossing old mulattiere (ancient mule drivers’ roads) and coalmen paths, we are soon at about 1000 mt altitude where a protected area of 720km² begins. We also come across cold and dried lava flows that, like black highways, tear the mountainside. Surrounded by uncontaminated greenery¹, we can enjoy the view of chestnut trees, pines, oaks, beeches as well as endemic plants like Etna’s birch and Etna’s brooms2. Eruptive cones, lava flows, lava valley stand out in front of our eyes, testifying the volcano’s incessant eruption activity that carves out its own shape since more than 500.000 years. We will get into a fantastic Nature trail, inside the Etna Park, heading towards the craters. We will arrive on the top of a lateral crater, created by an eruption with the typical buttons’ line progress, called “bottoniera”. What is a crater? It is a pyroclastic slagheap that has been thrown out from the volcanic shaft and, once placed around the eruptive vent, creates a cone. Once we get to the edge of the lateral crater, in the exact point where incandescent lava used to come out from volcano slope, we will explain to you the features of Etna’s eruptions. You will have the opportunity to admire all of the different colours that lava turns into, as a beautiful reflection of a rainbow, and experience first hand all of the different kinds of consistency of pyroclastic rocks. We will be able to see very few plant species that manage to survive in very extreme conditions both in winter and summer. Let’s deeply penetrate in the heart of the wood to discover what’s hiding below the volcanic hard surface. Suddenly a crevice in the ground appears by our eyes: one of the about 190 Etna lava flow caves. We start our underground adventure: leaving the surface, we enter into the mountain deepness to discover its most hidden secrets, visiting a lava flow cave. After having explored the most interesting Etna area, we take a break enjoying a nice lunchtime in a typical mountain hut/chalet that seems to have landed here in Sicily directly from Alps. We can try traditional dishes of our Sicilian kitchen, delicious mountain specialities, since in Sicily we are lucky to have both exquisite seafood and delicious mountain food, typical from the inland areas.
2. Piano Provenzana
Eruption of 2002, Honey tasting, typical products, liqueurs and "Fuoco dell'Etna" (liquor)
3. Gola dell'Alcantara
Coming down we come out from the protect area of the Etna Park and we go towards the Alcantara Valley. We meet the river for the first time near the Castiglione di Sicilia’s bridge and, from this moment, our path is intertwined with it until we reach the gorges. We leave the jeep and go down walking until we get the riverbed: we are now in the deepest point of Alcantara gorges, facing 25 meters tall basalt cliffs that proudly stand all around us. Here we can touch the icy water of Alcantara river and the bravest of us can even plunge in the water and venture for a few dozen meters inside the gorges.

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Posted By : maggiebT338BA
Sicily is beautiful, very kind and helpful people! Eating a unique and abundant pleasure, all together a dream!
Rating : full ratings
Posted On : 2024-06-09 09:04:06

Posted By : Sophia S
We are thrilled! The organization and communication beforehand was great. Cristian was a great guide and showed us and explained a lot. You could tell that he loves his job and was really concerned about our well-being. We were able to take our time, didn't have to rush and simply had a wonderful day.
Thank you!!
Rating : full ratings
Posted On : 2024-05-24 11:54:19

Posted By : PhilipG2064
Fantastic experience paired with a beautiful nature, a very knowledgable guide and a fabulous walk around crators. Thanks a lot, Cristian, for all your insights, historical facts and advise you shared with us - you defenitely made our day!
Rating : full ratings
Posted On : 2024-04-29 13:43:08

Posted By : Badger_Yogini
I am so glad we decided to tour with Etna Way (Davide was our excellent guide) to Etna and the Alcantara. We had about 9 days in Sicily and had this scheduled for our last day. I was traveling with my husband and two boys (15 and 12). We learned so much about the history and geology of Etna and enjoyed a fairly easy hike (wish I'd had brought better gripping shoes). Davide was our guide and he was knowledgeable and personable and picked us up at our hotel in Taormina. We had a private tour which was really nice and didn't encounter crowds or many other people at all. The entire family enjoyed the experience and this was a highlight of our visit to Sicily.
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Posted On : 2024-03-31 07:15:39

Posted By : Explorer42307344745
Hi. The tour was excellent and we saw and learned a lot👏🏾🌋. Claudio explained everything brilliantly and passionately with a lot of expertise and humor. We ate very well and inexpensively at the rifugio Ragabo 👌🏾. The children (6, 10, 13) had a lot of fun afterwards in the cool water in the Alcantara Gorge. We also seemed to have had very good timing at the various spots. It was already filling up when we were on our way back. We also forgot a backpack at the meeting point (a gas station), which we got back in full, which our German-speaking local guide Claudio managed👍🏾. Thanks for the great experience. Tanti saluti👋🏾🙏🏾
Rating : full ratings
Posted On : 2023-10-07 05:58:10

Posted By : E6620TVerikas
We had an amazing time, and this day will be a special memory we'll fondly look back on. Our tour guide, Gianpaolo, was not just a guide but an incredible host who truly loves everything about Etna. His passion was contagious, and we soaked up all the fascinating knowledge he shared with us. Plus, he was fantastic company throughout the journey. We'll definitely be spreading the word about EtnaWay services to our friends and family. Thanks a bunch for being so accommodating to us and our beloved dogs. This experience was absolutely wonderful! ☺️
Rating : full ratings
Posted On : 2023-09-22 04:57:21

Posted By : Marcello M
Perfect organization that follows you in all your needs. Cristian was a truly special guide who was able to involve us in every aspect of learning about the Mountain (as the Sicilians call Etna) with passion and competence. Absolutely recommended
Rating : full ratings
Posted On : 2023-08-31 05:06:56

Posted By : RavenShira
Hello,

We had an amazing and very informative day. Our guide provided us with everything we needed or wanted to know. From trekking shoes to details of the happening on and around etna. He was very attentive to our needs and happy to linger longer in some places to make photos or go into detail if you had questions. The tour was provided in fluent german, spiked with anecdotes of past trips here and there as we got to enjoy the beautiful scenery. In the morning we were picked up at our airbnb stay, then had an informative ride to etna where we got some general information about etna, the area and latest eruptions. We trekked around different craters and through a beautiful mountain side with birch trees. We then continued on to the destroyed tourist site, seeing the extend of force nature could bring with the eruption of a volcano. For lunch we rested at a nice little restaurant, enjoying local food qith cool drinks before exploring a lava tunnle. We ended our day when we hot to the Alcantara site, where we cooled down in the icy water a bit before being brought home.

All in all it was probably the best decision we could have made. I looked through several tourist guides, but nearly all of them had costs hidden somewhere and you had to explicitly ask to know about them. Etnaway was straightforward about any costs, easy to contact, honest, informative and a pleasure to spend a day with. If I ever come back to catania and do another tour to etna, I won't have to search long because I know where to go this time.

Hope to see you again in the future
Marisa, Milena and Gabriel
Rating : full ratings
Posted On : 2021-08-11 11:48:29

Posted By : 156rodrigol
EtnaWay offered a customized visit by adapting to our needs.
Claudio provided us a radio terminal, because we were with our own car, and gave us a lot of information regarding the places that were part of our way.
In the volcano, a lot of beautiful scenarios,and explanations about formation types.
In the end, we went to an Italian restaurant to have a good lunch with good wine.
Rating : full ratings
Posted On : 2019-11-13 03:01:52