Located on the island of Sicily, Mt Etna is the tallest active volcano in Europe. Explore its different aspects on this active tour from Catania that includes hiking up the volcano along a trail to the inner crater. See ancient lava flows, learn about the geological history of the volcano, admire panoramic views and hike into a lava cave.

Mt Etna tour from Catania
Experience this active volcano up close
Hike along a mountain trail up to 1200mt to spot lava flows and enter a lava cave
Hear about its geological history, and see native vegetation
Admire views of the Sicilian landscape

What's Included

Driver/guide
Professional guide
Free hotel pickup and drop-off (in Catania except ZTL areas)
Free transport by A/C minivan/jeep/minibus

Food and drinks
Use of Trikke
Clothes
Disposable gloves and mask

Meeting And Pickup

You can head directly to the meeting point, or request pickup

Meeting point

Via Duca di Camastra
Via Duca di Camastra, 95030 Gravina di Catania CT, Italy
Etna Est Info Point - Free and wide parking area

Pickup points

Select a pickup point

Start time

09:00 am

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

Pickup details

Pick-up times can be between 8:20 and 9:00am. In case of accommodations in ZTL areas we will give a meeting point reachable by walking 5 minutes

What To Expect

Etna Est

Admission Ticket Included

Mount Etna

Admission Ticket Included

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Children must be accompanied by an adult
May be operated by a multi-lingual guide
Not wheelchair accessible
Operates in all weather conditions, please dress appropriately
Service animals allowed

Infants must sit on laps
No heart problems or other serious medical conditions
Most travellers can participate
not recommended for travelers with flu or cold
not available for people who has covid
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 20 travellers

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.
Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.

Cut-off times are based on the experience’s local time.
This experience requires good weather. If it’s cancelled due to poor weather, you’ll be offered a different date or a full refund.

Traveller Photos

Traveller Tips

We got helmets for the cave and upon request they provide hiking boots as well, everything included in the price.

Tour isn't too long or exhausting and gives a good impression of mount Etna's might

Reviews

5.0

684 reviews

Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews

Reviews by Viator travellers.

Showing 1-10 of 684 reviews

Unreliable

Roberta_D, Oct 2023

Our pick up point was changed to a location more than 60 miles away from the original. We were forced to cancel our tour and both the tour company and Viator refused to give us a refund because it was within the 24 hour window. Will not book with either again.

Very good. Much fun.

Christopher_J, Oct 2023

I strongly suggest booking this tour. Great time. Guide was very knowledgeable and was passionate about the area. Drive up and down the volcano was a touch harrowing at times but when is it not in Italy! Wine and biscotti were a great touch. Wear good footwear and bring a sweater as it’s breezy up the hill. Lots of reviews criticize the guides accent on here. You’re in Italy. The guide will likely have an Italian accents. Deal with it, don’t complain. You’re on vacation.

Mount Etna

Mark_P, Sept 2023

Interesting to e plods the Lava Tunnel, the scenery breathtaking and awesome to see the Volcano slopes

Great experience and even...

Suki_V, Sept 2023

Great experience and even greater tour guide Daniel! Defo do this if in Sicily, the coach, the cave and the big crater are all 10/10

Great trip

Susan_C, Sept 2023

Fabulous trip with great guide who was very informative. Liked the nice touch of local wine and biscotti!

Great guide and experience

Nathan_K, Sept 2023

Lovely experience with an energetic guide that was passionate on sharing his knowledge of Etna. It was a manageable hike with beautiful views!

Most active volcano in the world...Definitely a Worth a Visit!

Tania_D, Sept 2023

This was a really nice excursion to visit the world's most active volcano while visiting the beautiful city of Catania. The tour guide; Leonardo, did a great job. He was friendly and informative. The pick up and return service to our hotel and ride to Mount Etna were an added bonus. We had a small group in English and there were no issues. He took us into a lava cave and were given helmets -- that was fun! The difference in temperature was quite noticeable and very refreshing and cooler than the high temps in the city. We climbed up; not sure how many feet, it was a little challenging and the views were amazing. I highlyrecommend this to anyone visiting Sicily/Catania. Biscotti and Sicilian house wine were a treat! Grazie Leonardo :-)

Very nice experience...

Qiang_Y, Sept 2023

Very nice experience about volcano and Catania’s history. It is highly recommended activity if you stay in Catania.

Worth a visit

Esko_J, Sept 2023

Good trip. Pace was a bit too slow at times since it was quite a big group with dual language (IT/EN) Guide was excellent.

Not what we expected

Roberta_M, Sept 2023

Communication with the fompsny was poor. People were told 3 different meeting times. Meeting point was far from the ship. Several of us thought we had a private tour not a group tour. Guide provided little information on the ride. Etna was awesome. The cave part was amazing.

Response from Host, Sept 2023

Dear customer, We're sorry, but we have to dispute what you stated, which is also denied by the various positive reviews we receive concerning this particular product. To be precise, every customer received the same message regarding the pick up time (7:50am) the day before the tour, message to which you also responded. If anything, people complained about your rude delay to the activity. The same goes for the meeting spot, which was clearly indicated and easily reached by the other customers. In no description we talk about a private tour, and no other customer complained about what was described and done. P.S just to have an ulterior clarification, we'd like to know the year your kids were born in.

Great tour.Communication was excellent and our guide picked and dropped us off at our pick up point exactly on time.

Gary_D, Aug 2023

Our tour guide Maurizio made the experience very interesting.The lava tunnel was fascinating.Recommend

Misleading information for pick up point on website

Tariq_S, Aug 2023

We booked tickets online through Viator for Mount Etna morning tour and selected pickup from the dropdown list provided from our hotel St Alphio Garden. The confirmation email we received stated our pickup point as Sant Alphio Garden Hotel & SPA. We then received notification that pickup was not available outside of Catania even though our pickup point was available to select on booking the Tour. We had conversations with Viator stating that it would be difficult for us to get to Catania in time for the Tour but as we had booked within 24hrs we could not receive a refund. We discussed the situation with our Hotel reception, for advice; there was one bus that would get us to Catania in time for the Tour so we decided to try to meet the pickup time. We asked at the hotel whether we needed bus tickets in advance but were advised that we could pay on the bus. The following morning we attempted to travel on the 1st 2 buses however they were full and only accepting people with pre booked tickets. We contacted the Tour rep to advise this and received response that we should have pre booked tickets – that information would have been useful the previous day! The only other option was a taxi but we did not have the funds to pay in excess of 100Euros for the journey. We requested a refund, ref BR-1047897463, and received the following response “Unfortunately, at this time we are unable to offer a refund. However, the Operator said that if you want they can do a private tour for you to pick you up in your hotel in Giardini Naxos with extra cost, or you can reach them in Catania on Thursday, August 10th because they have the last spots left. Please let us know as soon as possible so that we can forward your response to the Operator”. We responded stating that we were leaving Sicily on Thursday 10 Aug but we were interested in the private tour offered and requested details as to what the extra fee would be. Even though the private tour was offered and we asked for more details we had no further contact regarding this but received the following correspondence “Thank you for your response regarding the outcome of your recent refund request. In light of your continued concern, we have done a secondary review. As part of this review, we investigated all materials and pertinent information including (but not limited to) the product details on the tour page, your ticket, and any communications regarding this booking. Based on all available information, we regret to inform you that we are unable to issue a refund for this booking”. Please review this situation, in light of the fact that the selections on the website are clearly incorrect, that we have a confirmation stating our requested hotel pickup point and that despite this we still attempted to join the Tour. We feel that evidence supports a full refund.

Response from Host, Aug 2023

Dear customer, We're sorry for your 1-star review. The message of the pick up confirmation from your hotel was probably a defult one because we, as you also confirmed, then sent you an email informing you that, as the tour leaves from Catania and your hotel was in Giaridni Naxos (40 minutes drive), it was not possible to come pick you up there and so there was the possibility of either coming by car or by train/bus to designated meeting points. Again, we're sorry for what happened, but we're firmly convinced that a refund is due when we make a mistake on our part, or if it happens to be some misleading information on the website (which we checked, and there are none): from our part, we received this review because you didn't accept our alternatives (namely also the opportunity of changing the date, which also damages us because we'd have to close two spots for you another day than the one you chose, and your seats would have been empty the day of the tour). We both know we don't derve this review as it is only a mean for you to express your unmotivated dissent.

Fantastic views with exceptionally knowledgeable guide.

Richard_L, Aug 2023

The tour guide we had was exceptionally knowledgeable and kept the group engaged throughout, he clearly had a passion for the job making it thoroughly entertaining. The lava cave was spectacular as was the view of the mountain, it would’ve been nice to go further up the mountain but you’d need to do a much longer tour to achieve this. Highly recommend this tour operator and guide if you are looking for a short trip to the mountain.

Beautiful, fun and interesting

Maximilien_D, Aug 2023

The tour is very beautiful and worth it. The guide takes you to a fascinating lava cave and then up the volcano. What makes it worth paying the tour (instead of going by yourself) is the guide himself. We were lucky to have (gaiton/guy/gayton (not sure about the spelling) and he was fantastic. Very passionate and enthusiastic. You learn a lot about volcanos and the region. He jokes and included everybody in the group.

Fantastic half day tour!

Vanessa_I, July 2023

Fantastic trip! Dario was an awesome guide with great knowledge on the history of Mt Etna. Biscotti & wine an additional treat!

A very memorable experience.

Duncan_T, July 2023

Our guide was excellent. His evident knowledge, love & respect for the landscape helped to ensure a very worthwhile & memorable experience.

Fantastic journey

Michael_C, July 2023

Dario was an excellent tour guide. You could see he loved nature itself and was very informative about all aspects of the tour. I would highly recommend him as a guide.

Great Tour of Etna

soccerman5, July 2023

Pick up from the hotel was a nice feature for this trip. Our guide spoke English very well. The scenes from the volcano were incredible. His knowledge of the formations and eruptions were great. And as an added bonus we got homemade cookies and wine.

Guide was knowledgeable...

H_T, July 2023

Guide was knowledgeable but he embarrassed my adult daughter in front of everyone on several occasions by making a spectacle off her for no reason— I did confront him on this— he apologized— but to make an adult cry because you are showing off is unacceptable I hope he learned his lesson and never makes anyone feel less than again

It was a wonderful day...

Judith_N, July 2023

It was a wonderful day and I enjoyed the trip. However, I signed up for an English guide and as much as our guide was helpful and knowledgeable, it was almost impossible to understand him. He also did not really understand us. It was unfortunate because I think we could have all learned more. We were five women and we all had the same problem. But he was more than kind and allowed everyone their space. I personally liked him - just would have liked to understand him better.

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