This is one of our day trips from Messina port. The tour starts with a visit to Castelmola Sicily, a picturesque village just above Taormina. Here you can enjoy a beautiful landscape, with a wonderful terrace overlooking Mount Etna, the highest volcano in Europe, and the magnificent bay of Giardini Naxos, the first Greek colony in Sicily.
After a stroll in the medieval village of Castelmola Sicily, we will get to the beautiful Taormina. We will go along Corso Umberto, the ancient Roman Street Valeria. You can enjoy typical things to do in Taormina: the historic center with a tour guide or on your own, the Greek-roman theatre (the ancient theatre of Taormina, optional), the old churches and monuments, the most exclusive shops, the pastries, and ice cream shops to taste local products and treats.
This Taormina excursion also includes lunch in one of the typical restaurants, to try the specialties of Sicilian cooking.
Posted By : Kyle_A
Not worth the time or money.
The tour description is deceptive. We thought it would be ancient sites/architecture but you spend the entire Taormina in a packed city with the occasional church you see from the outside.
Castelmola was a cute village on a hill but the Roman ruins are not included in the tour.
The tour guide gave virtually no information on ancient history, architectural knowledge, or actual knowledge of the history of the sites. Her accent was so thick it was truly hard to understand her plus you’re in a crowded city half the time with poor quality speaker/headphones that I could not hear anything she said once we arrived in Taormina.
You basically pay for a ride to and from the port. You’re much better of getting a private driver or staying closer to the port.
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Posted On : 2023-08-27 18:16:18 
Posted By : trinkaberry
We did Castelmola and Taormina + the Greek theater (without the included lunch) as a cruise excursion, and ended up going to the same restaurant since others in our tour were already going there. Both towns are beautiful! There was a good balance between the guided tour and free time in both places. Mariarita was a great guide, making accommodations for people and herding the kittens quite well. 😅 If you’re doing the included lunch, just note that the restaurant does cooking lessons so it was busy and quite slow (especially if you order pizza) - but it was really tasty. Also I don’t think the Greek theater was particularly great - if the weather is right you’ll get a really cool view of Mount Etna, but otherwise it’s not as interesting as any other Greek or Roman theater you can see in other places (they still host shows there so they had these ugly white plastic chairs covering the lower levels), and definitely not worth it if you’re there on a super hot day when you can’t even enjoy yourself and take your time wandering the premises.
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Posted On : 2023-07-31 04:51:06 
Posted By : Marg6330
Excellent tour. Our guide Chiani was wonderful. She had a great knowledge of the history of the area. Lunch was four courses with wine at this delightful restaurant in Taormina. Definetly recommend.
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Posted On : 2019-10-23 03:28:24
Posted By : Trail29361293876
We enjoyed very much of this beautiful trip to Taormina and Castelmola, and the included lunch in
this tour was absolutely fabulous. We thought the appetizer was the main course, and it surprised us with a tasty main course and the ice cream for desert.
We love our two lovely lady tour guides, they are very good.
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Posted On : 2019-05-10 14:37:22
