Trips & tickets
Cable car up, then a volcanological guide leads the walk towards the summit craters across lava flows and volcanic sand. Pickup from Catania is optional.
Cable car to about 2,500 m, a 4x4 to about 2,800 m, then a guided walk to around 3,000 m with the summit craters in view and a stop at a side crater.
A guided jeep or van tour of the national park from Catania: old explosive vents, a lava-flow cave with helmet and torch, local tastings in Zafferana Etnea and sunset at about 2,000 m.
The full GetYourGuide listing for Mount Etna — cable car tickets, 4x4 transfers, guided walks, quad excursions and day trips from Catania and Taormina, with live prices.
Etna is not one trip but several, sold by different operators: the cable car from Rifugio Sapienza, the 4x4 transfer that continues above it, guided walks towards the summit craters, quad and e-bike excursions on the lower slopes, and coach or minibus day trips from Catania and Taormina that often add wine tasting or the Alcantara gorge.
Which one is right depends on how high you want to get, how much walking you want to do, and whether you are driving yourself. These pages compare them plainly.
Plan it properly
Both roads up Etna compared: the south side at Rifugio Sapienza (1,910 m) and the north side at Piano Provenzana, driving routes from Catania and Taormina, the daily AST bus, parking and when a tour is simpler.
How the three stages above Rifugio Sapienza work — cable car to 2,500 m, 4x4 to 2,800 m, guided walk to 3,000 m — what they cost, and why the summit zone above 2,920 m is for guided groups only.
Etna through the year: what changes between summer and winter on the upper stages, the days the bus does not run, sunset versus morning visits, eruptions and closures, and what to wear from 1,910 m to 3,000 m.
The volcano
Photographs licensed from Shutterstock.
The cable car climbs from the station at 1,920 m to 2,500 m. From there a 4x4 bus in summer (a snowcat in winter) continues to 2,800 m, and a short trek with a volcanological guide goes on to 3,000 m. The tours page compares the combinations.
No. Visits to the summit craters must be accompanied by qualified alpine or volcanological guides, and access changes with volcanic activity. The guided summit hikes include the guide.
It changes with eruptions. INGV reported a record 3,357 m in 2021, and in July 2024 measured the eastern rim of the Voragine crater at about 3,369 m, the greatest height ever measured on Etna.
Yes. An AST bus leaves Piazza Giovanni XXIII in Catania at 8:15 for Rifugio Sapienza and returns at 16:30, daily except 25 December, 1 January, 1 May, 15 August and Easter Sunday. A return ticket costs €6.60 and can be bought on the bus. Check the timetable before you travel.
