" I want to thank both you and our amazing guide from the bottom of my hearth for the best expedition that we have undertaken on any of our journeys. " (Etna Summit Tour - Kasper Kuijper, NL)
Eruption at Etna
At the summit crater of Etna volcano
Etna Trekking Tour
private and group tours to Etna volcano with a mountain guide
Tour type
Short tours and excursions: active volcanoes
Difficulty
Custom (variable)
Price per person
from 95 EUR p. p.
NOTICE: at the moment, we do not offer this tour.
Enjoy Europe's most active volcano with one of our expert mountain guides!
Join us on a private or group tour to Etna's majestic summit reaching more than 3300 m a.s.l.
Stand on the roof of the Mediterranean and enjoy a breathtaking view around. To peer into the abysses of Europe's largest active volcano's craters is an experience of a lifetime.
In addition to our group tours and individual private day tours, we also offer special tailor made itineraries to suit your travel needs and satisfy your whishes, including accommodation of all categories and private transfers, all backed up with expert knowledge from local specialists and fully certified volcanological and alpine guides.
Depending on the chosen itinerary, these tours require moderate to excellent physical condition, adequate clothing and take between 5 and 7 hours total duration.
Note:
Access to the summit area and the craters may be restricted at any time due to the frequently changing eruptive conditions.
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- Stand on top of Etna volcano - Europe's most active volcano
- Breathtaking scenery
- Great introduction to a live volcano!
- Private tours with expert guide
- Group tours to the summit
- Personalised tours to your own wishes.
Etna's summit craters from Etna South
Note:
ca. 5-6 hrs total / moderate
Day 1: Transfer to 2900 m - visit summit area - hike back to base (Rifugio Sapienza 1900 m)
Fantastic guided day walk up to the summit craters
Etna's summit region & short mountain traverse
Note:
ca. 5-7 hrs total / Challenging
Day 1: Transfer by cable car+jeep to 2900 m (Etna S) - Visit of the Summit Craters- Descend to Etna's north side
South-to-north traverse climbing up to the top of the mountain with its 3330 meters
Group tours to the Summit Craters
Note:
5-6 hrs total / moderate
Day 1: Transfer to 2900m- Ascent to the top - Return to the starting point
Come with us on a guided group tour to the top of Etna
Valle del Bove
Note:
5-7 hrs total / Challenging
Only suitable for people with no knee problems
Day 1: Descend into Valle del Bove, hike on 1991-93 lava flows
A great day-hike to one of Etna's most spectacular features: the Valle del Bove, a giant depression formed by repeated flank collapses of the volcano.
Schiena dell’Asino - Grotta dei Tre Livelli
Day 1: Schiena dell'Asino - Grotta dei 3 livelli
An exciting ridge walk along the southern crest of the Valle del Bove , with the visit of the longest and the most important lava tube on Mt. Etna.
Grotta del Gelo excursion:
Day 1: Excursion to Grotta del Gelo
Hike to the most beautiful of Etna's lava caves and the southernmost glacier in Europe.
Etna's summit craters from Etna North
Note:
ca. 5-6 hrs total / moderate
Day 1: Transfer to 2900 m - visit summit area - hike back to base (Piano Provenzana 1810 m)
Meeting point at the small ski station of Piano Provenzana ( Etna Nord); transfer to the summit area by 4x4; hike to the summit craters and descent through a spectacular canyon all the way back to Piano Provenzana where the tour ends.
Eruption Tour
Day 1: Eruption Tour
Experience the unforgettable - We will take you to admire the spectacular eruptions of the Europe's most active volcano
Arrival info:
Depending on the itinerary the meeting point will be at Rifugio Sapienza ( Etna South) or Piano Provenzana (Etna North). On request, we can include transfers (e.g. from Taormina or Catania) for you at additional cost.
Physical requirements
At least some experience with hiking on unpaved trails necessary.
Climbing up and down 300 m (ca. 1000 ft) at ca. 3000 m altitude.
Walking up and down on steep, loose sandy surfaces.
No fear of heights.
No breathing or serious respiratory problems.
Etna's summit craters from Etna South
Note:
ca. 5-6 hrs total / moderate
Day 1
Transfer to 2900 m - visit summit area - hike back to base (Rifugio Sapienza 1900 m)
Start at La Sapienza mountain station (1900 m elevation), then take cable car and/or jeeps to bring you quickly to ca. 2900 m elevation. From there, climb to the spectacular and ever changing summit craters (about. 1-1.5 hrs climbing, 400 m difference). The exact route of ascent and which of the summit craters can be visited will depend on weather, fitness, volcanic activity etc.
Next visit the impressive newly formed craters of the eruption in 2002-2003, the new crater formed in the 2001 eruption and a fantastic viewpoint on the rim of the Valle del Bove.
Etna's summit region & short mountain traverse
Note:
ca. 5-7 hrs total / Challenging
Day 1
Transfer by cable car+jeep to 2900 m (Etna S) - Visit of the Summit Craters- Descend to Etna's north side
Rosario explaining the interior of Etna's Bocca Nuova Crater (photo: Emanuela Carone/VolcanoDiscovery Italia)
Starting at La Sapienza, the cable car + jeep brings you to 2900 m on Etna's South side. Climb the dramatic and ever changing summit craters from there (about 400 m climbing). After the visit of the summit region, cross to the spectacular Northern rim of the Valle del Leone (at Pizzi Deneri) and finally have great fun descending from the North or Northeast side while "skiing" down a great ash slope. A car brings you back to the point of departure on Etna South.
Group tours to the Summit Craters
Note:
5-6 hrs total / moderate
Day 1
Transfer to 2900m- Ascent to the top - Return to the starting point
Treffpunkt im Rifugio Sapienza. Dort steigen wir mit der Seilbahn und dem Jeep auf 2900m und fahren weiter zu den Gipfelkratern (3330m).
Nach dem Besuch des Gipfels gehen wir zurück zur oberen Seilbahnstation (2500m)
bis zum Ausgangspunkt (Rifugio Sapienza 1900m).
Valle del Bove
Note:
5-7 hrs total / Challenging
Only suitable for people with no knee problems
Day 1
Descend into Valle del Bove, hike on 1991-93 lava flows
Descent into the Valle del Bove
Valle del Bove
We take the cable-car that bring us quickly to around 2500m altitude. From here, we descend into the
Valle del Bove, along an extremely steep (40+ degrees), but
soft sandy slope where we can run or slide down as if skiing (great fun!! and not dangerous), descending about 1000m altitude in less than about 30 minutes!
At the bottom of the giant depression, an almost
alien, rarely visited landscape awaits us,- surrounded by
magnificient volcanic dikes, steep walls of ancient lava rocks, we are on the vast field of lava from the 1991-1993 eruption. On an unmarked, but easy trail we cross a sector of the Valle del Bove until we reach one of its lowest points of the SW border, where we can easily climb out of the Valle in just about 30 mins. Within just another hour on an easy path downhill, through forest and passing by giant vertical basalt wall (used as training ground for advanced rock climbers), we arrive at one of the very few springs at Etna, and shortly after that at the road.
A jeep or a minibus will pick us up and bring us back to the point of departure.
Schiena dell’Asino - Grotta dei Tre Livelli
Day 1
Schiena dell'Asino - Grotta dei 3 livelli
View onto the Valle del Bove from Schiena dell'Asino. (Photo: Emanuela Carone)
After having arrived at the cable-car station (2500m), you hike along the huge ridge called "Back of the donkey", Schiena dell'Asino. This ridge has an exceptional view of the summit craters and the Valle del Bove, giant depression formed by repeated flank collapses of the volcano.
We round off the tour by visiting the Grotta dei Tre Livelli: It was the main channel of the 1792-93 eruption and with a depth of 304 m and a length of 1150m it is the deepest and longest lava tube on Mt. Etna. Reaching 40° the slope of this cave is very unusual for lava tubes. The name Grotta dei Tre Livelli (Three Levels Cave) is due to three different overlapping levels. The transfer between the levels requires a speleo ladder but the visit is possible without any knowledge of speleology. Participants must be able to crawl through some narrow and low passages. At the end a steep slope, which it could be tiring to ascend as the floor is loose scoria. These are the only difficulties of the cave exploration.
Inside the cave lives a small bat colony.
Requirements: To be in good physical shape and not suffer from vertigo and claustrophobia
Grotta del Gelo excursion:
Day 1
Excursion to Grotta del Gelo
Inside the Grotta del Gelo (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer)
Early start in 4x4 vehicle to get to the trailhead near Monti Pizilli at ca. 2400 m elevation on the NE rift zone.
From there, it's a 3 hrs hike through bizarre lava fields with many beautiful structures, recent cinder cones and eruptive fissures until the Grotta del Gelo cave is reached in the late morning. Its location is one of the most remote of whole Etna!
We visit of the cave, using crampoons to get onto the ice inside which forms a small permanent glacier normally present all year.
After lunch break at the cave, we hike back (ca. 3 hrs) along a remote trail towards the NE rift zone at lower elevation and circle part of Etna's NE flank between 1900 - 1600 m elevation, gradually entering more and more into beautiful and dense pine, birch and chestnut forests. On the way, a second great lava cave can be visited, the "Grotta dei Lamponi", with huge lava channel structures.
Etna's summit craters from Etna North
Note:
ca. 5-6 hrs total / moderate
Day 1
Transfer to 2900 m - visit summit area - hike back to base (Piano Provenzana 1810 m)
Meeting point at the small ski station of Piano Provenzana ( Etna Nord); transfer to the summit area by 4x4; hike to the summit craters and descent through a spectacular canyon all the way back to Piano Provenzana where the tour ends.
Day 1
Eruption Tour
Etna's lava flow in late March 2017
Special tours when and where an eruption takes place (such as during March-April 2017)
"I believe we will be talking about it for the next few years..."
At the Valle del Bove
"Hi Tom
...
Once again, we really appreciated with your arrangement and guidance. It was the most enjoyable and the highlight of our trip.
It had also opened our eyes to see how wonderful and powerful our planet is.
We still have been talking about it. I believe we will be talking about it for the next few years. I don't think it will be a forgettable experience in my life. Poor me, it will be very hard to find another experience as good as this again. Unless your will take us to somewhere else on earth.
...
We would also thank for your organisation with Rosario to be our volcano guide. He was amazing. Hope we can visit him once again in the future.
...
Thank you very much. Please keep in touch and take care.
Cheers
Tony / Moon / Joan / Eva"
(Tony S. from Hong Kong, about the Etna Volcano Special tour)
A great TRIP to Etna with Rosario
"... btw we had A great TRIP to Etna with Rosario, so much so it has really inspired my son to do Geology in Imperial College in London this September.
...
Cheers, Michelle" (Private Tours on Etna)
...thank you for the wonderful experience that we had... (Trekking Tour on Etna)
Dear Tom, we've just returned from Sicily and would like to thank you for the wonderful experience that we had. We had great weather and could descend into Etna's main crater. Your "variant 1" turned out to be the perfect challenge for our 9 year old daughter, although she found the craters and the fumes a bit scary. My wife and I rank this trip as one of our top 3 experiences so far!
Rosario was a perfect guide: he made us feel at ease and safe, provided just enough explanations without sounding like the stereotypical tourist guide and he was just 100% a pro.
Minor correction: the guides do have boots, backpacks and jackets that your customers can borrow.
I've enclosed a few pictures of us on Mt Etna.
Best regards Sven Jorissen"
a wonderful excursion at the Etna
"Hi Tom,
I would like with this email to thank Volcano Discovery and the Team (Specially Rosario Basile) for a wonderful excursion at the Etna.
I took nice photos which I would like to share at the web page of Volcano Discovery. What shall I do?
Best Regards,
Gabriela Marcano"
... about a trekking tour on Etna
"Hi Tom,
I am sorry that it has taken me so long to email you with feedback from the trip Janet smith and Michael bailey took in June with your guide Rosario to do the full traverse of Etna. It was fantastic and something we will never forget. It was a hard walk but very enjoyable and Rosario was fantastic, he is very knowledgeable, kind and friendly, we were like friends by the end of the walk. Please make sure that you feed back this to him...
Thank you for all your help and we would definitely recommend you to others
Kind Regards
Janet and Mick" (UK)
Feeback from a private group tour on Etna
Group on 15 Nov 2009
"Dear Tom,
On Nov. 15, 2009 a group of 11 people went up the Etna with our guide Rosario starting from Rifugio Sapienza.
It was the first vulcano tour for all of us and we were all impressed what we saw during the day: It was awesome to see the boiling craters on the top of the Etna and feeling the heat of this impressive active vulcano. The highlight was for sure the currently open lava spot on the Eastern side of the Etna, it was amazing to see and to feel the power of the earth.
We really have to thank you and Vulcano Dicsovery for the perfect organisation and we also have to thank our guide Rosario, who took care very well of the large group and provided us with very useful and detailed information on vulcanology and geology of the Etna. Rosario thank you very much for this perfect adventure tour!
Here I will also attach 1 foto of our group walking up the Etna on this day.
Thank you again for the organisation!
Mit freundlichen Grüßen/Best regards
Thomas Fruhmann"
Michelle at the airport with our driver
"Greetings, Tom!
Enclosed is the link for the photos from our trip. It was WONDERFUL. Please pass our greetings to Rosario who is such an amazing person. I have become a volcano-holic!
Michelle"
See Michelle's pctures on Shutterfly
"Just to say what a great trip to Etna and thanks to Rosario for showing me such wonderful sights. It was fantastic!" (T. Salt, UK) (
Etna Private Tours)
"Etna, 15th August 2008 Thank you, it was a great experience, and we looked differenly at all the Volcanos in the Eoliennes, specially Etna. Roberto is great guide, as he could share his passion and knowledge with us,and give so much explainations." (Patrick de la Chesnais, UK). See Patrick's photos from this excursion on this page.
"Hello Tom,
We're now back from another great week on Etna.
We very much enjoyed our day out with Marco on 5th June (Rosario had to lead a group that day) which Steve Banfield joined us for. We visited the 'Bottoniera'to do some filming/photos for a few hours, returning down the usual pleasant descent route around Mte. Montagnola.
We undertook numerous other walks on Etna during the week – some of which we had not done before - including a return to the current eruption site at the 'Bottoniera', when the activity had changed to more random and sporadic explosions from the upper vent, some of which were quite violent, although activity from the lower vent remained relatively predictable. We got some good night-time video footage of the active vents and lava flows from the Schiena dell'Asina on one of our evening excursions. On our last day, we got excellent views (and, luckily, some more good video footage – for once the Valle del Bove was mainly clear of clouds!) of the advancing active lava front between Mte. Simone & Mte. Centenari from the ridge above the Serra del Concazze; the eruption was clearly continuing in similar style to the previous days, although there were far less ash emissions as the upper vent was exhibiting more Strombolian-type activity." (Niki, UK, custom Etna tour)
One word that describes Etna is 'awesome'and one word that describes Rosario's skills as a guide 'outstanding' ! (Etna tour - Kamal M., UK)
Hi all, Sorry about the late reply, just getting back in the swing of things at work. We climbed Etna as planned, although you do not appreciate the grand size of it until you are there. Etna being over 3 times higher than any mountain in Ireland. We met our guide at the top of the road near the excursion centre by the cable car. After he had sorted us out with gear we headed off up the cable car and trekking across the snow. i must admit that i had never trekked in snow before nor had any of my team. (We hardly get any snow in Ireland only rain). After hiking for about 4-5 hours and lots of breaks we got to the cabin at the top with in about 30 - 45 mins from the main cones.
It is hard to describe the mountain. it was total covered with snow and was a small bit cold but once you keep moving you don't really feel it, a clear blue sky since we were above the clouds and total quite not a person for miles. Peaceful a bit different than my job.
After the guide digging out the snow from the cabin door we ventured in to get some much needed food and hot drinks which we had carried up the mountain. after resting at the cabin it was decided to head back down, as one of the teams old back injury had came back to haunt him. On the way down we looked at some lateral craters and vents. We later headed back down the cable car and to the excursion centre.
This trip was well worth going and i would recommend it to any one traveling to scissile to attempt this trip. Who knows I may come back and attempt it again myself one day, when I am a bit fitter I think.
A special thanks to the guide for staying with us and showing us the beauty of the mountain. I am sure he could have climbed the mountain in the half the time it he wanted to. (lol). And to all the staff of Volcano Discovery for making this trip one of the best trips i have been on.
Yours sincerely
Christopher Corbett, Igor Kendrinkski, Paul Doolan, Marco (Ireland)
Tom,
I am writing to you to
thank you for a wonderful tour.
Both yourself and Rosario provided a fantastic service from the moment we enquired to the moment we arrived back at Rifugio Sapienza. Rosario was a great guide and he helped us to get much more out of our trip to Mt Etna than we could have hoped for and truly made it a trip to remember.
Should you ever need a reference, I would be more than happy to oblige. As soon as I can, I will be putting some photos on our website of Rosario and our trip. Should you want a copy of any of them, just let me know. I will let you know when I have published them. It will probably be at least a week though.
Many thanks once again, Daniel & Julie
http://www.danielandjulie.co.uk/ "Tom, Had a great tour, Etna was more than impressive, just fantastic - like a moonscape up there. ..." (J Perston, UK)
".. Just got back from Sicily. I had a very enjoyable time even though Etna has been shy and did not want to put on a performance. On the Monday I went round to the North side visiting the Grotta del ghiaccio, first time wearing crampons. The second day was spent in the Valle del Bove. The third day spent at the summit craters. The fourth day I joined Marta visiting the Alcantara Gorge, Taormina and spending the evening and next day in Catania.
As usual, Marta maintained the professional standards I have come to expect from the "Volcano Discovery" team, and I expect the three other clients felt the same way." (S. Banfield, UK)
"This is a note to say that we enjoyed the climb and you made it
successful, interesting and informative. Thank you very much for being an excellent guide. I attach two of our photos, one taken at the crater rim - and one of you! ... Thanks again Rosario!" (T Ecott, Etna private tour, May 07)
"Just a quick email to say what an amazing time I had hiking up Mount Etna last Thursday. It was an
amazing experience I shall never forget, much thanks to our guide who was
informative, safety conscious and extremely patient! Regards, Francoise J." (Etna private tour, May 07)
"Tom... really enjoyed the day. Because of the amount of snow, we had to walk from the top of the cable car, and that made it a very long day but all the more memorable.
The visibility from the top was very good, and we could clearly see the Aeolian islands, although it was very hard to see into the crater because of the clouds of gas. We had some walking equipment, but the snow shoes Rosario brought were very useful, if a little difficult to get used to.
Rosario was great, with a very good knowledge of the mountain, volcanos, and good English (even if he didn't think so). We would certainly recommend yourselves and/or Rosario to anyone else visiting Sicily who wanted to go on Etna (or any other volcanos). Mark & Sarah (Scotland)"
"Having visited Etna independently on 2 previous occasions, I wanted to join a small group so that I could hike to the main craters. I found the trip with Tom in July 2004 well organised and informative. Tom and the Etna guide that was with us for our 3 day trip took us to parts of Etna that no other tourist would probably know of or could visit safely. The hiking was long and fun. The visit to the main craters was fantastic and allowed us to see Etna in all its glory.
I will definately be joining Tom again later this year to visit Java and woud recommend Volcano Discovery to anyone with an interest in hiking volcanoes." (Andrew Jackson, UK)
