This review compares our experience on Mt Etna and Taormina to other private guided experiences as that was our expectation.

This was more a driver who didn’t speak much English, not an escort and not a guide. We are not sure we even saw the “right” part of Mt Etna as the driver took us where he wanted and said the Cable Car side was not worth it. We asked to go to the Cable Car and either shorten the Vineyard or Taormina, because we wanted to go up the Cable Car. The description from Viator wasn’t specific enough for us to demand or complain but a disappointing start.

The vineyard and wine tasting were nice but nothing special as we have been to wineries all over the world. We cut that short.

Taormina is wonderful and we had almost 3 full hours there. Driver dropped us and came back.

The vehicle was a Mercedes van with no working passenger windows so taking pictures was hard, air conditioning was weak (32 Celsius/90+ F outside), driver didn’t have or offer water during the drive (something we had come to expect on these type of tours)- we had our own thankfully.

The drivers communication was weak although his English is far better than our Italian. Nice man who meant well.

Overall an average experience.

This was an amazing tour. We spent time at the lava pits at Mount Etna. There was a small square with shops where you could buy souvenirs made from lava rock. Next we went to the Gambino Winery. We were greeted with a glass of their white wine and beautiful views of the vineyard. Once inside we were treated to delicious food and wine pairings. We are now lifelong Gambino Winery customers. I would highly recommend this tour. Unfortunately, we did not make it to Taormina because we chose to spend so much time at the lava pits and winery. It worked out in our favor though as there was a political summit happening in Taormina while we were in Sicily. Our driver was friendly and happy to share information about Sicily and the sights we were seeing. Again, highly recommend this tour!

This was an amazing tour with the pinnacle being offered great wine and food at the Gambino winery. Our tour guide was local and was very informative.