Sicily

Top Sicily landmarks

Etna, Summit Craters

Name: Etna, Summit Craters
Brand: AITNE
SKU: 204150P1
Price: 65.89 USD
Rating: 5.0 (193 reviews)

Badge of ExcellenceSicily, Italy

5 hours
Mobile ticket
Offered in: English

Explore our promoted experiences

Sicily, Italy

Excursion to the Egadi Islands

from $98.83

Likely to Sell Out

Sicily, Italy

Private Egadi Sail Boat Tour to Favignana and Levanzo

from $1,569.24

Per group

Sicily, Italy

Catania: Etna & Food Jeep Tour

from $97.73

Viator earns higher commissions on experiences featured here

Overview

Mt. Etna offers beautiful views from every angle, making it a must-do for most travelers, but doing the hike alone can be intimidating since the volcano is an active one. Journey safely to the summit by prebooking this Mt. Etna Summit Trekking Experience. You’ll first take a cable car and 4x4 (own expense) up to the area of Torre del Filosofo before you begin your trek through craters to the summit.

Trek to the top of one of the highest active volcanoes in Europe
Stop at Mt. Etna craters like Bocca Nuova and others
Hiking equipment — including trekking boots and helmet — is provided
A morning start time leaves your evening free for other activities

What's Included

The price includes the guide and the equipment (trekking boots, jacket, felapt, helmet). The price of the round-trip cable car and jeep up to 2900mt are excluded

Private transportation

Meeting and Pickup

Meeting point

La Terrazza Dell'Etna
Etna Sud, Piazza Vittorio Emanuele, 95030 Nicolosi CT, Italy

Start time

09:00 AM

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

What To Expect

Mount Etna (Pass By)

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Not wheelchair accessible
Near public transportation
Not recommended for travelers with back problems
Not recommended for pregnant travelers

No heart problems or other serious medical conditions
Travelers should have a moderate physical fitness level
Not recommended for those with asthma problems
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 15 travelers

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 canceled due to poor weather, you’ll be offered a different date or a full refund.
This experience requires a minimum number of travelers. If it’s canceled because the minimum isn’t met, you’ll be offered a different date/experience or a full refund.

Traveler Photos

Featured review

Irena_P

The guide was very knowledgeable, the tour was well paced and very interesting. I really liked the entire experience. If you want just to hike around the mountain it is free to a certain point, and you can do it on your own. But in order to go to the crater this can only be done via a tour. And I would say that you shouldn't underestimate that this an active volcano. So there are no regular "mountain paths" and marks to follow. When there is an eruption only the guides would know where to pass, etc., and everything changes so I would definitely take a guide if you want to go to the top.

Reviews

5.0

193 reviews

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

Reviews by Viator travelers.

We perform checks on reviews

Showing 1-10 of 193 reviews

Fantastic Adventure

Neil_B, Apr 2024

It was a fantastic adventure, great guide who was brilliant with our 7 year old. Downside, this is proper hiking, and while the boots and jackets were ok, there needed to be more information on the likely conditions and terrain as we would have come better prepared.

Etna tour

Irena_P, Nov 2023

Do it to get wiser and find your limitations.

nilam, Oct 2023

Our guide Giuseppe had a lot of knowledge and he enjoyed with the whole group. The hike can be described as difficult/hard for someone who is not used to climbing mountains. As an inexperienced mountain climber, it was difficult for me sometimes so it would be wise to do research before you sign up for this tour(I had done the research and I am a reasonably fit person so i had considered the possibility of being unable to do it). With a little bit of support from Giuseppe and our group, I was able to make it up to the summit and down in one piece. The one star less is because they didn't mention to bring a mask to protect yourself from the gas emissions. You could put a hand on your mouth but that makes breathing difficult than it already is that high up. Bring enough food and water as it takes 5-6 hours for the whole hike. I would also recommend to stay in a hotel nearby the meeting point so that your body has a chance to adjust to the high altitude before your tour.It was an amazing experience and definitely not to be underestimated as a normal hike.

Good, but description could prepare you better.

Lucy_S, Oct 2023

Our hike was nice and we saw lots of activity at the craters. So that part was great and I would recommend it based on this. However this tour description could prepare you better for the day in several ways. - the cable car and 4x4 are not optional and cost €78 per person. While the description mentions an extra cost, it doesn’t say how much and €78 each is a lot! - in some parts the gas was strong and it gets in your throat which is uncomfortable. At this point the guide told us to put on a buff or mask, but we had not been told to bring those. So tell people to bring this. - it was supposed to be 4.5h hike, so we brought some snacks but not a whole lunch. By the time we finished it was over 6 hours. You should tell people to bring full lunch with them, we had not brought enough food. - this is not an easy hike and several people in the group found it too hard and stopped. You need to be fit to do this.

A very experienced, safe and friendly guide.

Phil_S, Sep 2023

Davide is a very helpful, knowledgeable, safe and experienced guide. We all benefitted from his 20+ years of experience guiding on Mt Etna.

Moon walk

Michele_M, Sep 2023

The excursion was challenging but not too difficult. Everyone enjoyed the experience, especially jumping down the steep hills during the descent.

Just do it

Jeremy_B, Sep 2023

What an awesome tour! Marco, our guide was really good. He was informative, jovial and patient and clearly knew how to wait for the whole group without making the slower ones feel awkward. The actual volcano was brilliant and an experience myself and my whole family thoroughly enjoyed. It wasn’t cheap but then ‘you get what you pay for’

Aitne Guides just magnificent

Justin_P, Aug 2023

The tour itself was magnificent. The tour company & guides were superb in every way. What could have been clearer on the Viator website was the costings for the additional cable car & 4x4 ride. This was an extra €200 & that should have been made clearer on the Viator booking procedure.

Response from Host, Aug 2023

Hello, Thanks for your really nice review. Of course the 200€ are not for person but for a group of 4. Thanks again and see you soon in our volcanoes 🌋

Amazing experince on Etna. Ludilo brale...

Marko_R, Jul 2023

Experience and organization was amazing thanks to our guides Marco and Massimo. They really take care of people and are really friendly. We are really thankfull and satisfied. Highly recommended to everyone.

Fantastic

Salvatore_C, Jun 2023

The guys, Marco Giuseppe and Umberto, was fantastic very expert and very friendly..i did in June and was cold bring hoodie and jacket...very steep up and down but worthy it.

Our guide was AWESOME. He...

STEPHANIE_S, Apr 2023

Our guide was AWESOME. He was so knowledgeable and brought us to some incredible spots I would never have been able to find on my own. I would highly recommend!

Response from Host, Apr 2023

thank you very much for your review. we are happy that you spent a nice day on Etna together with our guides

Climb Etna, but not to the summit

Cristina_B, Apr 2023

It was a great experience but they didn’t guide us to the summit as it was published in the description. After the payment they sent us a message and they informed us about the fact that “At the moment cause the volcano eruption it's forbidden to arrive to the very top so we have to stop at 3000m ( more or less). In really we climb at the altitude of 2965 m. When I asked the guide about this he said that current regulations don't allow the climb to the top. I think that it should be written on the description of the tour which is promoted as Etna -tour to the summit

Response from Host, Apr 2023

Thanks for the nice review. unfortunately the ordinances that regulate access to the crater can change at any time, for this reason it is specified in the description that the program can change based on the weather and the laws that regulate access to the volcano. Let's stay in a next time for the top

good but not what was advertised

Andrew_W, Nov 2022

The tour was ok but you won't get the tour described here. Etna is on an orange advisory and has been for over a month so it's not possible to go above 3000m. Of course they don't tell you about the changes until the day before, when it's too late to cancel. They also changed the start time from 9am to 8:30. The guide provided some information but much of it was not very clear. While we did go past a sign that said you could only go past it with a guide, it's not patrolled and lots of people had gone up on their own.

Response from Host, Nov 2022

Thanks for taking the time to write the review. In the description of the tour it is specified that the tour may undergo changes due to volcanic activity and the weather. The rules governing the ascent to the top can change even from week to week but despite this we warn customers in time to give them the opportunity to cancel the tour if they want, perhaps also for this and for the high quality standard that we try to keep during the excursions we have a very high average reviews. We advanced by 30m only because in the afternoon there was the possibility of cloud cover, one of our driving tasks is also to adapt our trips according to the weather conditions in order to guarantee the best conditions for our customers. I wish you a good day Marco

Guide excellent. Company and reception very poor!

Russ_H, Oct 2022

Our guide, Simone, was excellent, very knowledgeable and personable. However. The woman on reception was pretty unpleasant and rude. Check in was absolutely chaotic. The itinerary was changed last minute due to Etna being active. As we only booked the day before I'm convinced that the company knew this to be the case at the time of booking. Overall a great experience though.

Response from Host, Oct 2022

Hi Russ, we are happy that you enjoyed your day on Etna with Simone. Honestly, this is the first time we have received bad feedback on our secretariat. Our secretary has been working with us for several years and has always shown professionalism and kindness. Then it may happen that on the busiest days there may be a bit of confusion at the reception desk but I don't know that none of our staff has been rude to her and since you still had a nice day with our guide I find it incorrect give 3 stars (if you take a look at our reviews they are almost all 5 stars). I wish you a good day . Marco Tomasello

Excellent guides, and the volcano speaks for itself

Giuseppe_R, Aug 2022

The guides do an excellent job managing large groups of people across different languages in preparing the equipment, moving up the volcano by cable car and then by foot, and educating the groups about what they are seeing. It is an efficient and excellent operation. The volcano itself speaks for itself, no matter the weather. One cannot expect the guides to communicate with Jupiter to make the weather perfect. On our particular day it was a combination of clouds, rain sprinkles, and sun, with the wind moving the clouds and steam across the lava fields. Stunning and an incredible experience.

Great tour!

Yann_Q, Jul 2022

Seeing spots of high temperature from last eruption, the glacier underneath the magma, and the various craters.

Really happy with our tour!

Yasmin_H, Jul 2022

We had a great tour of Etna with our guide Marco. It was a very windy day but he made sure we were as sheltered as possible from the wind whilst seeing key points of the volcano. The summit was difficult at points, but Marco made sure it was a suitable speed for all of the group.

Amazing trip to Etna

Marion_M, Oct 2021

We had a great time, especially because of our fantastic guide Pepe, who took time to explain and show us lot of things. We felt very comfortable and safe with him. We highly recommend this excursion!

Most memorable experience in Sicily!

Anita_S, Aug 2021

This was an outstanding trip and our most memorable experience in the whole Siciliy! Francesco was a very knowledgeable guide (a volcanologist), at the same time fun and adventurous! At our request the company helpfully arranged transfer from Catania for additional fee and they provided excellent hiking boots, wind jackets and a bakcpack for us. Highly recommended trip!

Excellent

Grant_C, Jul 2021

The guides were great. We had 3 and they could all speak a few languages so everyone knew what was going on. The morning started with a few mini eruptions and it looked like we were not going to be able to go as fog drifted in as well. Low and behold the eruptions stopped and the fog cleared for us to get up and see a live lava flow! What an experience and the guides were great navigating paths as the ash from earlier eruptions had covered all the existing trails.