Taormina sits on a terrace three hundred metres above the Ionian Sea, with Etna filling the horizon to the south. It has been a resort since the eighteenth century, which explains both its polish and its crowds. The town is small enough to walk end to end in twenty minutes, so a good day here is not about covering distance — it is about being in the right place at the right hour.
Start at the Greek Theatre, and start early
The Teatro Antico is the reason most people come, and it deserves the first hour of the day. Built by the Greeks in the third century BC and substantially rebuilt by the Romans, it is carved into the hillside so that the stage opens onto a view of the coastline and the volcano. No photograph prepares you for the moment you walk through the entrance tunnel and the panorama arrives all at once.
Aim to be at the gate when it opens. By eleven the upper tiers are shoulder to shoulder and the light has gone flat. Early morning gives you soft light, room to sit, and the strange pleasure of a two-thousand-year-old auditorium almost to yourself. In summer the theatre hosts concerts and film screenings, which can mean partial closures during the day — worth checking before you go.
Corso Umberto without the crush
The main street runs between two medieval gates, Porta Messina and Porta Catania, lined with palazzi, pastry shops and boutiques. Walk it once for the length of it, then leave it. The rewards in Taormina are the turnings: the terrace of Piazza IX Aprile with its black-and-white chequered floor, the small staircases dropping away between houses, the Villa Comunale gardens laid out by a Scottish noblewoman in the nineteenth century and still the quietest green space in town.
Stop for a granita — almond or lemon, with a brioche — rather than a full lunch. Taormina is expensive at the table and you will want the appetite later.
Isola Bella and the cable car
Below the town, connected by a sand spit that appears and disappears with the tide, Isola Bella is a tiny island turned nature reserve. The pebble beach beside it is one of the most photographed spots in Sicily. The easiest way down is the cable car from Via Pirandello, which takes three minutes and saves you a long series of hairpin bends.
If you want the coastline rather than the beach, seeing it from the water is a genuinely different experience: the bays, the Blue Grotto and the cliffs below the town only make sense from below. Our Taormina boat tour covers that stretch, with time to swim where the water is clearest.
Castelmola, five hundred metres up
Above Taormina, a short and steep drive leads to Castelmola, a village wrapped around a rock with a ruined castle at the top. It takes half an hour to walk, and the view back down over Taormina with Etna behind it is the finest in the area. The local speciality is almond wine, served cold in tiny glasses in bars that have been pouring it for generations. It is sweeter than you expect and better than it sounds.
The Godfather villages
Savoca and Forza d’Agro, half an hour north, are where Coppola filmed the Sicilian sequences of The Godfather — Corleone’s exile, the wedding, the church. Bar Vitelli in Savoca still has the terrace where Michael asks for the hand of Apollonia, and it still serves granita to people who arrive quoting the film.
What makes these villages worth the detour is not only the cinema. They are hill towns that tourism has largely passed by: stone alleys, a crypt of mummified bodies in Savoca, silence at midday. Combined with Taormina and Castelmola they make a full and varied day, which is exactly how our Taormina, Savoca and Castelmola tour is built, with a version including lunch for those who would rather sit down properly than eat on the move.
Practical notes that save the day
- Driving: the historic centre is closed to traffic. Use the Lumbi or Porta Catania car parks; both have lifts or shuttles into town. Do not attempt to find street parking in August.
- Shoes: the streets are stone and stepped. Comfortable soles matter more than style here, whatever the shop windows suggest.
- Timing: mornings for the theatre, late afternoon for the terraces. The hours between one and four are hot, crowded and best spent by the water or up in Castelmola.
- Cash: most places take cards, but the smallest bars in Savoca and Castelmola sometimes do not.
Frequently asked questions
Is one day enough for Taormina?
For the theatre, the old town and one addition — Isola Bella, Castelmola or the Godfather villages — yes. Trying to fit all of them into a single day means seeing each of them badly.
Can you visit Taormina and Etna on the same day?
It is possible but tight, and both suffer. If you have two days, give each one its own. If you only have one, choose according to what you came for.
When is the best time to visit?
May, June, September and October: warm enough for the sea, mild enough to walk uphill, and without the July and August crush. Winter is quiet and often clear, though some seasonal places close.
How do I get to Isola Bella?
The cable car from Via Pirandello is the fastest way, running every fifteen minutes. On foot it is a long descent and a longer climb back.
Planning your day
Taormina is easy to reach from Catania, Messina and the whole eastern coast, and it works well as a full-day trip with a driver who knows which road to take at which hour. You will find the departure points and current prices among our Sicily excursions.
