Taormina Travel Forum

We are arriving in Messina by cruise ship on Oct. 29th from 8 AM to 6 PM. Our questions:
1. Is it possible to walk from the port to the nearest train or bus station?
2. Is it recommended that we try for both Taormina & Mt. Etna?
3. Is the cruise ships tour the best alternative to do both?
We would like to avoid the prohibitive pricing of the cruise ship tours it at all possible. Thanks to all for any information. [One of us speaks Italian]

I'll give this my best shot. Firstly, you do not,in my opinion, have time to visit both Taormina and Etna in your timeframe. Etna itself takes 1 1/2hours to scale by car. That gives you a three hour turn round in itself.
According to Trenitalia, you can board a train from Messina Marittima which you take to Messina Centrale where you must change for Taormina. There is one train that leaves Centrale at 0930 arriving in Taormina at 1015.
Unfortunately, the time of departure from Marittima to Centrale is not advertised. The distance is negligible, so this may be the reason(just a few minutes by train).
To be back at your cruise ship before 1800, you will have to catch the 1439 train from Taormina. I know this seems early, but the next train is not until 1855.
As for reaching the station, it will depend where you dock. I feel sure that if you take this up with you purser, he should be ble to advise you on the most efficient way to get to Messina Marittima. That said, this station is right on the dockside.
For more info on train times and prices try:www.trenitalia.com

Thanks for the advice domenicococozza. The cruise line is advertising Taormina and Mt. Etna Full Day for $114 PP. Seems like just a look see at Mt. Etna, lunch and then onto Taormina. From your answer, it seems that doing Taormina for the day would be a better option for us, provided we could get back in time for the cruise departure. Are there buses from Messina to Taormina for a day trip? You comments are most appreciated.

I am not aware of any 'bus'tours operating independently from Messina to Taormina/Etna but the following website may be of interest. It's a little more expensive than the ship's offer but it is tailored to your requirements and the whole trip is in a Jeep.
www.bestofsicilytours_etna.html

Best of Sicily also offers tours by private car and mini-vans with the pricing dependent upon the number of participants. Something to investigate further. Thanks again for your suggestion.

Bob, you might like to look at my Sicilia page - http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/ae2c2/40/
has a link to Interbus which has a Messina - Taormina service. There is other stuff there about the location of the railway station at T.(at the bottom of the hill). Also the reliability of public transport (don't put too much faith in timetables). The train we selected from T. to Messina still hasn't turned up. LOL. I suspect your decision to confine your day to visiting T. is very wise & bus probably better than train as it terminates close to the entry gate. Leave Etna until you have time to get right to the top! have fun de p.

Thanks Pedro. I checked out your site and the link to the bus. My other traveler will be finding the schedule for us as it is in Italian ... imagine that. Thanks again for the assist.