2002 Crater Excursion - Northern Etna

An excellent tour with a professional guide! Danielle told us so much about Etna from a first hand experience. We were in awe of nature’s beauty!

I came to the Etna Team after Cyclone Harry dropped 2 new meters of snow on Mt Etna because I wanted to show shoe with them. Because of the uncertainty of road conditions and snow removal, the team was fast to organize and communicate an alternative trekking route for the group I joined. Though it was not the original trekking route to the 2002 craters, it was still an amazing trek with wonderful views and wonderful information from our guide Daniele. Thank you for a great experience!

Our Italian/English tour guide was fantastic! He was a comedian and tour guide combination, which made it very fun! He also interjected facts and pictures along the way for a break and to learn more about the 2002 volcano eruption and the currently erupting volcano. This was one of our favorite tours in Sicily! You can’t go to Sicily and not trek Mt Etna! This was well worth the time and effort!!

Highly recommend this experienced guide company to explore Mount Etna from the North side. Due to volcanic activity we were not allowed to trek to the summit today but we went as high we we could to 2900+ with a guide and 4x4 to start with, and was able to see the volcanic gas coming out of the top of Mount Etna just under 3000+ mètres which was do impressive. Our guide Santé is awesome, he is very knowmedgeable and knows all the history of the craters and Mount Etna. After viewing the volcanic gas from the top (normally it would be from the summit but today we weren’t allowed so we were just under the summit), we then hiked down about 3-3.5 hours pass various craters of different size which was very interesting. We even went under and through an old magma tunnel which was very cool. Santé knows the craters history well and answered all our questions, he also takes very good pictures. Highly recommend him! The hike is medium difficulty, it is all downhill but you need hiking boots (which the guide will lend to you) and at some parts quite steep. It is quite cold at the top, so do bring a windbreaker and definitely wear a hat & sunglasses. We had such a lovely experience thank you and would recommend to everyone. If you have bad knees this isn’t recommended.

Interesting and informative. The guide was excellent. We would highly recommend this trip to anyone. (Need to be able to walk for three hours)

Unforgettable experience. Mt Etna alone is amazing to witness but with the history we learned from Giuseppe our guide, we fell in love with it even more! Giuseppe was patient and full of answers to any question we had. Hiking shoes hire was very handy. We did not need any warm clothes but long pants were handy since the rocks can be irregular and coarse. Highly recommended!

This tour was amazing! Our guide was so knowledgeable and provided breaks at the exact right times to make the hike very doable. He gave great tips for hiking down the steep areas and even let us do a very fun hike down a sandy hill that had me giggling with joy!

Amazing, really enjoyed great guide, length of walk was perfect. So pleased we chose this company and the North rather than busy south side of Etna

Perfect 3-hour hike for us - an active late-50’s couple. Good for families. Guide Salvatore was fun and knowledgeable.

After reading all the reviews and wanting an active tour which wasn’t 5+ hours, we booked this one! The reviews were spot on! Highly recommend Daniela, he was very informative and engaging as a tour guide. This tour was very enjoyable as we had a rental car and didn’t need transport from our accommodations to here. Additionally, it was great to be able to rent proper shoes and jackets in the building nextdoor to the meeting point. This helped us avoid getting our gym shoes dirty from the volcanic rocks and kept us warm at the 2000 m especially with the strong winds.

Danielle has fantastic knowledge of volcanic formation, Etna history and natural history. It was a very interesting tour through beautiful and captivating volcanic landscape. All the guides seem to be local and know so much about the general area, culture and people.Another guide Vincenzo was kind enough to give me a lift from Linguaglossa and I also learnt a great deal about Etna from him. Thank you both..one ttge highlights of my Sicily backpacking adventure

Really great experience, very friendly and informative guide. North slope easy 3 to 4 hours walk, less crowded than south slope tours.

Very nice guide and staff members, tour has been very interesting and we enjoyed it, I highly recommend it. The guide was really knowledgeable guy.

I learned very interesting things about volcanoes in general and Etna in particular. Very friendly guide with a very good knowledge of the subject.

We took our tour with Giuseppe M. 6 kids on board, our guide was very kind, attentive and well prepaired. For those who are in doubt: it does make sense to choose a guided tour on Etna instead of on your own because of all the explanations and the best spots / route you get. Highly recommend this tour!

Very professional staff. Made two tours with this association in February 2024, one on the north side, one on the south. Perfetto tutto. Grazie mille!

Professional very pleasant You’ll get what you’ve payed for An amazing tour around the etna crater

Had a great time, very informative trip and got to see some amazing views of the craters. Would highly recommend. Giuseppe was very knowledgeable and made the trip even more enjoyable.

An amazing landscape and the greatest guide with lots of love for the mountain and many many knowledgeable information. Memorable images and views. A great experience! Looking forward our next trekking going higher uphill to the summit crater. Also they offered the sticks and don’t worry if you don’t have trekking shoes because you can rent all you need on the spot.

Perfect trip to visit the volcano and learn about Etna. We had a lovely and knowledgeable guide, the walk was spot on for us as a family with kids aged 13yrs and 10yrs old - very manageable and fun on the way down. Would recommend it for those wanting to experience Etna beyond just viewing it!

Guide was great and very informative! The hike was beautiful, and a good workout. Having taller boots would have been helpful for the downhill - or hiking sticks for the lava rock crossing

Masterwork Performance by a Master! Ding Ding How! On the day our group visited Mount Etna it was pouring buckets of rain. Our guide, Marina Di Gristina, entertained us with historical facts and stories about Mount Etna as the bus slowly wound its way up to the station where we had the option to step into the cafe and have coffee or walk in one of the craters. Marina led the walkers around the Silvestri craters as the rain continued. Those who did the walk returned with smiles and a feeling of having triumphed over the elements. After visiting Mount Etna,Marina led us to a beautiful award winning nearby winery, where we tasted the Etna wines, and enjoyed a sumptuous free lunch. Marina created a highlight memory for us despite the weather! And that’s not all. Marina was our guide for Malta, Gozo, Siracusa, Agrigento, Taormina, Messina, Palermo, Monreale, and Segesta over a two week period. If you want to explore any aspect of the history of Malta and Sicily, its architecture and treasures in depth, Marina is the Best! Our tour group had a Masterwork Performance by a Master! Karen Weiler C.M., O. Ont., LL.D.

Very interesting day with Nice guide. Well organized and Great experience. Beautiful walk with family

I have used their services on a solo trip. Mills was my guide and was excellent! knowledgeable and friendly . I highly reccomend this company. Cannot get anyone more professional than this out there.

We joined a small group (about 10 people) with guide Domenico. We knew the weather would be tricky, with low hanging cloud and high winds. However, that did give you a true sense that you were on top of a rather high mountain - so we took it in our stride. Domenico was excellent, explaining a variety of things about vulcanos, craters etc. The walk was releatviely easy in principle, but with the wind, rain and clouds it became quite strenous in the end. It was a fantastic 2.5 hours spent climbing in a quite surreal vulcanic environment, with the view on the edge of the crater as the highlight (and the sun came out). Very well organised and guided trip, great value for money!

Luca was a great guide, and the booking pricess went smoothly as well. We had a great time on Etna, we could listen to really interesting stories.

Of course the crater was great, but the hiking was like going up, quickly take a picture and running down, the guide always far in front not caring for the group, especially after we saw the crater and went back. No time for admiring the landscape. If you just want to see the crater, go for it, if you want to experience nature don’t . 1500 m running down in 2 1/2 hours, don’t understand why this hectic stuff. But I Guess all tourists tours are pretty much like that

We had a great day! It started early, but everything was worth it! Our guide, Nikos, was amazing, we learned a lot about the Etna. We would definitely recommend taking this trip!

Amazing company!!! Amazing guides. They had everything we needed: wing jacket, hiking polls, helmets. Guide very knowledgeable, views amazing. A must do!!! Highly recommended!!!

Great experience with our guide Domenico who was very knowledgeable and fun. Definitely recommending this activity of roughly 2 hours walking around the Etna craters and fun run for all ages down the mountain.

We really enjoyed the hike on Etna Nord. Perfect bus to drop us off near the summit. Excellent guidance along the way down. Brilliant views on Etna and its craters. Great activity, which is highly recommended.

Very nice and friendly staff! The landscape is amazing. The guide was a very well informed local, ready to explain all volcanic phenomena related to Etna’s history and present.

We booked the tour the afternoon before in a super fast and easy way. No payment in advance needed, just paying after the tour directly to the guide. Vincenzo was our host and he was magnificent, guiding us, explaining everything clearly and talking about personal experiences and other off-topic stuff like mushroom hunting :) It was an splendid tour, 100% recommended and with technical and scientifical explanations from a geologist.

The tour was great, loved it very much. Beutiful suroundings. We took the tour to the Northern side of Etna which is greener. Our guide Daniele was knowledgeable, friendly and kept a good pace. Unforgettable experience!

Great trek even with the rain. The guide was very detailed in his explanations and the trip was totally worth it. I really recommend!

We did the old craters trail with our 9 year old son just the day before the eruption! Daniele our guide was very informative not just on the volcano and geological aspect but even the surrounding flora and fauna. He was also very accomodating and stopped several times for breaks so that our son could rest while encouraging him and keeping the spirits up during difficult parts of the trek. The ending was great as we "skied" all the way down the Etna slopes on the volcanic gravel, closing off our excursion with a bit of adrenaline :D

We were able to book this tour very last minute through the agriturismo we were staying at. We didn’t know what to expect but it was an amazing experience! It was great to see how passionate our guide Vincenzo talked about this topic. When you know nothing about vulcanos, it seems like it’s just a bunch of black stones, yet it turns out every stone has it’s own story and it was very interesting to listen to Vincenzo’s explanation. We would definitely recommend this tour to everyone! It’s at a tourist level, which makes it an easy to follow tour for everyone. Three hours was perfect for us, as we combined it with a wine tasting afterwards. 10/10

The experience was great. The guide was super friendly and had an outstanding knowledge. The tour was a great mix between walking, showing us photo opportunities and explaining about the volcano. Also the duration was great to get a general knowledge. And if you need shoes there were many options on the location. I can really recommend the tour!

Great guide with all the inside knowledge. Showed us all we wanted. Had also really great photography skill.

This is a fairly gentle walk, with some slightly tougher bits. My mother in law is 69 and reasonably fit and she managed, with assistance at some points. Daniele the guide was fantastic, very engaging, knowledgable and seemed a genuinely warm and friendly guy. The walk took us from the car park and through the trees, skirted on both sides by the lava flow from the 2002 eruption and past the hotels destroyed at the time, then up to several of the craters that formed during the eruption. All the time Daniele was explaining what happened during the eruption and the volcanic processes that led to it. Make sure you take good warm clothing and dress for wind/temperatures towards the top, as on a sunny day you can be very hot one minute and then very cold in the next. All in all, the trip is ideal for family’s seeking adventure, but for any real thrill seekers they may want to consider paying more and booking on one of the excursions to the summit of Etna.

We didn't know what to expect, but it seemed wrong to visit Linguaglossa and not see Mount Etna up close. The enthusiasm of our guide, Vincenzo, about Mount Etna and vulcanology in general, was addictive. As we hiked he showed us examples and explained difficult to grasp concepts in a non-nerdy way. The tour was just the right length for an introduction, but it did whet our appetite to go to the summit. When we do, we will go with Guide Vulcanogoliche Etna again!

A brilliant tour by a well informed tour guide (thank you Nikos!). Meeting at Piano Provenzana, we went on a 2.5 hour-round hike up to the site of the 2002 crater, with our guide telling us all about the different types of rocks and soil up on the mountain, the dates of various eruptions and pointing out the paths of lava they left behind, how and why lateral craters form, and all about the mineral composition and how to spot their crystals within the soil. For €30 a person, this was absolute value for money.

I would recommend you to visit the Etna with Guide Vulcanologiche Etna Nord. It was a very nice experience with an excellent guide.

What to say to describe it, if you come in Sicily you must do this experience. The guide Vincenzo is an incredible and passionate guy which share with everyone his love and passion for what he does. The information are delivered in a funny and interesting way which makes them attractive even for low or no passionate in volcano's topic. Vincenzo is going to brought you in some incredible spot with views that remind of the Moon. The experience is ideal for low trained people since it lasts 3 hours and covers 5 km distance in total. It's the perfect way to start discovering Etna. Nature, woods, flowers, astonishing views and a lot of things I just did not know and that Vincenzo taught us. Thank u

We had a very interesting tour of the 2002 Vulcan's of the Etna and enjoyed very much to experience this on site, so much better than on pictures. The way down from the 2100 m top we have reached was also very pleasant. Good memories with the Family and Domenico is a great guide, We learned a lot and loved how he shares is passion!!!

We appreciated the variety of the things we saw: the plants, the views, the divers types of soil and of corse the craters. This tour brings you to the lateral craters: beautufull and a real Etna experience. We are a family of 3, with an 11 year old kid: this tour by foot was perfect for us. The guide (Daniele) gave good information: the tour was both beautifull and educational.

Our guide Daniele was very good, gave us an unique Etna experience! Every money spend was worthwile! For only 3euro you can rent shoes. The stones are very sharp so it is recommendable.

I called one day before to get detailed info and check availability - very friendly and helpful conversation in either French, Italien or English. One day later my family and I followed our tour guide on a very informative trip to the top of the 2002 crater. Impressive views and loads of geological input, presented in a fun and enthusiastic way. Our children are good on food and had no trouble with the tour they are still talking about it one week later :) Thanks to the very nice crew!!!

Great tour. Very professional, from the booking process to the check-in and the tour itself. The guide was very nice, cooperative, patient and professional.