Things to Do in Taormina, Slowly

The things to do in Taormina fit inside a small old town: an ancient theater with Etna behind the stage, one pedestrian street with its squares, a public garden, and a cable car down to Isola Bella. Two unhurried days cover the town itself. With three or four, you can add the walk up to Castelmola and day trips from Taormina to Mount Etna, the Alcantara gorges and the villages of The Godfather.

Things to do in Taormina: what not to miss

The ancient theater

Start here, at 9:00, when the gates open. The Teatro Antico was first laid out in the third or second century BC and was largely rebuilt by the Romans in the first half of the second century AD, under Trajan or Hadrian. Its seating measures 109 meters across, which makes it the second largest ancient theater in Sicily after the one in Syracuse, according to the regional archaeological park that manages it.

People climb to the top rows for the view. Goethe sat up there on May 7, 1787, and wrote in his Italian Journey that no theater audience had ever had such a scene in front of it: the long ridge of Etna, the coast running south toward Catania, and the smoking volcano closing the picture. As of September 2026, the theater is open every day from 9:00 to 19:45 (last entry at 19:00), and a full ticket costs €14.

Corso Umberto and Piazza IX Aprile

Corso Umberto crosses the old town for about 800 meters, from Porta Messina to Porta Catania, and it is closed to traffic. Walk it slowly and look into the side stairs. A few minutes from Porta Messina stands Palazzo Corvaja, the stone palace where the Sicilian Parliament met in the fifteenth century; the tourist information office is on its ground floor. Down a stair nearby is the Naumachia, one of the largest Roman monuments in Sicily.

Halfway along, the street opens onto Piazza IX Aprile, a terrace with a stone balustrade over the sea. Around it stand the church of Sant'Agostino with its crenellated bell tower, the baroque church of San Giuseppe with its double staircase, and the clock tower that once held a gate in the town walls. Farther on, the cathedral of San Nicolò di Bari faces a baroque fountain known as the Quattro Fontane.

The public garden

The Villa Comunale, the town's public garden, is a few minutes' walk from Piazza IX Aprile, at the edge of the old town. Florence Trevelyan, an Englishwoman who lived in Taormina from 1884, laid it out as an English garden, and her small towers and pavilions, known as the Victorian follies, are still there. The garden passed to the town in 1922. From its paths you look over the sea and, on clear days, toward Etna.

Isola Bella by cable car

A cable car run by the town's municipal services company links the old town with Mazzarò and Isola Bella, down by the sea. In 2026 it reopened on March 28 after a closure for maintenance. As of September 2026, it runs every 15 minutes, from 8:00 to 1:30 at night in summer and from 8:00 to 20:00 in winter, and a one-way ticket costs €8.

Isola Bella is joined to the shore by a short isthmus that is underwater or exposed depending on the tide. Florence Trevelyan bought the island in 1890. The Region of Sicily acquired it in 1990, and since 1998 it has been a nature reserve with a natural history museum. As of September 2026, the park lists it as open every day from 9:00 to 16:00, so plan it for the morning or right after lunch.

Madonna della Rocca and the castle

Above the town, steps lead to the Madonna della Rocca, a small chapel set into the rock with a wide view of the coast. From there, a stair cut into the rock continues to the ruins of the castle on Monte Tauro, 397 meters above the sea, which can be visited with a ticket.

What to do in Taormina in a day

With a single day, this order follows the opening hours:

• 9:00: the ancient theater, as it opens.
• Late morning: Corso Umberto from Porta Messina, Palazzo Corvaja, Piazza IX Aprile and the cathedral square.
• Early afternoon: the cable car to Mazzarò and the walk to Isola Bella, which closes at 16:00.
• Late afternoon: the public garden, then Piazza IX Aprile, or Castelmola, for the evening light.

Castelmola and other villages near Taormina

Castelmola sits on the rock above Taormina, about 5 kilometers away by road, and belongs to I Borghi più belli d'Italia, the association of the most beautiful villages in Italy. What remains of its castle are Norman walls. From the top, the view runs from Etna to the bay of Giardini Naxos, the Strait of Messina and the coast of Calabria. The village is known for its almond wine, made with almonds and orange essence.

The slow way up is the Sentiero dei Saraceni, an old mule track from Taormina: about 4 kilometers with a climb of 270 meters, steady but manageable for anyone used to walking. Go up in the late afternoon and arrange a ride back down after dark.

Three more villages on the same association's list lie within about 30 kilometers of Taormina. Savoca, about 20 kilometers north, and Forza d'Agrò, about 15, are the villages of The Godfather, and their churches and lanes are worth the drive as much as the film; our guide to The Godfather and The White Lotus filming locations covers both. Castiglione di Sicilia, about 30 kilometers inland, looks over the Alcantara valley toward Etna and is a wine town of the Etna DOC area.

Day trips from Taormina

Mount Etna from Taormina

The visitor area on the south side of the volcano, above Nicolosi, is about 55 kilometers by road, and Piano Provenzana, on the north side, about 46. How high you can go depends on the volcano: access to the summit areas is set by ordinances of the towns on the mountain, and several were updated in July and August 2026. Our guide to visiting Mount Etna explains the options.

The Alcantara gorges

About 20 kilometers west of Taormina, the Alcantara river has cut deep gorges through basalt, with walls of columns on either side. The river and its valley have been a regional park since 2001.

Giardini Naxos

Below Taormina, about 5 kilometers by road, Giardini Naxos stands on the site of Naxos, the first Greek colony in Sicily, founded around 734 BC. The archaeological park and its museum show the city walls built of lava blocks, the sacred areas and the finds of decades of excavation.

Syracuse and Ortigia

Syracuse is about 120 kilometers south, an hour and a half to two hours by car. It fills a day, and it is better with a night or two: see our guide to Ortigia, Noto and Modica.

Which movie was filmed in Taormina?

Several. Michelangelo Antonioni shot the final scene of L'Avventura (1960) on a terrace of the San Domenico Palace hotel, with Etna on the horizon. Luc Besson filmed scenes of The Big Blue (1988) at the same hotel and in the small square below it. In The Godfather Part III, the scene in which Michael meets Kay at a Sicilian railroad station was shot at Taormina's station. Most recently, the second season of HBO's The White Lotus (2022) used the San Domenico Palace, a former fourteenth-century convent, as its hotel, and filmed some scenes in the ancient theater.

Which is nicer, Palermo or Taormina?

They answer different wishes. Palermo is the capital of Sicily and a large city, home to the Arab-Norman monuments that UNESCO listed in 2015: nine buildings from the Norman kingdom of Sicily (1130 to 1194), counting the cathedrals of Cefalù and Monreale nearby. Taormina is a small town on a terrace above the sea, where you walk everywhere. The two are about 260 kilometers apart, roughly three hours by car, so Palermo deserves its own nights rather than a day trip from Taormina.

What is the prettiest town in Sicily?

There is no official answer, but there are two useful lists. I Borghi più belli d'Italia includes four villages within about 30 kilometers of Taormina: Castelmola, Savoca, Forza d'Agrò and Castiglione di Sicilia. For towns, UNESCO lists eight in the southeast that were rebuilt in late baroque style after the earthquake of 1693, among them Noto, Modica and Ragusa.

Practical notes: arriving, parking, how long to stay

• Catania airport is about 63 kilometers away, roughly an hour by car.
• Corso Umberto is closed to traffic. The simplest place to leave a car is the Lumbi parking garage at the entrance to town, with 965 spaces and a shuttle every 15 minutes to Piazza San Pancrazio, about 30 meters from Porta Messina. The municipal company runs a second car park at Porta Catania.
• Two nights let you see the town without rushing; four let you add Castelmola, Etna and the villages.
• As of September 2026, Isola Bella closes at 16:00 and the theater at 19:45; check the archaeological park's website for the hours on your dates.

Our two Sicily journeys use Taormina as their base for eight days, with up to eight guests and always accompanied. Amber Sicily and Sicily, the Magic of Jasmine both include an evening in Castelmola, a day on Etna with its wines, and a Cinema & Sea day at Castello degli Schiavi and Savoca; Jasmine also spends a day in Syracuse and Ortigia. For the island as a whole, start from our Sicily page.