Taormina and 140 steps

Hi, I will be on a Mediterranean cruise this November, with a stop in Sicily at Messina. There is an excursion to Taormina, and from what I am reading in the description, there are 140 steps to take to get to the center of town from the tour bus. Has anyone done an excursion to Taormina and if so, what is it like to get to the city center? I would really like to see the city, but I am hesitant about a steep climb. Any advice? Is there another way to get to the city center once off the bus? Many thanks!:)

We did Taormina last summer through Celebrity. The bus dropped us off at the bottom of a parking garage, and then we were sent in groups up to the town via an elevator. From there, we took steps to reach the town gates, but it doesn’t seem like it was 140 steps. It wasn’t bad for us at least. It seems like there was an alternate option for people with limited mobility, but I don’t remember for sure.

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We did a private tour with italy with Mario and they dropped us off right at one end of town and said "in two hour be at the other end and we will pick you up". It was all level walking for us, unless you wanted to go down to the Roman amphitheater.

Do a private tour. The roads on the way to Taormina were not exactly designed for tour buses! We had a van with Sicily Shore Tours which dropped us off right at the entrance to the town. Picked us up there as well. No stairs involved.

We went to Taormina on an organized Sicily tour with Collette Travel 2 years ago. The bus can only get so close, and so most of us walked up to the town. Those with mobility problems took cabs from the bus to the town level, and my impression is that the fare must have been reasonable (since nobody complained).

Tom & Judy

Hi, I will be on a Mediterranean cruise this November, with a stop in Sicily at Messina. There is an excursion to Taormina, and from what I am reading in the description, there are 140 steps to take to get to the center of town from the tour bus. Has anyone done an excursion to Taormina and if so, what is it like to get to the city center? I would really like to see the city, but I am hesitant about a steep climb. Any advice? Is there another way to get to the city center once off the bus? Many thanks!:)

As another poster has said, usually the drop off is in the parking garage. There are lifts, but sometimes a bit of a wait. When you get to the top, if you keep to the left, you will find a path up towards the town. this is up hill, but there are no steps, so I think most of it should be step free. It's worth the effort to get there, nice relaxing place, lots of history, nice views, shops.

As many before have posted: there is an elevator from the bus to the gate leading into town.

The main road has a slight incline but no steps and the incline is not that bad (see photo). If you limit your excursion to that part of beautiful Taormina, you will be OK.

HOWEVER, another point of interest in Taormina are the municipal gardens. The gardens are below the main street. So to get down to the garden and up again, you would have to climb steps (see photo).

Once you are on the main street look for Hotel Metropole near the piazza and have a drink on the terrace overlooking the sea - a must do for us in Taormina.

Taormina in my eyes is one of the most beautiful town in the world. I would say 140 steps means 140 steps walking, not stairs.

Here are some photos of Taormina and where we docked from July 2011.

Taormina July 2011 - Google Photos

We took a private van tour in Taormina. Visited Mazzaro, the town my grandparents came from (now incorporated into Taormina) and also visited some of the locations in Savoca and Forza d'Agro where parts of the Godfather movie was filmed. We visited the Greco/Roman theater which overlooks the Ionian sea. Spent time in the center of town as well. An excellent all-day adventure. The vans are definitely preferable to the buses used by the ship tours. If you go to the ports section you will get good insight into the various tour companies.