In this video here at My Travel BF, we’re taking a day trip to Taormina, one of Sicily’s most popular cities to see if it’s worth visiting or is it just an overcrowded tourist destination.

Taormina, Sicily, known for its breathtaking beauty, fascinating history, and of course, being used as the filming location for HBO’s White Lotus season 2, is one of the top places people want to visit when in Sicily.

 

While some stay overnight, many come in just for a day trip, which is exactly what we’re here doing today. The goal is to give you a sense of what a day trip to Taormina is like, so you can decide if you want to visit when you’re here in Sicily. Let’s go.

 

Taormina ‘s location makes it an easy day trip from both Mesina and Katana. We’re coming from Katana, and you’ll definitely want to watch that video after this if you’ll also be there.

 

There’s a link popping up here and, in the description, below. Now the regional train from Katana only takes about 50 minutes depending on the train and costs just €11 round trip to the Taormina Giardini Nakos station. However, your trip to the center of Taormina doesn’t end there. You can either hike up about a mile with 700 ft of elevation gain or take a bus up. Traveling with the stroller, we opted for the bus. When leaving the train station, turn slightly to your right and you’ll immediately see a bus to take you up to the center of Taormina and most likely a line of people looking to do the same. The steep curvy ride up is only €3 a person and takes about 15 to 20 minutes. When you arrive at the top, the center of Taormina is just a short walk away.

Taormina itself dates back to around 753 BC when the Greeks made their first colony here. And you can see why. The architecture and landscape are absolutely incredible, which is why we’re headed straight to the ancient theater of Taormina that was originally built in the 3rd century for crowds of around 10,000.

 

This ancient theater here in Taormina is absolutely stunning. It’s just incredible. Set way up high on the mountains. You get a look all the way over there to the Mount Etna volcano and then up at the mountains over here and down at the sea. This has to be one of the most beautiful historic sites I’ve ever seen in my life. And the other thing I absolutely love about it is that you can actually climb around everywhere on it. It’s way better than the one we visited in Syracuse. However, Syracuse was still a beautiful city. So, if you missed that video, you’re definitely going to want to check it out. And while we did just climb in and get up here, I’m already going to say it’s instantly worth the €14 per person to enter because this is magnificent.

 

And while the theater itself is absolutely gorgeous, so are the views off this other side here. once again making it easily worth the price of admission.

I just also cannot believe we took a bus up this hill because it is so steep.

 

One of the wildest things to me is you have this view off of one side through the theater over to the volcano and then right over here behind me you have the ocean.

I will say that without a doubt, one of my favorite parts of visiting this theater is the fact that you can actually be right down here on stage and feel like you are a performer looking up at everybody kind of sitting here taking in the view.

 

Now that we really worked up our appetite exploring those ancient ruins, it’s time for one of the most iconic places in Taormina, Bambar. Every video, blog, or website of Taormina says that you have to go to Bambar for their famous Sicilian classic, a granita. So, let’s see if it’s worth the hype. We went with one strawberry and another one that was half orange and half kiwi. Both granitas were extremely delicious and a wonderful way to cool down in the heat.

 

But based on other granitas we’ve tasted around Sicily in Katana and Syracuse; we wouldn’t say this one was necessarily any better than the others.

One thing to note when meandering through Taormina is that there is basically one major street that runs through the city with offshoots that go up and down and are quite steep. And because there’s only one major street and a lot of people, be prepared for it to be crowded. Oh, and there is certainly a fair share of shops geared towards tourists, so beware.

 

[Music] Because of course we are in Sicily, we had to get a Cannoli. We stopped at Pastic Rio Minoaro and it just smelled so good on the outside, we had to go. We It wasn’t a place we ever read about or saw anything, but it just smelled delicious, so it lured us in. I’m going to try it out. I’m really excited because all over Sicily, we’ve had amazing cannoli. So, I really hope this one lives up to the hype of all these other ones that we’ve tried.

 

I dropped a little bit, but it landed in my lap. However, the ricotta in here is really good. Like big pistachios on here. And wow, this is really good. I’m going to say if you get lured in by the smell, definitely get a Cannoli there.

 

However, feel free to get anything else there because I guarantee it’s delicious. This is really good.

 

So now of course here at my travel BF we have to answer the question is a day trip to Taormina worth it and we are going to say that we decided to come on a Sunday and exactly on Palm Sunday and it’s incredibly touristed. However, if you want to come for the ancient theater and the spectacular views here both of those things are out of this world and make the trip to Taormina worth it.

 

However, it’s going to be busy. So, our recommendation is that you come in off season or shoulder season and during a weekday because there’s basically one main road through town and it’s going to get busy because this is a popular day trip.

 

Now, if you like this video and want to see more of our Italy series, make sure to like, comment, and subscribe and check out the videos that are on the screen right now and we’ll see you over at them. Bye.