Etna East Carmelo Finocchiaro — Local services in Tremestieri Etneo

We contacted three different outfitters for our Etna North summit hike to ask about the guide to client ratio. Etna Est responded in a timely fashion stating there would be one guide for each 10 guest, which compared positively to the 15 travelers others quoted. The online booking system on their website didn't work and we reserved spaces manually.

The day of the excursion, we were asked to be early at the meeting point, but then didn't depart until after the original departure time. There appeared to be some confusion or delayed customers the rest was kept waiting for.

Etna Est worked with a purpose built 4x4 expedition truck (35 seats) for the transfer up to almost 3000 meters, which made the rough piste more comfortable and provided great views - especially when compared to the smaller MB Sprinters.

There was an argument between the guides and driver, who refused to pick up guests who didn't opt for the ride (€60 return), but walked up to the starting point on their own. While it's great that the company tries to accommodate individual human-powered travelers, this inconvenienced the rest of the group, who didn't receive much information and needed to wait.

Our guide Lucca was apologetic about the situation and tried to make the best out of it, kudos for that. When the groups were separated, we were a total of 18 hiking with one guide, which was disappointing. That said, I was grateful to be in Lucca's group who made an effort to warm up (altitude sickness for travelers arriving from sea level is an issue here), chose a different ascent route that avoided most other groups and descent with a fun gravel slide down. 👌

The visibility form the top on this day was phenomale, Etna itself is very impressive and the guide did a great job. The next day indicated poor weather (possible cancelation) and I appreciate that perhaps more guests than initially anticipated showed up, but the handling of it could be improved. Overall great experience with some expectation management and...

IN SHORT. Gaetano the guide and Franco the driver were perfect hosts for a fantastic tour of My Etna

PICK UP. On the day before the tour I realized I had a message from the tour operator - you can access it from the Contact Operator button on the reservation page in the app - where they indicated the pickup location for the next morning. At around 7:30pm I received a WhatsApp message with the exact pickup time. On the day of the tour, the pickup was exactly at the time agreed, which surprised me positively given Catania's busy road traffic.

TOUR. One of the things that worried me was the long driving time to the beginning of the hike, which other reviewers had indicated at 1.5 - 2 hours. Instead, I was happy to see that we took plenty of breaks: a toilet break on the outskirts of Catania as we picked up the last participants; a sightseeing break and a hike in a cave on our way up to Mt Etna; a food and toilet breat at the base of Mt Etna; a 30 minutes break aftet the hike and before the trip back. Gaetano had a fun attitude and made frequent contact with each participant to make sure they were OK and felt included, and added a lot of special touches - like wine & cookies on the hike, and playing music from the different pleaces where the participants were from, on the way back to Catania. For the hike, most of the participants had running shoes, which I guess worked too, but I was happy to have hiking boots on, since the path is fairly steep and sandy.

IN CONCLUSION. We really enjoyed the time! Overall it is good value for money and an experience that I'd...

Our family chose Etna Est after reading about another family's experience on a travel blog, and I am really glad we went with them! Daniel picked us up in the city, and I was happy that I didn't have to do any driving. I learned so much from him that day. He showed us towns along the way that had been affected by earthquakes, drew maps to show how Etna changed the topography of eastern Sicily, and new all about how long the magma takes too cool and the cycles of plants that slowly come back over decades after a lava flow. My kids loved going through the lava cave, which is longer and cooler than I expected! What I appreciated most, however, was that Daniel always had safety in mind. When he picked us up, he noted that Etna Est was keeping up with information about a small eruption that had happened that day. When the wind picked up and got very strong later, he altered our hiking route to take us to a less exposed ridge. And when there was lightning in the distance, he made sure we had a quick route back to the truck. He had safety helmets and torches for everyone when we went to the cave, and he even had a spare rain jacket for one man who had forgotten his. The depth of knowledge and high level of preparedness is why I am glad my family chose Etna Est for...