Messina to Taormina - transportation ?

[FirsttimecruiserMac]

My husband and I are not big fans of tours and are thinking of taking a taxi from the Port of Messina to Taormina. Does anyone know if you are able to get a taxi at the port? What is the approximate distance and cost involved? Also, the most important question - is it easy to get a taxi back to the port from Taormina?

[KayAnnie]

You can get a taxi, but it is pretty expensive. We recently rode the train/bus to Taormina from Messina, and it was fairly straightforward if you knew where to go. (And super cheap comparatively). Directions are on my website in my signature.

[taxatty]

Another vote for the train/bus. The Messina Centrale train station is a 15 minute walk from the port. The bus to Taormina from the local train station picks you up right outside the train station and takes you up the steep hill to the bus terminal a very short walk from Taormina's main street. Very easy and reasonably priced.

 

Les

[Sargent_Schultz]

A taxi is about 150 euros rt. You don't want to take one there and another one back - there aren't a lot of taxis trolling Taormina to pick up fares.

 

For 150e for get transportation there and back and maybe 2 hours in Taormina. If you want to stay longer, you can, but then expect to pay more.

 

Last month we did Taormina on Your Own - a ship tour that gave us 4 hours in Taormina. It included a guide who gave an overview and answered anu questions before they turned you lose.

 

Pictures from that one are herE:

http://www.zydecocruiser.com/CarnivalMagic/May_10_2011/index.htm#MESS

 

Pictures from a prior visit to Taormina are here:

http://www.zydecocruiser.com/CarnivalDream/GrandMed/index.htm#mes

[ariawoman]

Another vote for taking the bus, HOWEVER make sure you know the schedules ahead of time. We ended up just missing the one bus out, and it was about 60 minutes until the next one, so that was a lot of wasted time. Otherwise, it was easy to get to (though not marked well when you walked from the port to the bus as it's a little confusing). If you take the DIY route make sure you do a lot of research into where to get the bus ticket and where to get the bus, just to be certain. We did it without a lot of research but paid the time penalty because of lack of planning.

 

make sure you visit the ampitheatre in taormina, there are some great views from the landings outside of it!