Taxi or cruise ship transfer to Taormina?

[Ladybentley]

Our cruise next year goes to Catania and we'd like to visit Taormina but I have damaged lungs so prefer not to walk up too many steps and hills. I can do it but just have to stop every so often to get my breath. To give me flexibility to do it at my own pace, I thought of taking the cruise ship option of a ‘do it on your own’ coach transfer to Taormina and then just wandering around the Corso Umberto where it’s not too hilly and have lunch before returning. I’ve been researching and it looks like I could comfortably do that. However the ship’s tour details say you must take the lift from the parking area to the town centre and you must be able to walk 140 steps. Can anyone who's done this tell me where these 140 steps are? Could they be avoided if we took a taxi from Catania to Taormina? If so, is it easy to find taxis at the port in Catania and another one in Taormina for the return trip to the port? And how much is a taxi likely to cost each way? Thanks very much.

[kdooley]

We have visited Taormina twice, once from Messina on a ship tour and then from Catania on our own.

 

The ship tour takes you to a parking garage and there are lifts but they were packed with all the other buses coming in at the same time. We did get on one then walked out of that building up a slope to the entrance to the town. We did this about 2 years ago and don't remember any additional steps in the garage area. I think the steps are if the lift is unavailable, maybe someone else can verify.

 

When we traveled from Catania, we took the train and then a city bus up the town. The whole trip was not that hard but you do have a lot of walking (on flat city streets) to the train station in Catania. Then the bus picked us up at the station below the town and took us to a stop just below the entrance that we used last time. We had to walk up about 2 blocks (uphill) past the tram that takes you to the beach, to get to the main street.

 

Don't know how much a taxi would charge you but I image it would be close, or more, than the ship tour.

[MeHeartCruising]

Our cruise next year goes to Catania and we'd like to visit Taormina but I have damaged lungs so prefer not to walk up too many steps and hills. I can do it but just have to stop every so often to get my breath. To give me flexibility to do it at my own pace, I thought of taking the cruise ship option of a ‘do it on your own’ coach transfer to Taormina and then just wandering around the Corso Umberto where it’s not too hilly and have lunch before returning. I’ve been researching and it looks like I could comfortably do that. However the ship’s tour details say you must take the lift from the parking area to the town centre and you must be able to walk 140 steps. Can anyone who's done this tell me where these 140 steps are? Could they be avoided if we took a taxi from Catania to Taormina? If so, is it easy to find taxis at the port in Catania and another one in Taormina for the return trip to the port? And how much is a taxi likely to cost each way? Thanks very much.

 

I can't help with the taxi portion of your question. However, the 140 steps would consist of walking from your bus to the elevator in the garage lower level. You will exit the garage at the top level and then walk up a slight incline and up a couple sets of small steps (assuming you follow the sidewalk). You can probably skip the steps, but to do so you will have to walk on the street and it's not that wide. Of note, the 140 steps would probably get you to the Porta Catania entrance to the town center. This is a small stone gate entrance to the inner part of the town that everyone wants to explore. So after the 140 steps, you would then have the opportunity to walk up to another mile or so to explore the full town centre, including the Greek Theatre -- which is also up a slight incline side road. The advantage of the "on your own" option is that you can explore as much of this as you can physically handle. it's a nice stroll full of shops and cafes and a few scenic stops along the way.

 

I'm just pondering how much closer a taxi could get you to the "town centre". I don't think the taxis can take you into the center part at all, regardless of which gate they drop you at. So while they can probably drop you off right AT the gate, the walking around inside the gates is where the action is at. And there is a gate at the other end of town from where the buses would drop you off. But it is still a walk from that gate into the centre part too.

 

If you're knowledgeble how to use Google maps, this link shows the location of the parking garage exit to the pedestrian walk into Porta Catania. If you can use "Street View", you can actually navigate yourself to Porta Catania and see how the terrain looks.

 

When I did an "on your own" excursion here on Royal Caribbean, the guide escorted us from the bus, thru the Pora Catania gate and took us a little further into the town centre to a public square. This was our "meeting space" later in the day for the return trip. So we probably walked about 1/10 or little more of a mile as a group, I would guess from the bus -- a little more than 140 steps I would guess.

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@37.8510245,15.2805104,192m/data=!3m1!1e3

Edited September 17, 2015 by MeHeartCruising