Beaches in Taormina

[Cal El]

We will be in Taormina on a HAL cruise in early August.  I believe we have the whole day in port, 11am to 11pm.  We have decided to not do any excursions that day but would like to do some of the sights on our own.  One of the things that we were thinking about is spending a couple of hours at a beach if there is time.  Can anyone recommend a good beach in the area?  Would it worth it?

 

Otherwise, any other recommendations on how best to spend some time on our own while in port for the day would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks so much

[sewingbee]

Taormina is lovely and you can easily fill your time just wandering the shops and the ampitheatre is magnificent. The beaches are great and you can get a cable car up into town easily. we spent a week there and really loved the place.

[marazul]

On 5/28/2019 at 4:54 PM, Cal El said:

We will be in Taormina on a HAL cruise in early August.  I believe we have the whole day in port, 11am to 11pm.  We have decided to not do any excursions that day but would like to do some of the sights on our own.  One of the things that we were thinking about is spending a couple of hours at a beach if there is time.  Can anyone recommend a good beach in the area?  Would it worth it?

 

 

Taormina is not a port.  It is a town up the side of a mountain.  Cruise ships dock in Messina or Catania, both big cities about one hour away from Taormina  Smaller cruise ships tender in Giardini Naxos which is on the shore below Taormina and a 20 minute ride away.  Giardini does have nice beaches right by the tender port.   And, yes, you can take the cable car down to a beach (IIRC, it is named Mazzaro) north of Giardini, but then you would have the problem of getting back to the ship. That is great if you are staying in the area and have a car.

 

A visit to Taormina is more than worth it.  You need transport to get there.  From Giardini you can take a taxi for about 25 euros.  From the other ports, you need an excursion, rent a car, etc.  I would recommend an excursion that takes you to Taormina and Castelmola, or one of the many other options available in the area.   Staying in Messina or Catania on your own means that you would be missing the purpose of the stop, which are the attractions of Taormina, Mt. Etna, Castelmola, etc, etc.  You would quickly run out of things to do in your 12 hours in port. 

 

[Cal El]

I believe our ship is on the smaller side so we will be tendering in Giardini Naxos, which sounds much better.

 

Thank you both for the great information, it good to get ideas from people who have already been there. 

[GastroGnome]

Taromina is lovely.  Well worth spending the day there.  And if your itinerary suggests you are actually docking there (a curiosity as it is no where near the sea!) with any luck they will offer a shuttle service to and from.    The shopping is wonderful.  You can get cocktails at the San Domenico where Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor used to stay. The views are astounding.  You can get real Sicilian Cannoli and Cassata from the numerous little cafes - nothing like the commercial stuff you can get elsewhere. 

 

Oh I'm all inspired now....

[iancal]

We spent three weeks touring Sicily.  The beaches in that area are really not the ones that we would recommend.  The town is about 3KM up the hill from the beach area and main road, rail station, etc.

 

During our stay we did go down to the beach and the town.  It was a disappointment compared to other beaches in Sicily.

Edited June 8, 2019 by iancal