Etna North or Etna South? Which side to choose for your tour

The south is the better-known side: from Rifugio Sapienza (1,900 m) a cable car climbs to about 2,500 metres, then 4x4 vehicles go higher. It is convenient, well served and close to Catania — and for that very reason crowded: in summer, queues at the cable car and large groups are part of the experience.

The north starts from Piano Provenzana (1,800 m), above Linguaglossa. There is no cable car: you climb on foot or by 4x4 bus along the ash track up to about 2,900 metres. Numbers are smaller, groups more intimate and the landscape more varied: the birch and larch-pine forest, the cones of the 2002 eruption that destroyed the old tourist station, the lava desert and, higher up, the view over the Valle del Bove.

It depends on what you are looking for. These are the points where the two sides really differ:

If you have a couple of hours and want a quick ascent without walking, the south with its cable car does the job. If you want to understand the volcano, walk on it with someone who knows it, take photos without dozens of people in the frame and see bands of landscape that change with altitude, the northern side is the answer. All our tours leave from Piano Provenzana: from the walk among the 2002 craters to the summit craters.