Catania Fontanarossa Airport to Acireale
About 20 km up the coast; the cheap route is the Alibus plus a coastal train, and a taxi runs €45–65.
A baroque town on lava cliffs north of Catania, known for the most elaborate carnival in Sicily and for the fishing villages below it at Santa Maria La Scala and Aci Trezza.
Every way to get there
Our verdict: for Acireale, a private transfer is the easiest door-to-door option (from €30). Travelling light on a budget? The bus is cheapest (from €6) but slower, with a change in the city.
What it costs for your group
The bus is charged per person, while a taxi or private transfer is one price for the whole car — so the more of you there are, the better door-to-door value looks.
| Group | Bus (per person) | Private transfer | Best value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solo · 1 traveller | €6 | €30 | Bus |
| Couple · 2 travellers | €12 | €30 | Bus |
| Family of 4 · 4 travellers | €24 | €30 | Bus |
Which option should you choose?
| If your priority is… | Our pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest price | Bus | From €6, though slower with a change in the city. |
| Speed & comfort | Private transfer | Door-to-door, fixed price, a driver waiting for you. |
| A group of 3–4 | Transfer or taxi | One flat fare splits cheaper than several bus tickets. |
| A late-night arrival | Transfer or taxi | Both run 24/7 when buses and the tram have stopped. |
By transport mode
Train
Cheap at seven or eight euros all in. The station's position at the bottom of the cliff is the drawback — factor in the climb or a short taxi at the end.
Where to catch it: Alibus to Catania Centrale, then a northbound coastal train; Acireale's station is below the town with a bus or taxi up.
Best for budget travellers near a stationTaxi
The simplest arrival, and reasonable for a short hop. Acireale's centre is compact and mostly accessible by car outside the carnival period.
Where to catch it: Half an hour up the coast road or the motorway; agree the fare in advance.
Best for small groups in a hurryBus / shuttle
Only worth it if the timings happen to suit. The train is the better public option on this stretch of coast.
Where to catch it: Into Catania first, then a coastal bus north — slower than the train and less frequent.
Best for solo & budget travellersCar rental
Useful here because the interesting parts are spread out — Aci Trezza with its offshore rocks, Aci Castello's Norman fortress, and the Timpa nature reserve are all separate short drives.
Where to catch it: Thirty minutes; parking is straightforward outside the historic centre.
Best for travellers who want to exploreAcireale & Catania in photos
Buying tickets in Catania
The AMT Alibus is the whole system here: a flat €4 from outside arrivals to Catania Centrale railway station and on through the centre, 20–25 minutes, every 20–25 minutes with a reduced night service. Buy from the machine or the tobacconist inside the terminal — on-board tickets cost more. For the rest of eastern Sicily the airport is a coach hub rather than a city airport: Interbus runs direct from the terminal bays to Taormina (€7–9, 70–90 minutes, roughly hourly) and to Syracuse (€7–10, about 75 minutes), with partner services to Messina, Ragusa and Palermo. Buy at the Interbus desk or on board. Sunday timetables are noticeably thinner and evening departures stop earlier than most arrivals expect — a flight landing at 22:00 in July can miss the last coach south. Note the trap with the train to Taormina: the station is at sea level, three hundred metres below the town, so the coach that climbs the hill is the better answer for the same money.
Taxi scams & safety in Catania
The thing to plan around at Fontanarossa is not a fare but a volcano. Etna's ash grounds flights here several times most years, sometimes for more than a day, and it is the standard reason people miss Sicilian cruise sailings and onward connections. Leave a buffer on departure day, especially in the weeks after an eruption. On the ground, taxis are straightforward but not cheap — €25–35 into the city, €90–120 to Taormina, €100–135 to Syracuse — and on the long runs you should agree the figure before setting off rather than rely on the meter. Use the official rank. Car hire is genuinely useful in eastern Sicily, unlike in Naples or Venice, but collect the car on the day you leave Catania rather than on arrival: the city centre is a camera-enforced ZTL with scarce metered parking. If you plan to take a hire car on a ferry off the island, read the contract first — it is a common exclusion with significant penalties.
Getting from CTA to Acireale
Acireale sits on lava cliffs twenty kilometres up the coast from Catania, and it does two things exceptionally well: baroque architecture and carnival. The rebuilding after 1693 gave it a cathedral, a basilica and a set of palaces in the same dark stone as Catania, and every February it stages the most elaborate carnival in Sicily — enormous papier-mâché floats with moving parts, built over months in workshops around the town.
The cheap way there
Alibus to Catania Centrale for €4, then a northbound coastal train, fifteen minutes. Seven or eight euros in total. The catch is Acireale's station, which is at the bottom of the cliff with the town three hundred metres up — there is a bus, and there are taxis, and there is a walk that is steeper than it looks.
Or just take a taxi
€45 to €65 from the airport, half an hour, agreed in advance. For a twenty-kilometre hop that is reasonable, and it takes you into the town rather than to the foot of the cliff. Outside the carnival period the centre is largely accessible by car.
The carnival, if you time it
It runs for about a fortnight before Lent and the floats are genuinely large — several metres high, mechanised, satirical, built by named workshops that compete. Accommodation in the town books out and prices rise. If you happen to be in eastern Sicily in February, it is worth rearranging a day for.
The baroque, the rest of the year
Piazza Duomo holds the cathedral with its two spires and the Basilica of Santi Pietro e Paolo alongside, and the streets around it are lined with palaces in the same idiom. It is smaller and quieter than Catania's version of the same thing, and you can see it all in a morning without queueing for anything.
The villages below
Santa Maria La Scala is a fishing hamlet at the bottom of the cliff, reached by a stepped path called the Chiazzette that switchbacks down through the rock. It is a proper walk down and a serious one back up. There are a handful of restaurants at the bottom serving what came in that morning.
Aci Trezza and the rocks
A few kilometres south, with basalt stacks standing out of the sea — the Faraglioni, which the Odyssey identifies as the rocks Polyphemus threw at Odysseus. Verga set I Malavoglia here and the village trades on it a little. It is a short bus or drive from Acireale and worth an evening.
Aci Castello, on a lava outcrop
A Norman castle built directly onto a black lava crag over the water, a little further towards Catania. Small, quickly seen, and dramatic in a way photographs handle badly. There is a swimming spot below it that the town uses.
The thermal springs
Acireale has sulphur springs and a spa tradition going back to the nineteenth century, when it drew visitors for the water rather than the buildings. The Terme di Santa Venera operates on the edge of town. It is a quieter and more local proposition than the spa towns of the mainland.
Hiring a car for this stretch
The Riviera dei Ciclopi — Acireale, Aci Trezza, Aci Castello and the Timpa nature reserve on the cliffs — is spread out and linked by roads rather than by any convenient bus. Thirty minutes from the airport, easy parking outside the historic centre, and the coast road is a pleasant drive.
The Timpa
A protected escarpment of ancient lava running along the coast below the town, thick with vegetation and cut by old paths. It is a reserve rather than a park and the trails are rough in places. Most visitors to Acireale have no idea it is there, which is much of its appeal.
Where this fits in a trip
Acireale is a good half-day from Catania or a quiet base for the coast, and it is thirty minutes from Etna's eastern approaches. It gets a fraction of Taormina's visitors and is roughly the same distance from the airport in the other direction.
