Catania Fontanarossa Airport to Giardini Naxos
About 50 km north; Interbus coaches to Taormina call at Giardini Naxos for around €7–8 in 70 minutes.
The bay below Taormina, and the site of the first Greek colony in Sicily — a long crescent of beach, a promenade of hotels and restaurants, and the town on the cliff above.
Every way to get there
Our verdict: for Giardini Naxos, a private transfer is the easiest door-to-door option (from €75). Travelling light on a budget? The bus is cheapest (from €7) 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 | €7 | €75 | Bus |
| Couple · 2 travellers | €14 | €75 | Bus |
| Family of 4 · 4 travellers | €28 | €75 | Bus |
Which option should you choose?
| If your priority is… | Our pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest price | Bus | From €7, 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
Bus / shuttle
Around €8 for seventy minutes. The bus follows the seafront, so the stop is often within a few minutes' walk of a beach hotel — considerably easier than the equivalent arrival up in Taormina.
Where to catch it: The Taormina coaches call at Giardini Naxos on the way; check with the driver, as not every departure stops here.
Best for solo & budget travellersTaxi
Straightforward door-to-door delivery — Giardini's hotels are on ordinary streets with ordinary access, which makes this the easy coastal arrival.
Where to catch it: Agree the price before setting off; slightly less than the Taormina fare, since there is no climb at the end.
Best for small groups in a hurryPrivate transfer
Ask the hotel first — the difference between their rate and an independent booking is often small, and they will hold the car if your flight is late.
Where to catch it: Common for package arrivals; many Giardini hotels arrange it themselves if you ask when booking the room.
Best for families, groups & late arrivalsCar rental
This is the argument for staying in Giardini rather than up the hill: you can park a car, and the cable car and buses take you up to Taormina in a few minutes anyway.
Where to catch it: Motorway to Taormina then down to the bay; most seafront hotels have their own parking, unlike those in Taormina.
Best for travellers who want to exploreGiardini Naxos & 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 Giardini Naxos
Giardini Naxos is the bay below Taormina, and it solves the problem that Taormina creates. Where the town on the cliff is reached by hairpins and ends in a pedestrian zone, Giardini is on the flat, on an ordinary seafront, with hotels that have front doors a car can reach and car parks behind them. Interbus coaches from the airport call here for about €8, seventy minutes.
Getting off at the right place
The Taormina coaches come down to the bay on the way, but not every departure stops — check with the driver when you board rather than assuming. The bus follows the seafront, so the stop is often within a few minutes of a beach hotel, which makes this a much easier arrival than the climb to Taormina.
The first Greeks in Sicily landed here
Naxos was founded in 734 BC, the first Greek colony on the island, on the small headland at the southern end of the bay. The archaeological park there has the city walls in lava block and the foundations of a temple, and it receives almost no visitors compared with the theatre up the hill. It takes an hour and it is where Sicilian history starts.
Taormina, without staying in it
A cable car runs from Mazzarò up to Taormina in a few minutes, and local buses climb from Giardini directly. Both take under twenty minutes. So you can sleep by the sea at a reasonable rate, park a car, and be on the Corso for the evening — which is what a considerable number of returning visitors do.
The beach
A long crescent of grey volcanic sand and shingle running the length of the bay, with beach clubs along much of it and free stretches between them. The water shelves fairly quickly. At the northern end the bay curves round towards Isola Bella and the coast becomes rocky.
Where the taxi makes sense
€85 to €115 from the airport, sixty-five minutes, agreed before setting off. Slightly less than the Taormina fare because there is no climb at the end, and it delivers you to an ordinary street address — which after reading about Taormina's steps and gates is worth something.
Hire a car here, not up there
This is the reason to choose Giardini. Seafront hotels have their own parking; almost nothing in Taormina does. With a car, Etna is fifty minutes, Syracuse ninety, Messina forty, and the Alcantara gorge — a river running through a basalt canyon — twenty-five minutes inland.
The Alcantara gorge
A lava flow cooled into hexagonal basalt columns and a river cut through it, forming a narrow gorge you can wade into in summer. The water is very cold. There is a public entrance and a paid one with lifts; the public path is fine and involves steps.
What the town is like
Unremarkable and pleasant. A long seafront with restaurants, a small harbour, a working town behind it. It has none of Taormina's theatre and nobody pretends otherwise — it is a place to stay rather than a place to photograph, and it is priced accordingly.
Cruise tenders
Ships anchor in the bay and tender passengers ashore here for the Taormina excursion, which means the seafront gets busy in bursts on certain mornings and then empties. It has no real effect on a stay beyond a queue at the cable car.
The evening question
Giardini's restaurants are cheaper than Taormina's by a noticeable margin and serve more or less the same food. If you are here for a week, the pattern that works is dinner in the bay most nights and one or two evenings up the hill for the setting.
Getting back to the airport
The same Interbus route runs in reverse and the first departures are early enough for morning flights. Confirm the stop and the time the day before — the seafront has more than one and the timetable is not always posted where the coach actually pulls in.
