Catania Fontanarossa Airport to Taormina
About 55 km north; the Interbus coach runs direct from CTA for €7–8 in 70–90 minutes, and a taxi is €90–120.
A town on a terrace six hundred feet above the Ionian, with a Greek theatre framing Etna, medieval streets closed to traffic and a cable car down to the beaches at Mazzarò.
Every way to get there
Our verdict: for Taormina, a private transfer is the easiest door-to-door option (from €80). 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 | €80 | Bus |
| Couple · 2 travellers | €14 | €80 | Bus |
| Family of 4 · 4 travellers | €28 | €80 | 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
Seven or eight euros for seventy to ninety minutes, which makes this one of the best-value airport connections in Italy. It sets down at Taormina's bus terminal by Porta Messina — from there the centre is on foot and hotels send porters.
Where to catch it: Direct coach from the terminal bus bays, no change in Catania. Buy at the Interbus desk or on board.
Best for solo & budget travellersTaxi
Seventy minutes on the A18 motorway against eighty-five on the coach. The advantage is not speed but the last kilometre: Taormina's hotels are up hairpins that the bus terminal is nowhere near.
Where to catch it: Agree the price before departure rather than relying on the meter; ninety to a hundred and twenty euros is the normal range for this run.
Best for small groups in a hurryPrivate transfer
Much of central Taormina is closed to vehicles. If your hotel is on Corso Umberto expect to be dropped at a gate with a short walk or a hotel electric cart beyond it.
Where to catch it: Widely used here. Drivers know which hotels are inside the pedestrian zone and where the nearest legal stop is.
Best for families, groups & late arrivalsTrain
The catch is the station: it is three hundred metres below Taormina and connected by an infrequent shuttle bus or a taxi. The coach that goes straight up the hill is the better answer despite costing the same.
Where to catch it: Alibus to Catania Centrale, then a coastal train to Taormina-Giardini station, which sits at sea level below the town.
Best for budget travellers near a stationTaormina & 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 Taormina
Seven or eight euros. That is what the Interbus coach from Catania Airport to Taormina costs, direct from the terminal bays, seventy to ninety minutes, roughly hourly. It is one of the best-value airport connections in Italy and it makes Taormina — a town most people assume is expensive to reach — genuinely accessible. The taxi doing the same run is €90 to €120.
Why the coach beats the train here
There is a railway station called Taormina-Giardini and it is at sea level, three hundred metres below the town, connected by an infrequent shuttle bus or a taxi up a series of hairpins. The coach climbs the hill and sets down at the bus terminal by Porta Messina, at the top. Same money, entirely different arrival. This is the single most useful thing to know about getting here.
When the taxi is worth €100
When your hotel is not near Porta Messina. Taormina's hotels are strung along the terrace and down the slopes, some of them a substantial climb from the bus terminal, and the town is largely closed to traffic. A driver who knows which gate serves which hotel saves you a great deal. Agree the price before setting off rather than relying on the meter.
Nothing much drives into the centre
Corso Umberto runs the length of the town between two medieval gates and is pedestrian. Hotels inside that zone are reached on foot, sometimes with an electric cart sent down for luggage. Ask yours where cars stop. Several of the larger places have their own arrangements and will meet the coach if you tell them which one you are on.
The Greek theatre
Built by the Greeks in the third century BC and enlarged by the Romans, cut into the hillside so that the stage opens onto a view of Etna and the Ionian coast. That view is the reason the theatre is famous rather than any architectural distinction — it was sited deliberately. It still hosts concerts and a film festival through the summer.
Getting down to the sea
A cable car runs from Via Pirandello down to Mazzarò on the coast in a few minutes, and it is the sensible way to reach the beaches. Isola Bella, the small island in its cove, is a nature reserve and is reachable on foot across a spit of shingle when the water is low. Walking down is possible on a stepped path and walking up is not advisable in August.
Where the crowds come from
Cruise ships tender passengers ashore at Giardini Naxos and Messina, and coach parties arrive from both. Between about eleven and four in high season the Corso is dense. Early morning and after seven in the evening the town is a different place, which is the argument for staying overnight rather than day-tripping.
Castelmola, above it
A village on the peak above Taormina, reached by a local bus or a steep walk, with a view down over the whole coast and a bar that has been serving almond wine since the 1900s. It takes an afternoon and it is quieter than anything in Taormina itself.
The season, and the shoulder
Taormina in May or October is warm, walkable and reasonably priced. In August it is expensive and full. The coach and taxi fares stay the same but everything else moves, and the difference in the experience is large enough to be worth planning around.
Leaving early
The first Interbus departures for the airport are earlier than most hotel breakfasts, and they are the reliable way back. For a dawn flight, book a car the night before — Taormina's taxi supply is thin at six in the morning and the road down to the motorway is not one to be improvising on.
What the town actually is
A resort since the nineteenth century, when northern Europeans discovered it and never entirely left — D.H. Lawrence wrote here, Wilhelm von Gloeden photographed here, and the hotel registers of the period read like a literary index. It has been in the business of being visited for a hundred and fifty years, which shows in both the polish and the prices.
