Messina (Sicily) in a day

I am in a similar situation as yourselves. I am taking a. cruise in October, stopping in Messina for a long day.

Norwegian does not yet offer very many excursions but one offered is to Taormina which sounds very interesting.

I have been watching YouTube videos and there are many of doing Messina on your own, many good ones.

I have been researching and finding that as well. Data says the port is right in town and most attractions are within walking distance. Viator has a walking tour, but we might just do it on our own. It sounds like the main things to see are the Church ofr Santissima Annunziata dle Calalani, and the Bell Tower and Astrological Clock. I also saw mentioned the Alcantra Gorge, but don't know how far that is or if you would need transportation. Any other suggestions are welcome. Thanks!

I just watched this youtube video and it is very helpful.

https://youtu.be/JSQBDtm7viY?si=IjyIySeSHAGxhNiF

There is a hop on hop off bus in Messina and it seems like there is plenty to do.

There’s a great museum in Messina with two Caravaggio paintings …

Messina is, shall we say, not one of Sicily's most popular destinations. According to Wikipedia the city suffered a disastrous earthquake and tsunami in 1908, was rebuilt, then was heavily bombed during WWII. It doesn't have as much historic architecture as many other places on the island. I spent one night there in 2015 as I was heading off the island to Puglia, and I didn't find much of great interest as I walked around. In fairness to Messina, I didn't have a guidebook to the city, so I was wandering randomly. Wikipedia lists several historic churches (though the Cathedral was substantially rebuilt twice in the 20th century) and some other buildings of note.

I don't cruise and am certainly no expert on cruise ship excursions. I know they are expensive/over-priced, but Messina is a port where I'd look very seriously at what the cruise line was offering if I couldn't figure out something worthwhile to do on my own. I bet there are day-trips put together by companies in Messina to cater to cruise passengers. Their tours would probably be a lot less expensive than the cruise excursions, but you wouldn't have the guarantee the ship wouldn't leave without you if your tour was late returning.

I'm not a big fan of Taormina at all, but it's physically beautiful and has a very nice Greek theatre. It's unfortunate that it will be swamped on the day your cruise ship is in port (if it's a ship of any size), but a large number of your fellow cruisers will go there. (I'm assuming the ship doesn't also port in or near Giardini Naxos.)

There are trains from Messina Centrale to the Taormina-Giardini station just below Taormina, from which one takes a bus up to hillside Taormina itself. On weekdays there are currently train departures from Messina Centrale at 9:15, 10:25 and 11:15 AM; schedules on weekends and for your travel period may be different. Total scheduled travel time including the bus is about 1 hr. 15 min.

There's a return bus from Taormina at 3:50 PM, connecting to a train that's scheduled to get you back to Messina Centrale at 4:56 PM. That timing would make me a bit nervous, but it would be possible to get a taxi back to the port if the train didn't show up. I have no idea what a taxi would cost, but I don't think it would take longer than the train. The distance is only a bit more than 31 miles.

No doubt there are worthwhile destinations closer to Messina than Taormina, but I just don't know what they are.

one more thing.

After your cruise is over and you are home and recovered, I would love to read an evaluation / review of your ports and what you chose to do / see.

Really like the Trip Reports.