Sicily Question #1 - Mt Etna

We were staying in Taormina in 2014 and drove up to Mt. Edna. We just followed our Garmin and not sure or our routing.

Once at the cable car we had a choice of just lift tickets or some type of combination ticket. There is a restaurant/gift shop at the top cable car docking station. We didn't purchase the large wheeled tour, which takes you farther up the mountain. Just walking around was very interesting and walking around the vents down near the parking area was interesting, as well. We did, however, think the lift ticket cost was expensive.

Buon viaggio,

That's what we did 2 years ago: drove to Sapienza.
Then, all the rest is included when you pay the cable car. At the top, huge trucks are waiting for customers. They fill them up 15-25 people maybe, with a guide. The truck brings you to a spot 500-600 above and from there the guide walks you to a couple of spots with info on history, geography of the place, etc.
I know it's the most touristic way of visiting Etna but it was fine for us and we enjoyed aside from the fact that we were underdressed. It was 75-80 degrees at the base but closer to 50 on top and this was end of june. Make sure to bring enough clothing as it's close to 9000 feet up.
2 days later we were on top of the Stromboli, an active volcano. That was a memorable experience
Have a great stay in wonderful Sicily and make sure to try as many cannolis as you can. :-)

Thank you both for your responses! We are so excited to go to Sicily and looking forward to Mt. Etna! We are also going to schedule a tasting at the Gambino winery close by.

Approximately how long did the tour to the top via Cablecar and but take?

Sometimes you cannot get further up than Rifugio Sapienza due to weather/safety concerns.

Hum, i don't precisely remember. You have to wait a bit for the cable car, go up maybe for 10-15 minutes, then wait a bit for the truck, then climb with the truck for another 20-30 minutes as it goes slow, and then walk with the guide. Then the same coming back. I'd say probably 3-4 hours? Half a day maybe?

Thank you - I was figuring about 1/2 a day

If Etna is a priority for you, keep your calendar open and carefully watch the weather. Be prepared to make your visit to Etna on the first clear sunny day that you have. When we visited, it was sunny in Taormina but we could see some clouds on Etna. By the time we arrived on the mountain, it was cloudy and foggy and a little rainy, and while it was interesting, we missed the gorgeous views that people talk about.

This is an important point. If you are really longing to go as high as possible, you must have some 3 days in which you have scheduling flexibility to pick the one with best weather. You need a high cloud base or no clouds.

There are some interesting secondary viewpoints in the slopes of the Etna, including relatively recently buried houses and lava fields. There are also some towns uphill that have a dark coating to all buildings (the result of decades/centuries of volcanic ash sooting up all buildings). It is a different sight, something that looks as if coming out of the movies.