Lee Abbamonte

Taormina: Sicily's Most Spectacular Town

Friday, July 26, 2019
By Azamara

Taormina is like a dream. It’s everything you imagine Sicily to be. It’s how you romanticize Sicily from years of seeing it in movies and tasting the food at home. If you can look past the crowds; which you’ll have to anywhere in Italy, you will be delighted beyond words with Taormina. It truly speaks for itself and could be the highlight of your cruise.

Taormina is a coastal hilltop town situated on a high terrace of Monte Tauro and looks out in several directions - most notably to Mount Etna and out to sea. Whichever direction you look the views are is breathtaking. Your fingers will hurt from snapping so many photos!

The main attractions in Taormina are the Teatro Greco and Corso Umberto. The fantastic Teatro Greco is an amphitheater that looks out over the town and down to the sea below. The setting and the views are perfect. It is a 10-euro charge to get in but unlike many similar sites, this one is well worth the price of admission.

Don’t expect to get an idyllic shot all alone or anything as there will be hundreds of other tourists in there with you but you won’t even mind. I definitely suggest walking around both the theatre itself and going to the very top and getting the views in each direction. They’ll be some of the best in Taormina with amazing contrasts between the sea, mountains, town and the theatre. 

Corso Umberto is the undisputed main drag and center of the Taormina wheel. All restaurants, shops and side streets derive from Corso Umberto. It is jam-packed but again, you’ll be so infatuated with looking around that you’ll be totally unfazed by the crowds.

As the richest town in Sicily and a popular tourist destination, Taormina is an expensive place. There is a lot of shopping of course, but if shopping is your thing, you may want to hold off to another stop in Sicily to save a few bucks. It’s expensive but it’s very, very good!

Pick a restaurant or pasticceria and sit down and watch the world walk by. One of my favorite things to do in Sicily is to take a break outside with a cappuccino or a prosecco and just people watch. Then keep strolling from gate to gate stopping to take photos in the gorgeous piazzas.

Taormina is the place you’ll tell your friends about from Sicily. It is as interesting as it is gorgeous. Make the most of your time there and be prepared to walk, eat, drink and repeat! I love Taormina!

Azamara has many upcoming voyages calling on Sicily. 


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