Mount Etna Cable car
The famous Etna cable car is located on the South side of Mount Etna at Rifugio Sapienza. On the North side of Mount Etna at Piano Provenzana, there is no cable car that goes up for touristic excursions, only skislopes (only open with snow).
It often happens that tourists are on the wrong side of the Etna volcano when they want to take the cable car. This causes a problem then, because Etna South and Etna North are 50 km (1 hour drive) apart!
So just to be clear, you find the Etna Cable car at Etna South, Rifugio Sapienza. You can pre-order tickets here (so you can skip-the-line!)
- Mount Etna Cable car to 2500 meters (round trip)
- Mount Etna Cable car to 2500 meters + 4×4 bus to 2750 meters (round trip)
Skislopes at Piano Provenzana
You can drive by car to Piano Provenzana at an altitude of about 1800 meters. If you want to continue to go higher, you can go by foot, or take the 4×4 buses to the craters of 2002 or to 2900 meters. In the winter, (only with snow!), you can take the skislope to an altitude of 2400 meters.
There is 1 chairlift and there are 3 piatello skilifts to reach 6 different skislopes:
- Monte Conca alta (red skislope)
- Anfiteatro (red skislope)
- Coccinelle (red skislope)
- Anfiteatro – Coccinelle (red skislope)
- Monte Conca bassa (blue skislope)
- Baby/ Tanaurpi (blue skislope)
Climb Mount Etna from Piano Provenzana
Piano Provenzana is the highest point that can be freely reached from the North side of Etna by car. If you want to continue your exploration towards Mount Etna’s summit craters, you can rely on volcanological guides and a 4×4 Etna excursion service.
Due to the extreme activity of the volcano, the maximum allowed height on the North side of Mount Etna is 2900 meters. This means it is not allowed to go to the summit craters at the moment. The best excursion you can do in this moment, is up to 3000 meters with the 4×4 bus from Piano Provenzana.
