The Alcantara Gorges
A black lava canyon up to 25 metres tall, carved by a river that stays icy even in August. Basalt walls folded like organ pipes, turquoise water, and a pebble beach where Sicily looks like Iceland — twenty minutes from Taormina.
A black lava canyon up to 25 metres tall, carved by a river that stays icy even in August. Basalt walls folded like organ pipes, turquoise water, and a pebble beach where Sicily looks like Iceland — twenty minutes from Taormina.
Thousands of years ago a lava flow descended from the craters of Monte Mojo, Etna’s northernmost child, and filled the river valley. Cooling slowly, the basalt contracted into regular prisms — the famous “organ pipes”, five- and six-sided columns that look carved by an architect. Then the river took back its place and, with millennia of patience, cut through the stone: today the walls rise up to 25 metres, and in places the two sides almost touch.
The Alcantara is born in the Nebrodi mountains and runs mostly in the shade of the stone: its water stays around ten degrees even at the height of summer. That is its beauty — and its joke: you walk in laughing and come out running. At the entrance area the river widens into a gravel beach where you can bathe in summer, sunbathe between the black walls, and the braver ones wade upstream to admire the gorges from below. Water shoes and a towel: nothing else needed.
The municipal stairway of Motta Camastra goes straight down to the river: 224 steps in the stone, a symbolic ticket, and it is the way we recommend to those who just want the gorges. Along the same road there is also the private Botanical and Geological Park, with its panoramic lift, gardens and organised activities — body rafting and river trekking with wetsuits — with its own price list. The right moment is early morning, when the sun enters the canyon and the coaches have not yet arrived; on days after heavy rain the river is in charge, and access may close.
Gorge area open from 4 April to 31 October, daily. Hours: April–June 9:00–18:30 · July–August 8:30–19:30 · September 9:00–18:00 · October 9:00–17:00. Municipal stairway entrance: €2 per person (free under 3). Times flexible depending on crowds and weather — source: Municipality of Motta Camastra. The private Botanical and Geological Park has its own hours and prices.
The gorges are part of our “Etna full day” tour, or a twenty-minute private transfer from Taormina.
See the Etna and Alcantara tour
