CityBySee

Open bus taking in the views. Seemed a good idea but as this was the first day we had not looked around. €20 each for the day. 6 of us went to Taormina, had a great day but the return trip was a disaster, we waited for two buses, over an hour and neither came. We took the local bus €1.30 back to the hotel. When speaking to the ticket seller the following day we were told they only have two buses, one broke down and the other went somewhere else. Use local buses whenever possible or maybe the hotel shuttle if not going too far

We booked it from the agency in Taormina (200 meters to the right from the cable car). The guide was very professional, she explained anything in italian and english, not just about the movie. Savoca and Castelmola are some small towns in beautiful places, with a beautiful view to the sea. Small streets, you can have a nice walk to the catacombs, and churches. It is a bit complicated to reach these towns individually, that's why we didn't choose the hop-on/hop-off bus.

My fiancée and I were told to go on a godfather tour and whilst I had watched the films my fiancée had not so we didn't want to spend too much on a tour as some are hundreds of euros.

We decided to go on a CityBySee bus tour and it was good enough for us and we saw what we needed to see so we were happy.

The sales lady in Taormina was very helpful and lets us ride on the Taormina tour or red line for an additional 5 euros as we didn't want to do the tour. This enabled us to get to the green line bus which had an interchange with the red line.

Overall it was okay for us.

Overpriced and poor customer service - Hop On/Hop Off better service and value. We bought the full package of a trip up to Castel Moro, the trip around Taormina, beaches, Naxos and back, and the final leg, The GodFather Tour. First driver drove like crazy, and made us very nervous. When you get to Castel Moro, they drop you off below the town center, and you have a good ten minute, uphill walk to get to the start of the town. ALL the other tour bus services drop you off at the town center.
The third leg (Godfather Tour) had a jam packed bus, with several people coughing and sneezing. This made us nervous, so we decided to get off the bus. We asked if they could give us a refund for the leg we could not take, and instead of being courteously dismissive, they were so rude in telling us how dare we ask for a refund. Very unpleasant end of a tour. In any event, the competition are about half the price, and much more flexible.

Do not book this tour. The agent at the bus station tells you to wait in the shelter/ bar behind him but does not call you despite saying he will. You miss the bus because of this. They promise you a refund but then refuse to give it when you go to the office. Do not be ripped off by this company.

We booked a trip to Etna and was told we could go to the top ourself, but when we arrived it was not possible because there were simply not time. I addition we then realized a guide was required to reach the top. Stay away from this company.

We were sold the 48hr ticket the day before we wanted to travel on the basis that we were going to use the bus and boat which were both included. We were told the next day, when we arrived that the boat would not be running. We waited for the bus but when it arrived it was full and as we had a lot of things to do we decided that we wanted a refund.
After 2 hours of being told to go somewhere else to get the refund including their 'customer services' which was a phone number that just went dead as soon as it connected.
My wife then went to tourist information and asked for the police station. When she got back and told them that we were going to the police suddenly the game changed. All we had to do was give them our name and the refund was ours.
So remember if you do make the mistake of buying a ticket with this company the refund policy is threaten them with the police.

If you want to go from Taormina to Castelmola,Letojanni,Giardini Naxos,Forza d'Agro etc. then use the public buses for a fraction of the price. We went on Godfather tour there was no hostess on board,the taped commentary was worse than useless. We were not even dropped of at Savoca but at a sleepy village called Casalvecchio Siculo at 1120 and told next bus was at 1400! A group of us walked about !km to Savoca as there was no way you could entertain yourself for 2 1/2 hours in Casalvecchio.
Be aware that there is no guarantee you can " hop on" the next bus ,if its full you could be waiting a couple of hours for next one. Your ticket conditions state "This ticket does not guarantee a reserved seat"
I would certainly never use this company again.

On 23rd of April monday i' ve bought an 48 hours valid blue,red and violet tour from them that one includes "The Godfather Tour". They told me the godfather tour is only on tuesday and thursday and for tomorrow tuesday there will be only morning tour no more which supposed to be 3 times a day. I planned my whole day according to their information they gave me. I arrived tao bus station in the morning and i told the lady i am here for the godfather tour and showed my receipt. She told me road is closed there will be no Godfather tour today. I asked her to return my money back then. She said it is not possible only she can change date for thursday when i am leaving. Anyway i started to walk on the streets of taormina and asked to another company they said road is ok and i can join the tour on 15:00 pm. When we arrived to the town Savoca(where bar vitelli is) i've seen citybysee bus with full of tourists and there was no empty seat on the bus. Which is quite disgusting So when you are traveling you may be robbed or cheated this is equal they didn't just steal my money this is an attemp to ruin my whole day. Don't trust their words.

We unfortunately got talked into a lovely day trip to Mount Etna by a sales person MILENA at CITY BY SEE in Taoramina who was a complete con artist, she told us we were going to Etna and could walk around base camp at 1900m see the craters and eat in the restaurants at Sapienza Rifugio in Etna south, which it says in the brochure. She said it would take an 1hr and a half to get there. We arrived at Etna North after a 2 and a half hour bus trip (with no air conditioning- which again she lied to us about). Etna north is not the touristy side and this was the only sorry tour bus in the car park. We spent 2hours walking around the car park and the few sorry shops in it, didn’t even get to see a Crater!! The bus driver helpfully called her up but she just denied everything and was most unhelpful and did not even offer an apology, shocking service! Felt completed cheated by this non-experience and just wanted to make everyone aware so they don’t waste their time and get conned like we did. DO NOT USE CITY BY SEE TAORAMINA!!