We visited Mount Etna in late September 2006 and it was well worth the money spent.
There are two sites to visit from, Etna South (sud) or Etna North (nord)
Our first visit was to Etna South and the road access is quite good as it has been recently rebuilt. This is is the main site and has local ski school, shops and restaurants of reasonable quality. The full tour is unlimited in time and costs 45 Euros per person. You rise by cable car over the lava fields to 2800m where you will find an accommodation centre with a reasonable eatery and various sale items.
The next leg takes you up 3100m by jeep bus through the lava fields. a very bumpy ride. At this point you disembark by a hut where you can sample the local "fuoco del'Etna". A drink not for the lightweight as it is 71% alcohol. You then can either go with a tour guide you will take all over the place to see fumoreles and old craters.
Etna is one of the most active volcanoes in the world but not dangerous if you are sensible. There are two main craters clearly active and visible here. One is the Central Crater (which is the dangerous one) and then you have the smaller South Crater where you are around 300m from when you get there and could walk very close to it.
I would not recommend this if you are not ready to run very fast. We were lucky on the day we went as this crater erupted several times whilst we were there. This gives you a nice tick in the box of things you must do before you die, no. 12 watch a volcano blow it's top. On your return you will need to wash hair often to get all the grit off (and the place stank like rotten eggs)....
The jeep bus drivers also have a side line selling crystalised lava of various colours for 5 euros. The chunks are quite heavy and just a bit bigger than my hand so well worth the money in my opinion.
The North site is not as active but you can see far more of the devastation caused by the lava flows. You can see to full effect the results of it going through houses and forests. They are rebuilding this site as the last one was completely destroyed in the 2001 eruption so it is a collection of garden sheds selling all sorts.
There is one where you can book tours by jeep bus and here it is more controlled and time limited. You climb up to the top where you have a walk near the Etna observatory which must be an interesting place to be if the volcano erupts. The landscape is very alien with no vegetation what so ever. Again be prepared for some major washing when you get back.
On the way down you stop at various craters and fumoreles including 5 new ones from 2001. The whole thing takes 2-3 hours to do and does involve a bit of walking as well. Well worth it for the 60 Euros per person, but no eruption this time.
When you return to the base visit the photographers hut. The owner is the man with a 4x4 outside pointing up the mountain with the door always open. He sells photos of various eruptions and lava flows from when he was 14! He has fantastic stories about the photos and is more than happy to tell you all about them in perfect english. His spiel would be worth money alone and he has put himself in some seriously dangerous positions to get them. We decided to buy some photos from him because they were excellent. He also does weddings but loves the volcano. As I said before he has the 4x4 with the door open pointing up the mountain, everybody else had their cars parked facing down the mountain!
The place is dangerous, it is an active volcano but if you follow your guides then you should not have problems. I highly recommend it for the fun value.
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