Where to visit to see a 'real' volcano?

[MoneySuperMeerkat]

8 yo DS would like to see a volcano - where would be good to visit? It would likely be next year so he would be 9. Flexible for time of year, would prefer short haul.

[Chemenger]

Sicily? Or Iceland.

[EduCated]

Iceland - plenty of volcanoes!

[greensnail]

Vesuvius in Italy.

[ScottishStottie]

Iceland

[IrenetheQuaint]

Sicily - Etna and the Aeolian islands

[Potterbore]

Tenerife- Mt Tiede

[LegoAndLolDolls]

Tenerife?

[Sometimesonly]

Vesuvius is great but not actually erupting at the moment (touch wood!). Stromboli and Etna are pretty impressive.

[ArcherDog]

Vesuvius in Italy.
You can get a coach halfway up and then walk the rest (it is a fair hike). At the top you can walk round the rim, peer over into the crater and see some steam rising too.

[BendingSpoons]

As children we went to Lanzarote. We had a trip up a volcano and felt the hot rocks from just below the surface. There was a restaurant that cooked using the hot rocks.

[Student133]

The ones in Iceland aren't generally of the huge exploding variety like Vesuvius, so if you want to see one oozing lava as opposed to just sitting there, Iceland is the place to go, plus you might see the northern lights!

[eurochick]

Tenerife and Sicily have pretty accessible volcanos.

[whiteroseredrose]

I'd second the Aiolian Islands off Sicily and Sicily itself. That's where we're off too as soon as we get the chance.

Vulcano has a volcano that gives off fumes and apparently is only about an hours' walk to the viewing point.

Stromboli has proper red Lava spitting out. I think the hike to the top at night is supposed to be quite strenuous so he may be too young but there is the option of a night boat trip to see it.

Then there is Etna itself. There look to be several day and half day trips from Taormina and Catania.

Alternatively there is Vesuvius near Naples and Sorrento with the bonus of Pompeii or Mount Teidi (not sure of spelling!) on Tenerife.

We went to Iceland last summer which was amazing for glaciers, Geysirs and waterfalls but less for a smoking volcano.

[MoneySuperMeerkat]

Etna looks like it would be great, we could also have a beach holiday.

Some other great ideas to explore too 👍 Iceland doesn't massively appeal - I know it's super expensive and we were lucky enough to see the Northern Lights on a trip to Finland a couple of years ago (not that we wouldn't want to see them again). Tenerife/Lanzarote I will look into though, and Vesuvius.

[Seagullslanding]

Tenerife - its so easy to get on a local service bus from the bus station. The bus system is extremely efficient. The bus that goes to Teide runs in the morning. If the bus is full the bus company immediately puts on an additional bus. They also make sure that there are adequate buses to bring everybody back down.

We stayed in Puerta de la Cruz, it was also in walking distance to the zoo Loro park

[mrstasty]

We went on the lanzarote volcano park coach trip, it was pretty fun. The bus tour lady put a scary music soundtrack on as we went through the lava fields.

[BlackAmericanoNoSugar]

I'd love to go to Stromboli, I saw a documentary about the residents who live there year round and it looked lovely.

[Namechange8471]

We went to visit an active volcano in Tenerife, it was amazing!

[Jumbojem]

Sicily and Aeolian Islands for sure! Best holiday of my life. We did it solo, flew to catania, week on mainland where we went up Etna which was amazing, you can see the roofs of houses and old road lost in previous erruptions (it's errupted a few times since we went). We then took a ferry and had a few days on the Aeolian island, lipari, from where you can do a day trip to vulcano and walk up the (smelly) volcano. We did a night boat trip to stromboli I think from lipari too.
Yes, you also have breaches, fantastic food and lots of other cultural sights (valley of the temples etc).

[Cardboardeaux]

Etna - there is a train that takes you all the way round the hillside, with great views. And there is so much to do and see in Sicily

[midnightstar66]

This sounds fascinating but terrifying at the same time. How safe is scaling mount etna? Sorry no suggestions but I'm enjoying reading the thread.

[Lou98]

Lanzarote for sure! I went for the first time last year and there's a coach trip you can go on which drives up on top of the volcano and there's a restaurant at the top which cooks the food from the heat from the inside of the volcano. It was really impressive!

[Sometimesonly]

How safe is scaling mount etna?

I would definitely go with a guide who knows the area. Also if you go in the summer, you need to be prepared - it can be hot on the beach and almost snowing at the summit.

[HeyLala]

Until you get abroad, there's a dormant volcano in Edinburgh which you can climb, called Arthur's seat.

I took my 8 year old daughter when she was studying volcanos at school and she loved it.

[WilmaJean]

If you go to Vesuvius you could also do Solfatara which is part of the Phlegraean Fields. You walk in the crater!