the first part of this thread is from 2011

Boy, this is old.

We ended up booking a private excursion and we went to Savoca, Castelmora and Taormina. We all really enjoyed this and I'd highly recommend it as a good way to see several different things in this area in very little time..

We did not go to the beach, and am glad we didnt' - I enjoyed wandering the main street in Taormina.

FWIW, and I see this is an unpopular opinion - I didn't think the Greek Theatre was a "must see". I'm sure I might have thought differently if we hadn't visited the Roman Forum and Ephesus days before. The views are wonderful - however, we saw great view of Mt. Etna from several vantage points around Taormina. That said, it is definitely worth a stop b/c it is just so convenient to see - only a few feet from the main drag.