Summit Craters at Sunset

“Reaching Etna’s steaming summit craters at sunset is an experience you will always remember.”

DEPARTURE/RETURN LOCATION

Aitne office (inside restaurant Terrazza dell’Etna)

DEPARTURE TIME

Meeting point 15.00, departure 15.30

TIME OF RETURN

Approximately 21:30

IMPORTANT

The hike is forbidden for heart patients and asthmatics

RECOMMENDED EQUIPEMENT

In view of the strong westerly winds, we recommend a gore-tex windbreaker jacket, a fleece, hat, gloves, a pair of goggles to protect you from sudden gusts of wind, and of course a pair of high mountain boots and a headlamp for the descent.

INCLUDED

Guide
Hiking boots and poles on request

NOT INCLUDED

Food and drinks

Cable car and 4×4: 78€

The ascent is by cable car and 4×4 minibus up to an altitude of 2900m in the Torre del Filosofo area, from here after about 1.5h of walking uphill you will reach the rim of the Central Crater from which you can see the Bocca Nuova (3250m), which opened in 1968, probably the most impressive crater.

Going around the Bocca Nuova we find ourselves on the rim of the Voragine, the heart of the Central Crater, and in front of us we can observe the North-East Crater, formed in 1911 and Etna’s true summit (3329m). From the summit we can sweep 360° with our gaze, and if the day permits we can see the Aeolian Islands to the north and the Gulf of Catania to the south, and admire the sunrise over the Sicilian hinterland.

From the summit we begin the descent along a steep but easy slope of ash and scoriae passing through the volcanic amphitheatre of the Valle del Bove, a spectacular caldera 8km long and 4km wide, from here we continue downhill on an easy volcanic sand path until we reach the cable car departure point.

Tour may be subject to change due to bad weather conditions or increased volcanic activity