Trapani – San Vito Area Rock Climbing

Suggested by Daniel Kaye 

"San Vito lo Capo is a tiny cape town in NW Sicily. The main climbing area is something like 5km of ocean-facing cliff with hundreds of sport climbs. There's a few other areas nearby and slightly inland too.

Guide Book: I bought this guide book 'Sicily Rock ( climb-europe.com/rockclimbi…)', and to be honest it's my favorite guidebook I've used to date for anywhere ever. It focuses on San Vito lo Capo and the nearby areas. It's in English too! With some Italian and German I think. There's another one, I forget the name, that covers less of San Vito and more in the rest of Sicily.

Lodging: The place to stay is a climber-campground called 'El Bahira' ( goo.gl/maps/oBELKYfo9QVMLyU8A). It is between the cliffs and the ocean, whereas the town is up above the cliffs. There's probably lots of nice little hostels and air-BNBs too, but this will be way closer - you can walk to some of the climbs. Some of the climbs are even on the campground's land, and they have some flood lights that light them up at night so you can do some 'night' climbing in season. They have lots of lodging options too. I think you can get a 'tent/car' campsite, with almost no amenities, up to like a cabin for multiple people. We stayed in something of a micro-home for 2 people, with a tiny kitchen and bedroom. You can book online. They have some communal beaches, fields, bathrooms, tennis courts, it's a fun little place.

Travel: We flew into Palermo, rented a car, and drove about 1.5 hours or something to the campsite. I'd recommend getting a car, because I don't think there are groceries down at the campsite, and it'd be a few miles to walk into town because you have to go around the ocean cliff-face to get back up, so it's not as close to town as it looks on the map. But maybe, if you're there in season, you could carpool with others or something? I looked into buses from the Palermo Airport to San Vito, but again, then you have to get from the town to the campsite and back, and deal with Italian not-on-time bus schedules. And the car rentals were pretty cheap at the time, much cheaper if you can drive a stick too (which I can't). I spoke OK Italian when I was there, but it's kind of a tourist town so I think enough people speak English that you can get by."